Viewdigital issue 32

Independent Social Affairs magazine for community/voluntary sectorwww.viewdigital.org Issue 32, 2015

VIEWContributors include:Barry AdamsHarry ReidMartina ChapmanSophie MullenUna MurphyClaire Savage

INSIDE:

An indepth look at how third sector ismaking use of a technological revolution

COMMUNITYGOES DIGITAL

VIEW, Issue 32, 2015 www.viewdigital.org Page 2

Why VIEW believes a debate onuse of digital technology is vital for community/voluntary sector

By Brian Pelan, editor,VIEWdigital

Back in the 1990s, I use to work as astone sub editor and news pages weremade up on photographic paper and

pasted onto boards by printers.Fast forward to 2015 and VIEW is edited

and designed on a computer. I can producethe magazine anywhere in the world and witha few clicks, the content is published online ina matter of minutes.

The community/voluntary/charity sectorin Northern Ireland has embraced the digitalage with mixed results. A few far-sighted organisations have equipped themselves withthe latest digital technology and the results of their investments are there for allto see.

But sadly, budget or the lack of a healthlybudget, means that a lot of organisations failto or are unable to utilise the technology available. It’s high time, we believe, that theentire sector started a serious debate on

how best to embrace digital technology. Thatwill entail the organisations coming togethermore to see how they can avail of the latesttechnology and to learn from experts alreadyin the field.

One of the key aspects also of digital isin communications. I believe that organisations must seize the moment and decide on how they best want to get theirmessage and campaigns across to the widerpublic. If you are only half-heartedly usingFacebook, Linkedin, Wordpress, Twitter,Youtube, etc, you are holding back the growthof your organisation.

The purpose also of this publication andother themed editions is to highlight key issues which involve us all.

Our training workshops on the use ofdigital technology shows our serious commitment to upskilling the community/voluntary/charity sector.

I hope you enjoy this issue and that it informs your use of digital technology.

A big thanks also to all who contributedto ‘Community Goes Digital’.

A group of people from the community/voluntary/business sector who attended a recent VIEWdigitaltraining workshop in Belfast, with VIEWdigital co-founder Una Murphy, far left, and Jennifer Jones, fromthe University of the West of Scotland, far right

Digital has become the buzzwordof this decade. Everything has to be digital, and we all have to become digitally

empowered citizens.Few people ever stop to think about

what all this digital malarkey actuallymeans. We’re so caught up in the hype surrounding digital technologies, we can’tsee the wood from the trees.

This is especially true in the community and voluntary sector. “We haveto go digital!” some poor board memberproclaims, having read an alarmist article ina publication about how lagging behind indigital is dangerous. But those articles havethemselves been written by people with, atbest, a cursory understanding of digitaltechnologies and their rightful place.

The pro-technology propagandaemerging from Silicon Valley is mostly toblame for this. The technology entrepreneurs there fervently proclaim theemancipating powers of digital, evoking images of a techno-utopia where citizensare armed with smartphone apps and social networks that unencumber theirchores and enhance every aspect of theirdaily lives.

So eager are we to believe that thereis a singular solution to all our woes, weeagerly lap up the disinformation emergingfrom the techno-fetishists, and we rarelystop and think about what technology canactually do for us – and what it does to us.

I work in the technology sector, andmy entire livelihood depends on technology. Without digital technologies, Iwould be unemployed – and unemployable,I reckon. Yet I am not an uncritical proponent of technology. In fact, I want towarn you about digital technologies.

First of all, we need to realise that

much of the technology cheerleadingemerges from a camp that has strongvested interests in seeing digital dominateevery part of our lives.

We don’t necessarily trust the petrochemical industry’s proclamationsabout fossil fuels, so why are we so tamelyaccepting the edicts from Silicon Valleyabout the power of technology? These people are making billions from digital, so of course they want us to welcome even more tech in to our jobsand homes.

Secondly, despite the techno-utopianravings from Silicon Valley ‘thought leaders’,technology does not serve purely to liberate us. Digital tools are not released ina vacuum – they are made part of established systems and structures whichare at least as adept at integrating thesetechnologies as the average citizen is. Technology can just as easily become aburden and a tool for oppression.

