The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Technology today launched a contest called »Wege ins Netz«. This context is to award exemplary actions and initiatives aimed at increasing the internet use among the general public. In addition, a special prize called »Migration« is to honour projects and initiatives addressing themselves to younger or elderly people with a migration background. Winners will be award prizes amounting to a total of 30.000 Euros. Deadline for entries is July 31st 2007.
Currently, about 60% of German people over the age of 14 use the internet. The increase in internet use, however, has slowed down over the past years. In addition, just 6% plan to get connected to the internet which means that 34% of the entire German population will not use the net in the near future. In particular elderly people, people with a migration background or people with little access to education are quite reluctant when it comes to using new media. Thus, the contest in question is to reduce existing barriers to internet use.
A jury will determine the three best projects which will be awarded with prize money. The selection criteria are among other things sustainability, the way target groups are addressed, knowledge transfer and training, social and voluntary commitment as well as involvement of local networks. The closing event will probably take place at the beginning of September 2007 on the occasion of the Internationalen Funkausstellung (IFA) in Berlin.
More information on the subject is available from the internet. 