The Digital Unite Blog

Following the award-winning Silver Surfers’ Day event  in May this year, Age UK Oxfordshire  has been expanding their offer of free local classes at beginner level twice weekly in the libraries at Witney and North Leigh, and which are complemented by a weekly group session at Carterton Community College.

Age UK Oxfordshire’s press release to the Witney Gazette and Oxford Mail generated an amazing 42 immediate enquiries from older people keen to take advantage of the offer. Since then, word’s gone out that the sessions are fun, laid back and enjoyable: demand is now huge and the classes are currently booked out until next May with a waiting list after that.

At each class, a tutor and volunteers show people how to get to grips step by step with the computer, using Myguide,  which allows people to go at their own pace, helps them track their progress, and is free to use. At the college sessions, student volunteers also help out after school. When we visited one November afternoon, over twenty people were gathered in the college’s well-equipped and spacious IT suite, often helping each other through some of the mysteries. ‘I’m going to kill that mouse,’ says one lady. Fortunately though, no animals or equipment were harmed in the making of this blog entry.

Pat (pictured with friend Beryl) enjoys coming to the weekly sessions at the college, and now that she’s off her L-plates she’s thinking about volunteering to show other people too: ‘Silver Surfers’ Day was so much fun. I don’t have a computer at home; I come here and we all do it together. It’s a real buzz’.

Ruth Swift from Age UK Oxfordshire points out that it’s the overall picture that counts: ‘It’s also an easy format for us to check up on older people who might have other needs as well. It’s important too to see it in the context of all the activities: we’re so pleased to be working with RAF Brize Norton down the road, who for example are inviting local people to a Christmas party on the base.  The kids who contribute their time through Vinvolved also get the chance to qualify for a nationally recognised community award. So it’s good for everyone’.

If you too want to inspire older people to enjoy the benefits of being online, why not start planning your own event, during the week of national activities leading up to the tenth annual Silver Surfers’ Day  on 20 May 2011. The library at Witney in West Oxfordshire is already booked with a birthday party theme! Now’s a great time to think about venues and possible partners in your local area, and we’d love to hear about what you’re planning to do.

On this November day, the fog hasn’t shifted for two days outside in Carterton, West Oxfordshire  but inside the communal room at Cottsway Housing’s  Blenheim Court, it’s definitely lifting for the residents. Following the award-winning Silver Surfers’ Day event  in May this year, the Active Communities Team at Cottsway  have taken activities further, including running a Halloween-themed event during Get Online Week in October. As well as events like these to inspire residents – and staff – to start using computers and the internet, Cottsway have kicked off their Get Digital project with Digital Unite, and the scheme is now well underway in Ryegrass and Blenheim Court. Have a look at this marvellous video  to see just how it’s working out in Ryegrass!

Here at Blenheim Court, the Get Digital scheme has enabled them to put two computers in the common room and the training is in full swing. Tutor Brian Peart  is here today running one-to-one sessions with residents. John, 67, is effusive about all the things people look for once they get the hang of being online: ‘It ranges from farm animal welfare to military history (which you’d expect with RAF Brize Norton just around the corner). It’s amazing, you can find anything on there’.  

With only about 10% of residents having their own computers, the ones in the common room offer a real opportunity for residents. The aim is that the residents will convene their own Computer Club going forward, so that the common room continues to be a hub of activity with people helping each other out to get more connected to digital technologies in a social and engaging environment.

Sam Biddle, Community Development Worker has this advice: ‘It’s easy to facilitate events: we publicised them in the newsletters, invited residents and staff to participate and were able to use the computers set up in the board room. We’ll definitely do it again. The day will be a great success if you do your research about what your organisation expects of you, get your departments on board including IT, and be clear about any costs’.

Housing schemes who want to run their own Get Digital project need  look no further: you can get access to a complete toolkit of materials for free here.

With over 9 million people in the UK still having never tried out the Internet, a creative approach to encourage people to try it out is really needed. We were really interested to see in this marvellous video how Wellingborough’s older residents have been taking computer tips from teenagers, in a lovely event at Hollowell Court, which is a Wellingborough Homes sheltered housing scheme. Schoolchildren from Sir Christopher Hatton School came along to help residents explore the wonders of the web together, as well as having a go on the Wii.

Laura Osborne, aged 90, said: “The schoolchildren are absolutely fantastic.  They’re so polite and very intelligent – they’ve taught us a lot!  Coming down and using one of the computers makes life less lonely, it’s good company.  You can explore and find out different things, it’s very interesting.”

The learning in the scheme has been made possible via the Get Digital programme. It is so heartening to see it in action: we thoroughly recommend having a look at what went on.

Do you have stories and outcomes from your events? Let us know!

Alan Pollard, Digital Unite Tutor amongst other incarnations, is our guest blogger today, with news from a distant land… here are his own words:

‘I have been very fortunate to have been invited to give a talk about Digital Inclusion to the second ICT Symposium in Trinidad.  I am writing this from the venue in Port of Spain – the capital of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T).  Yes; I know; it’s rough but someone’s got to do it!

