eGov monitor explores the Social Impact Demonstrators' UK online centre projects highlighting how addressing digital exclusion impacts on social exclusion and thus improving quality of life for individuals and communities alike.
Around 150 UK online centers will deliver 20 projects around the regions of England exploring how access to ICT and skills to use it effectively can help improve quality of life of individuals and families in our communities. The target audience for the project is those 3 million people that UK online centers cater for each year out of whom over 50% are unemployed and over two thirds of this 3 million live in some of the most deprived wards in England.
There will be at least one project in each English regional areas and the projects will run anywhere for six (6) to fifteen (15) months and will have a budget of £100,000 and target a specific audience group as highlighted in the Social Exclusion Action Plan in 2006. They include but are not limited to families in poverty, Mentally ill adults, people supporting children in care as well as older people. The projects will engage with local voluntary and other community groups to ensure they reach the people who need our support most.
Helen Milner, Managing Director of UK online centers and Chair of the Panel that chose the winning bids said “We were looking for projects which demonstrated creative use of ICT and innovation in engaging with key audiences. The winning bids are all designed to make a deep impact on specific groups, getting some of the hardest to reach people online for the first time, learning new skills, connecting with their communities and interacting with public services.
“The projects will explore the links between social and digital exclusion, and how ICT and the skills to use it can benefit individuals, families, communities and society itself. I’m excited about the potential of these projects to make a real difference to people’s lives, and a difference to how we look at and address digital and social exclusion in the future.”
eGov monitor has highlighted 3 projects in Bristol, Sunderland and Chester with interviews from the projects, you can read the interviews below.
We have also launched a public space on our GovXchange platform http://www.govx.org.uk/communities/spaces/exclusion/ to promote ideas and discussion around resolving the key challenges of digital exclusion leading to socio-economic exclusion.
Chris Pickering, Project Manager the Association of Bristol Community Learning Centres
Q1 What socially excluded group or groups are you targeting in the project, and what existing work do you do with these groups?
Our Social Impact Demonstrator Project will target all five key groups identified in the funding outline - older people, families in poverty, adults with mental illness, teenage parents and adults supporting children in care.
The Association of Bristol Community Learning Centres consists of six UK online centres in Bristol - CSV Avon Training, CSV Media, Future Learning Community Interest Company, St Werburgh's Community Association, Bristol Wireless Ltd, and the Malcolm X Centre. All serve some of the most disadvantaged areas in the city - including Easton, St Paul's and the Knowle West estate, and each is already working hard within their local community to get people learning how to use the internet, email and accessing services online.
Q2 What methods are you using to give your target group access to
ICT and why do you think this approach is suitable for the group you are targeting?
This project will see us take free internet access out of community centres and into people's homes. We're building the capacity of a wireless network which currently covers 15 square miles of the city, and we're getting re-cycled PCs into people's houses and flats so they can take advantage of it.
"To take part in the scheme, people will be required to come into a centre for an initial training session where they'll be engaged in a wide range of online activities. We've found the best way to get people learning about the internet is to get them using it, and the best way to motivate them is to get them using it for something they're interested in. If there's a method to our approach it's about putting the user at the centre of our activity, and letting them direct their own learning.
For instance, at Knowle West we'll be getting older users on family history websites, building family trees and finding old pictures of the estate, which was built in the 50s. We'll be getting teenagers to use social sites and digital cameras, and parents looking up health care information. A key part of the training sessions we will be using e-government sites like direct.gov and the Bristol City Council site - again directing people to the areas most relevant to them. It's surprising how motivated people are by finding out information about their local community, or what benefits they might be entitled to.
Q3 What benefits do you think will come from the approach you have
taken and do you think that people will get better access to public services as a result?
Over the years we've experimented with different ways of getting 'digitally excluded' people into our centres. By far the most effective is word of mouth, and word of mouth about free computers is particularly swift! Once people have had their training sessions we'll continue to support them in their homes. Everyone will access the internet via a community portal, and the homepage will include help, advice and further training information. It will also help us track if and when people are using the wireless network.
By teaming-up with the West of England University, we'll be conducting interviews and research with service users. It's very hard to get 'quantative' values for social impacts, but we hope this project will help us gather qualitative evidence about the long term benefits of connecting people to the internet and to e-government services.
The fact is, with other high street services like jobcentres, post offices and Citizens Advice centres on the decline, the internet is becoming the quickest and easiest way to get to the same information. For many of the people we're targeting, using those services online will be the first time they've used them at all.
Free internet access and free computers are a real hook for people - and a real step forward in making Bristol a truly online and interactive city. The next step is to make sure the benefits of getting citizens online are recognised, and the systems in place are sustainable.
http://www.bristolwireless.net/
http://www.knowlewestweb.net/
Jason Tutin, Learning Co-ordinator, Leeds Library and Information Service
Q1 What socially excluded group or groups are you targeting in the project, and what existing work do you do with these groups?
We are targeting families in poverty. There are more than 50 local libraries across the city, and all are UK online centres offering free access to the internet and email. At present we offer job seeking sessions, IT learning sessions, multi media and family learning sessions.
