Eva Pascoe facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Eva Pascoe
Eva Pascoe giving a keynote speech
Born	1964 (age 60–61)
Education	Birkbeck, University of London
Occupation	Internet entrepreneur, e-commerce consultant
Years active	1990s–present
Notable work	Cyberia, first internet cafe in London

Eva Pascoe, born in Poland in 1964, is a clever business person who helped start the very first internet cafe in Britain, called Cyberia. She lives in London and is an expert in how the internet works for businesses.

She used to write for a newspaper called The Independent and often talks about technology on TV, radio, and her own blog. Eva also played a big part in bringing online shopping to stores like Topshop. She even helped create a report about the future of shopping streets in the UK. She also helped start and leads a group called Cybersalon, which thinks about how technology affects our lives.

About Eva Pascoe

Eva Pascoe was born in Poland in 1964. Later, she moved to London. She went to Birkbeck, University of London where she studied Cognitive psychology. This is a field that looks at how people think and learn.

Eva's Work and Ideas

Starting Cyberia: Britain's First Internet Cafe

In September 1994, Eva Pascoe helped open Britain's very first internet cafe in London. It was called Cyberia. Imagine a place where you could go to use the internet before most people had it at home!

At Cyberia, Eva created the first lessons to teach people how to use HTML. HTML is the code used to build websites. She also ran special classes just for women. This was because in 1994, less than 3% of internet users were women. Eva and her team wanted to help more women get involved with technology.

Eva in the Media

From 1995 to 2001, Eva Pascoe was a technology journalist for The Independent newspaper. She wrote about how the internet was growing and how it was changing society. She also warned about the risks of cybersecurity issues, like keeping your information safe online.

Eva has also shared her ideas with groups like Centre for London and on the BBC show Newsnight. Since 2013, she has run her own website and blog. There, she writes about online shopping and social media technology.

Predicting Mobile Internet Shopping

Back in 1999, Eva Pascoe made a very smart prediction. She said that in the future, people would use their mobile phones to shop and browse the internet every day, especially when they were traveling.

Not everyone agreed with her at the time. A famous businessman, Alan Sugar, even argued with her. He thought there was no need for mobile internet because people could just use their computers at home or in the office. But Eva was right!

Bringing Topshop Online

In 1999, the boss of Arcadia Group (which owns Topshop) asked Eva to help. They wanted her to create a team to build e-commerce for the Topshop fashion brand.

Her team developed the first online shopping websites for fashion in the UK. They also helped all of Arcadia's other brands get online. Eva became the managing director of this new project called Zoom. It not only built online shopping for the brands but also delivered news from Associated Newspapers.

Cybersalon: Thinking About Technology

Eva Pascoe also helped start a group called Cybersalon in 1997. She is the leader of this group. Cybersalon is a non-profit organization. It focuses on how the digital revolution affects society, businesses, and culture. They discuss important current events related to technology.

The Future of High Street Shopping

In 2013, Eva Pascoe was asked to join Bill Grimsey for the High Street Report. This was a group of experts who looked at the future of shopping streets in the UK. They correctly predicted that more and more people would shop online. This would change the need for so many physical stores on the High Street.

The report was shared with a special committee in the House of Commons in September 2013.