‘My invitation to speak arose a year ago when I was President of the British Computer Society and had contacts with  members all around the world. Planning came to fruition and the Symposium took place from 14-16^th November.  About 300 delegates from all over the Caribbean met to hear about progress being made in the Caribbean and in Trinidad in the application of ICT to the public and private sectors.  Trinidad is not a backward island by any means. Situated only a few miles from Venezuela, T&T benefits from access and rights to vast resources of oil and natural gas. It also has the world’s largest deposits of asphalt.  Unlike the majority of the Caribbean islands its principal source of income is therefore not based on tourism but on energy, banking and investment.

‘T&T also has a thriving telecommunications and IT industry and is well up in the league table of Caribbean countries with respect to internet access and mobile phone usage.  However, it exhibits the same problems and challenges as UK in reaching out to the under-privileged and poorly-connected element of the population.  Much is being done to reduce the Digital Divide and the numbers of those who are excluded.

‘I was able to describe the work of Digital Unite and our approach to the older generation.  My talk seemed to go down well and there were choruses of agreement at all the issues I raised and recognition of exactly the same challenges being faced.  They too have a longer life expectancy and ever-increasing numbers of older people.  Many of their inhabitants are poor fisher-folk and they find it hard to convince them of the benefits – or even the need – for the internet.  Yet, with Government services being delivered on line more and more, the time will come when some form of connectivity – even the most basic – might be essential.

‘As in UK, the older generation in T&T are proud and therefore reluctant to show their ignorance by attending computer classes.  T&T have just launched the award-winning TT Connect, which is a suite of services for online government.  One of these – the latest – was unveiled at our conference by the Prime Minster. It is called TT Connect Express and is a fleet of buses kitted out with work stations, wash rooms, disabled access and human assistance which will tour the islands much like a mobile library. Recognising that education in early years is essential to building a technology aware population, the Government has funded one laptop per child nationwide.

‘The short stay demonstrated to me that the issues we face in UK with digital exclusion – in particular among the older generation – are no different to those over here and, I guess, are the same the whole world over’.

Sounds like people are people everywhere! A big thank you to Alan for letting us all know what he’s been up to (tough assignment that it clearly was). 

Have you been involved with digital inclusion in other countries? Does the story look the same or different to you? We’d be interested to hear your comments.

We were interested to see Valerie Wood-Gaiger on BBC Wales yesterday, helping Roy Nobles show the myriad of possibilities that the internet offers. You can still catch her on iplayer over the next couple of days. (About 16.40 minutes in) A clip is now up on youtube as well.

Valerie is the amazing welsh grandmother who’s is incredibly actively involved with intergenerational work, in her Learning with Grandma initiative.

She’s off to Lyon on 29 Nov to take part in a seminar about encouraging older volunteers, and from there goes on to Paris, where she is speaking in the opening session of a major event, about how younger people can help older people become comfortable with using the internet and new technologies, but just as importantly, making this learning a two-way street, so that traditional skills are not lost with the passage of time and the march of progress.

All due respect to Valerie, and we look forward to hearing further about her adventures!

Get Online Week finished up on 24 October, and a big thank you to everyone who took part. There’s been loads of coverage, so today we thought we’d bring you a round-up of some excellent links and interviews.

First up, here’s our tutor Andrew Bailey on BBC Radio Stoke. Brian Eisenburg was lyrical both on ITV Daybreak as well as BBC Three Counties (2 hours 10mins in) (well done for the double, Brian!). And one of Lynne Thompson’s residents in the Get Digital scheme has a star turn on BBC Northampton (31 mins in).

Did you know already about the Airlie Silver Surfers’ remote health consultation project, about the fact that half of women over 55 are on Facebook, and even the Independent has noticed that Peggy Archer has been learning to surf the web? We’ve got the Daily Mail giving us tips about saving money online, and our own Get Digital programme is also in the news.

It’s fantastic to see all this publicity and coverage, and we’d still like to give the last word to Nancy, a resident on on of our Get Digital schemes – “[The Internet] is the kind of thing that if you don’t get a handle on, you’re going to be lost in this world. I’ve been dying to get computers. My family and grandchildren are all in America and they have Skype and a webcam and I can talk to them. It’s just opened up a whole world.”

Go Nancy!

Tenants in Daventry are learning new computer skills with the help of their local housing association as part of a national campaign to help older people get online. Here’s our tutor Malcolm Collins with smiling learners Frank, Jean, Dorothy and Maisie, as they get to grips with computers and the web as part of a 15-week training programme which includes one-to-one and group sessions. Daventry & District Housing (DDH) has been awarded grants through Get Digital, the programme which Digital Unite is delivering across the country, which will pay for new computer equipment and resident’s training for three sheltered housing schemes in the area: Warwick Court in Daventry, Saxon House in Brixsworth, and Henry Smith House on the Headlands estate, Daventry.

As you can see from the glamorous themed T-shirts, the scheme is also supporting Get Online week (18 – 24 October), a national event to help people of all ages get started with computers and the internet, with free events across the country.

