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 smart internet expert and business person living in London. She helped start Britain's very first internet cafe, called Cyberia. Eva has written for The Independent newspaper and often shares her ideas about technology in the media and on her own blog.

She played a big part in bringing online shopping to the fashion store Topshop. Recently, she also helped with the Grimsey report, which looked at the future of shopping on the UK's main streets. Eva also co-founded and leads a special group called Cybersalon, which studies how technology changes society.

Discovering Eva Pascoe's Life

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

Eva Pascoe's Work and Impact

Starting Britain's First Internet Cafe

In September 1994, Eva Pascoe helped create Britain's very first internet cafe in London. It was called Cyberia. An internet cafe is a place where people can pay to use computers and access the internet.

At Cyberia, Eva also created the first HTML courses for the public. HTML is the code used to build web pages. She even ran special courses just for women. This was important because in 1994, less than 3% of internet users were women. Eva and her team wanted to help more women get involved with technology.

Sharing Tech Ideas 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 changing society. She also warned about new risks like cybersecurity issues.

Eva has also shared her knowledge 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 smart prediction. She said that in the future, people would use their mobile phones for shopping and browsing while traveling. This idea was quite new at the time.

Famous businessman Alan Sugar disagreed with her. He said that people would use computers at home or in the office, so mobile phones wouldn't be needed for information. But Eva's prediction turned out to be correct!

Bringing Topshop Online

In 1999, Eva was asked to help the Topshop fashion brand. She was invited to build a team focused on e-commerce. E-commerce means buying and selling things online.

Her team created the first e-commerce websites for fashion in the UK. They helped all of Arcadia Group's brands, including Topshop, sell their products online. Eva became the managing director of this new project called Zoom. It not only built online shopping sites but also shared news from Associated Newspapers.

Founding Cybersalon Think Tank

Eva Pascoe also co-founded a group called Cybersalon in 1997. She is currently its chair. Cybersalon is a not for profit organization. This means it doesn't aim to make money.

Instead, Cybersalon focuses on current affairs. They study how the digital revolution affects society, businesses, and culture. They help people understand the big changes happening because of technology.

Shaping the Future of High Streets

In 2013, Eva Pascoe joined a group of experts for the High Street Report. This report was led by Bill Grimsey. The group correctly predicted big changes coming to shopping streets in the UK.

They foresaw that more people would shop online. This would reduce the need for so many physical stores. The report was presented to a committee in the House of Commons in September 2013.