The Social Impact Demonstrators project will see us consulting with our target audience and developing new learning materials, and new systems of outreach and referral. By using existing community connections we’re hoping to get out to really hard-to-reach families so the people in Leeds who stand to benefit most from IT skills and public services – both central and local - can get connected in the way that suits them best.
Q2 What methods are you using to give your target group access to ICT and why do you think this approach is suitable for the group you are targeting?
Partnership with Leeds City Council is key to our project, which will employ two full-time project workers and run from April 2007 to March 2008. In partnership with the Council’s Neighbourhood Learning Team, we’ve successfully bid for an e-bus. Our plan is to take IT out to people in their communities, as they go about their everyday lives. We’ll be heading out to schools, community centres, community events and even shopping centre car parks.
One aspect of the project will see that outreach work extended to a cluster of schools in Armley – one of the cities most deprived wards. There we’re planning computer clubs and family sessions, encouraging parents to come in and work with their children. One of our other partners is the Interplay Theatre, who specialise in engaging disaffected young people, and they’ll be helping us get pupils interested with new media activities. As well as learning how to support homework, parents will also get the chance to do things like look up Ofsted reports or apply for free school meals online.
It’s important for us to make IT relevant to the people we’re working with. For instance, we have libraries based in council housing offices and One Stop Centres, and here staff will help people fill in forms online and register their interest in council properties. Other libraries have a high proportion of older users, and they’ll be running sessions looking at relevant benefit information on direct.gov.
We’ll also be working with one of the Council’s One Stop Centres in Armley. It’s staffed by people who can answer any council query, or at least point clients in the right direction, and at the moment it’s always packed. We want to see people with queries which can be dealt with online referred to a UK online centre, where they can get help finding what they need on the computer.
Q3 What benefits do you think will come from the approach you have taken and do you think that people will get better access to public services as a result?
“I believe our approach will mean we get IT out to people who wouldn’t walk into an internet café, a UK online centre or even their local library. Many people don’t have the equipment or the IT skills to do things online, but even more just don’t know how much they can do and find on the internet, and how it could help their everyday lives.
“If you live in Leeds there’s something out there on the internet of use and of interest to you. From reporting on broken street lights or pot holes to registering a missed rubbish collection, people can improve their lives and their communities without actually leaving them, by contacting government online. By working with the Council and co-ordinating our approach, we can really make sure people are getting to the services they need in the way that’s easiest for them.
“At the end of the day, people will get better access to public services because we’ll be giving them more choice in how to reach and use them.”
Robert Bisset, Chief Executive the Harold Tomlins Centre, Chester Aid to the Homless
Q1 What socially excluded group or groups are you targeting in the project, and what existing work do you do with these groups?
Chester Aid to the Homeless has been supporting homeless people in the city and across the North West for many years. The Harold Tomlins Centre provides various drop-in services, from food and showering facilities to accommodation services, education and training. It’s also a UK online centre.
The Social Impact Demonstrators funding will see the introduction of a new ‘Living and Learning’ programme which will target older homeless people and those clients with mental health problems, and which will have technology at its heart.
Q2 What methods are you using to give your target group access to ICT and why do you think this approach is suitable for the group you are targeting?
The fact is computers are key to everyday life now – in terms of employment and communication. They’ve changed how we live, work and interact with each other and increasingly with public services.
People tend to think of the homeless as disengaged from technology, and are surprised to find out, for instance, that most of our clients have mobile phones. But if you don’t have a fixed address, a mobile and an email account can be real lifelines. We’ve found IT is actually a ‘hook’ to get people through the door.
Because it’s not that hard to get clients in front of computers for their communication possibilities, we can then start to introduce IT skills and e-services almost by the back door. The ‘Living and Learning’ programme includes living strategies, job search skills, online courses and qualifications. We’ll also be integrating work or volunteer experience by building on existing partnerships with the council and with local businesses.
The plan is to keep people engaged by making sure the programme is flexible enough to meet their individual needs. Different clients will be taking different courses, depending on their interests and previous experiences.
Q3 What benefits do you think will come from the approach you have taken and do you think that people will get better access to public services as a result?
A key module of the programme is ‘Finding a place’, and that’s where e-services come in. We’ll be getting people looking at things like housing benefits, and accessing council housing services via the internet. Filling in things like application or benefit forms can be intimidating, so showing people how to work through them online means we’re addressing what for some has become a bit of a phobia.
Occasionally, clients think that without an address or other links to society they can’t use public services. Others just don’t see what difference those services could make to them. We can help them by providing a contact address via the centre, and showing them pertinent sites and services. Everyone is an equal citizen, with an equal right to access government. IT gives our clients an equal opportunity to do so.
Our aim is to get older people or clients with mental health issues through the ‘Living and Learning programme’. As the project progresses we’ll be learning with them – what services are out there for people, and which they find most useful.
At Chester Aid to the Homeless, we work with some very vulnerable and troubled clients, for whom homelessness is often just one of many problems. Our job is to help them progress their lives – finding confidence, stability, accommodation and work. By making IT integral to that journey I think we can even speed it up, and I’m excited about the potential of this project to help people make real and lasting changes.
