At Katherine Low Settlement we’re working towards Wandsworth becoming the most digitally inclusive borough in London by 2024. To do this we need the whole community involved. On 12th October we hosted a third meeting to discuss digital inclusion in Wandsworth. 25 people attended. They came from a variety of community organisations, schools and colleges, business and the Council. The group agreed it need to bring more people and organisations into the discussion and subsequent work ahead of us.
Meeting Notes
So sorry but I forgot to record the session. Doh! But the notes from the Chat are included below and attached.
Key: You will see below that action points are underlined.
Learning from others – Leeds City Council
Ian ([email protected]) and Claire from 100% Digital Leeds inspired us all by speaking about their work over the last 3-4 years.
More can be found out their work here: https://leedsdigitalinclusion.wordpress.com/
And https://librarybookings.leeds.gov.uk/digitalinclusion/ (lending library)
And https://www.womeninleedsdigital.com/ (women in digital)
And https://www.leedsccg.nhs.uk/news/100-digital-leeds-keeps-older-people-connected-during-lockdown/ (keeping older people connected)
And https://leedsdigitalinclusion.wordpress.com/support-for-organisations/digital-champions/ (digital champions)
And https://www.leeds.ac.uk/info/130566/cities/607/smart_cities AND https://datamillnorth.org/smart-leeds/ (Leeds smart city)
2 strategy and operational papers from Leeds that are a must read: https://democracy.leeds.gov.uk/documents/s199910/Recommendation%20tracking%20Digital%20Inclusion%20February%202020%20v4.pdf AND https://democracy.leeds.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=208130
And there’s more – ‘google it’.
There followed a fascinating discussion including:
- Digital inclusion is essential to survive and thrive in today’s world.
- All the Council departments in Leeds (and Wandsworth) have a vested interest in working on digital inclusion stuff. They have saved costs as a result of working on this agenda.
- Digital inclusion cuts across all Council departments.
- Partnerships are at the heart of their success. They work closely in ‘partnership’ with community organisations and business that have the knowledge and trust of local communities, to be able to work with residents who are most excluded.
- Leeds have a ‘smart city fund’ that all Council departments contribute to + they bring additional funding from businesses and independent funders.
- They’ve worked closely with the Leeds Business Improvement District and Leed’s Digital Sector for jobs, funding, training and more.
- Leeds are good at documenting, monitoring and evaluating their work. They are able to continuously improve through this reflective learning approach, and share that learning within Leeds and beyond.
- 100% Digital Leeds has worked closely with their Leeds Poverty Commission to identify priorities, work streams and funding.
- They focus on the most excluded residents in Leeds.
- They are long-term in their thinking, funding and work programmes.
- There is a dedicated team, within a Council directive, leading on this work. They have buy-in at all levels.
- The wider ‘Ripple Effect’ ensures that everyone in Leeds benefits from 100% Digital.
Strategy
Action: The group agreed the Wandsworth Digital strategy. Download it here: Wandsworth Digital – STRATEGY v3.0 – 12Oct20
A discussion followed about getting senior people in Wandsworth Council (politicians and officers) involved in Wandsworth Digital. Action: Aaron to lead on this with others.
A suggestion was made to link Wandsworth Digital with London-level strategies, work and funding e.g. through the GLA and the wider London Recovery Plan and Digital Access for All Mission https://www.london.gov.uk/coronavirus/londons-recovery-coronavirus-crisis/recovery-context/digital-access-all
Immediate Plans
The discussion turned to doing some practical work.
The group agreed on 3 strands of work to get cracking on with between now and Christmas:
- Mapping (suggested members: Mark, Rajesh, David S, Anna) – what’s going on digitally locally?
- Data (suggested members: Sarah, Tony, Mary-Ann, Carol, Pat) – how can we secure the funding to enable local residents to get the data needed to be online?
- Training (suggested members: Isabel, Julie, Andrew, Fran, Kate, Alex Persy/Michael Hallick both in Wandsworth’s Children Services) – what training can we provide for frontline workers to be able to support local residents? Opportunistic engagement by all staff about digital! What training is there for local residents (Wandsworth’s Lifelong Learning department will have basic IT training for local residents shortly, along with Wandsworth’s City Learning Centre).
Steve Pinto recommended that the University of Roehampton’s business school might be able to help us with some of the above.
Action: Aaron and Isabel will enable these 3 working groups to get up and running within a week.
Funding opportunities
Covid-19 Fund at www.biglocalsw11.co.uk must be Battersea based and developed in response to Covid…. happy to discuss one-to-one [email protected]
Use the Charity Excellence database to find relevant funds: https://www.charityexcellence.co.uk/
And Wandsworth Voluntary Sector Coordination Service have this: https://wandsworthcarealliance.org.uk/support-for-organisations/resources/funding/
Please keep your eyes open for funding opportunities for Wandsworth Digital. Thanks.
Digital Inclusion – data sources / reports (thanks Kate)
- ONS – exploring the digital divide
- ONS survey of internet users
- The Great British of Geography of Internet Use and Engagement
- Internet Users map
- Ofcom adult media use report
- Lloyd’s consumer digital index
- Tech Partnership’s heat map
- Digital Nation 2019 – Good Things Foundation infographic
- Digital Nation 2020 – Good Things Foundation infographic
- Good Things Foundation digital inclusion report during coronavirus
- Good Things Foundation Blueprint for a 100% Digitally Included UK
- Challenging perceptions of the Digital Native Generation
Date of next meeting
We agreed to meet on Monday 9th November, 10.00-11.30am, on Zoom.
Here’s’ the link>>>> https://zoom.us/j/92914680913?pwd=SUJ4dVRDbkcxWU12WnZuL29kV3VKQT09
Meeting ID: 929 1468 0913
Passcode: 777985
This is an open meeting so if you’d like to attend then do join us.
Volunteer needed to help with branding
Finally, if anyone knows someone who could volunteer and develop a brand identity (incl. logo) for Wandsworth Digital pro bono then please contact Aaron at [email protected]
Donate an old laptop
Until then if you’d like to donate an old laptop then please contact www.powertoconnect.co.uk