Ciara Mcmillan, community and partnerships manager from DDH, said: “Currently just one third of older tenants in Britain have access to the internet, so schemes like this are essential to making online resources more accessible and improving facilities across our schemes. The internet can make it easier to stay connected, saving time and sometimes money, and can be a lifeline for older people.”

The training runs alongside ‘silver surfer’ web sessions hosted by Abbey Junior School, Vicar Lane, where 10 and 11 year olds have been helping over 60s to use search engines to find websites for their favourite hobbies.

If you’ve got stories and pictures about what you’ve done during Get Online Week, why not contact us and we’ll shine a light on your successes!

The BBC’s new campaign First Click is talking to people all over the country about how they are involved in helping people get online, one click at a time. Listen here (2.54 in) to our very own Digital Unite Tutor Malcom Collins and his stories from the Get Digital programme in sheltered housing.

Rory Cellan-Jones was also talking to John Humprhys on Today, with a clip of Peggy Woolsey from The Archers and Martha Lane Fox talking about the importance of the campaign as social justice.

There’s a lot going on for this year’s Get Online Week!

We couldn’t be more thrilled to announce the winners of the 2010 Best Silver Surfers’ Day Events. Emma Solomon, our MD, presented the awards at today’s See IT in Action conference. At a time when everyone is being asked to do more with less, it was so fantastic to be able happily to celebrate the people all round the country rolling up their sleeves, firing up their PCs, phones, Wii-Fits, ipads and any other kit they can lay their hands on, to introduce older people to the wonders of the web and digital technologies. Our press release gives some of the details about the winners – more also below.

The process of judging the events was far from easy. Chair of the judging panel was Dick Stroud, well-known author, lecturer and adviser on all things to do with the 50+ market. The criteria for judging included whether the event demonstrated real change in the lives of older people and their helpers, and was original, fun and creative, as well as other aspects such as whether it showed successful working in partnership on limited funds, and where younger people were involved as well. One final important criteria was whether the stories of the day would potentially inspire other people to run events themselves in the future. See if you agree from the links below!

All the shortlisted finalists rated very highly on these criteria as you would expect! The winning entries are:

Winner: Cottsway Housing Association with Age UK Oxfordshire:  more details here

Joint runners up: Southampton City Council Supported Housing: more details here and Age Concern Tameside: more details here.

Shortlisted: Andover Neighbourcare, Citizens Online (City of London),  Johnnie Johnson Housing Trust (Cheshire),  Learning for the Fourth Age (Leicester),  Simpson Primary School (West Lothian), Thurrock Council for Voluntary Service and the Walsall Housing Group.

Huge congratulations to our winners for their brilliant work! Mark your diaries now for Silver Surfers’ Day 2011 on May 20^th, and watch this space for some interesting forthcoming news about how we are looking to make the campaign bigger, better and more appealing for even more people.

Congratulations to Cottsway Housing Association and Age UK Oxfordshire for winning the Silver Surfers’ Day 2010 Best Event award.

When/where was event held?

Cottsway Housing Association, May 2010.

What did you do?

We decided to do a Hawaiian theme to ensure the day was light-hearted and fun. We delivered the project along with Age UK Oxfordshire, who provided helpers and IT support, as well as advice on what other courses/groups people could attend in the local area. We invited our residents and other local older people to come along dressed up in Hawaiian outfits and they were greeted with Hawaiian garlands at our offices. Our staff helped out too with advice and help and for many it was the first time they had worked with older residents. We turned one of boardrooms into a beach shack with ‘Blue Hawaii’ playing in the background offering our residents a rest from the computers in a relaxing atmosphere. Many participants did bring out their Hawaiian shirts and we gave out a pineapple and a coconut as prizes to the best dressed male and female. A special mention to one of our older residents who arrived in an authentic grass skirt! We invited everyone along to a Hawaiian style lunch with ‘Hula Hula’ chicken, ribs and fruit cocktails. We had some excellent sixth form students come along from the local secondary school. They had so much patience and worked so well with our older residents. Our residents’ confidence was visibly boosted at the end of the sessions!

We have never done a Silver Surfers event before, but we certainly will in the future! Our feedback from residents was fantastic and many residents have signed up for future courses with Age UK. All in all we had a great day and we are very thankful that we got so many freebies to give out on the day.

How many people participated?

30 people took part.

What was your favourite event story?

We had one gentleman who today had sent his first email and then was going to go away and buy himself a laptop, he signed upto one of Age UK’s free courses. He wants to Skype and email his son in Fort Lauderdale in America. We had a lady who was so upset and started to cry when she sat in front of the computer, it was so daunting for her. We sat with her and at the end of the day she had such a huge smile on her face! She too has signed up for a further Age UK course. One older couple brought along their laptop to have our IT Technicians have a look, he was more than happy to help offer his services!

What have you taken away from the day?

I for one will take away the knowledge that we have made a huge difference to 30 older residents today and I cannot wait to see what next year brings! Our staff are still talking about the people they met today and I am sure the stories will continue!

Contact: Sam Biddle, Cottsway Housing and Ruth Swift, Age UK Oxfordshire

For more information about all the winners, see here.