Since the United Nation’s ‘International
Year of Older Persons’ in 1999, a Senior-
Surf Day has been arranged in Norway.
People over 55 years old are invited to a
meeting place equipped with computers,
where competent instructors give an introduction
to searching the Internet. The aim
is to narrow the digital gap between the
generations by giving instruction to seniors
with little or no previous experience of
computers and the Internet.
Here in Norway Seniornett.no has been
the prime mover and among other
things publishes its own SeniorSurf
newspaper offering a mixture of instructive
material and reports on seniors’
use of the Internet. The newspaper
contains simple terms, useful tips and
also tests and problems which readers
can attempt to solve.
In order to gain the interest of the media,
a nation-wide campaign is arranged
every year on one particular day in
October. A gradual increase has been
seen in the number of meeting places
participating. Unlike Sweden, where
the prime mover is the Swedish Library
Association itself, in Norway each individual
library is responsible for its own
participation. Nevertheless, of all the
meeting places taking part in 2003, no
less than 64% were libraries. In 2004
111 out of 180 were libraries.
SeniorSurf Day receives funding from
the state grants given to Seniornett by
the Ministry of Education and Research
and by the Ministry of Trade
and Industry.
5th anniversary
2004 will mark the fifth anniversary of
this nation-wide campaign. Response
from the centres in 2003 showed that
fewer first-time participants turned up,
which would seem to indicate a tendency
among local organisers to focus
greater attention upon the slightly
more-experienced surfer.
Our aims on SeniorSurf Day in 2004
include starting at least 50 new SeniorSurf
clubs throughout the country.
Translated by Eric Deverill