Lastly, we need to accept that com-plex problems are not solved with simpledigital solutions. A single app will not solve

child poverty. A website will not make domestic abuse disappear overnight. Self-driving cars will not eradicate climatechange. We need to step away from technological ‘solutionism’ and adopt digitalwisely, and in the right contexts. In the finalanalysis, digital technologies are just another tool to be wielded with thought and foresight. When handled appropriately, digital tech can truly servethe greater good – whereas now, it mainlyserves the interests of Silicon Valley’s neoliberal capitalists.

For any organisation to utilise digitaltech properly, you need to understandwhat problems it can solve and where digital can fit in to your existing processesand structures. In some cases digital canreplace established methods, but nearly always it will serve primarily to augmentwhat you are already doing. Evolution, not revolution.

• Barry Adams is the founder ofPolemic Digital – an SEO consultancy based in Belfast

Editorial VIEW, the online publicationfor the community/voluntarysector in Northern Ireland

Guest editor Barry Adamsurges the community/voluntarysector ‘to understand what problems digital can solve andwhere it fits in to your existingprocesses and structures’


Lastly, we need to accept thatcomplex problems are notsolved with simple digital solutions. A single app willnot solve child poverty . . .

‘’

Indiegogo sounded to me like a reallybad Eurovision act the first time Icame across the moniker about five

years ago. Yet rather than a nul points

scoring group of Norwegian would-behipsters, checking it out online I discovered it was something called a crowdfunding platform that had beenlaunched in 2008.

Back in 2010, when I first heard the term, I knew nothing aboutcrowdfunding.

As an independent fundraisingconsultant I was initially curious in afairly lukewarm kind of way, suspiciousof any gimmicky internet-based get‘rich’ quick fundraising cure-alls.

Yet by taking the time to becomefamiliar with, and analyse, a wide rangeof crowdfunding initiatives on Indiegogo, and then over time on othersimilar sites such as Kickstarter, Peoplefund.it and Buzzbnk, as theylaunched and matured, I quickly becamein turn intrigued, fascinated, impressedand then a dedicated fan – although likeevery other effective method offundraising it is an actor in the dramanot a one person show.

My enthusiastic advocacy wasn’tbased on a belief that this digital communication channel - specialising inenabling charities; community groups;artists and others to raise seriousmoney for projects of a genuinely innovative nature - could replace thetraditional fundraising mix used by notfor profit organisations to underwritetheir work.

Rather, it became clear thatcrowdfunding campaigns, on Indiegogo

and the myriad of other similar sites,can, if done well, significantly augmentincome from the tried and tested blendof charitable money raising activities.

Put simply, crowd funding has thepotential to be another arrow for the

fundraising bow in a charity’s quiverjust like applications to charitable trustsand statutory bodies; business supportthrough corporate social responsibility(CSR) programmes; money from thepublic through events, supporterschemes, legacies and the rest, and increasingly, the rewards from entrepreneurial trading through socialbusiness models.

However, before rushing head-longto throw a crowdfunding initiative to-gether, note well the caveats mentionedabove, i.e. that done well, a crowdfunding campaign has the potential to raise serious money forspecific projects.

Instead, if you’re serious about

embracing crowdfunding as a part ofyour fundraising toolbox, I suggest thatyou;

One: Understand that donewell, crowdfunding is not

free – it requires significant investment in staff or volunteers’ time, and that theyneed to both know whatthey’re doing in terms ofmounting an engaging,timetabled, nuanced campaignand working to a detailed planagreed organisation-wide as atime-limited bookended priority. Additionally resourcesneed to be marshalled and invested in creating professional campaign materials – excellent audio-visual material in particular, such as live actionvideo or animations, are

With innovation charity Nesta predicting that crowdfunding could be worth £4.7 billion to UK charities in 2016 and statutory funding stalling orbeing cut, digital communications consultant HarryReid examines if it can be a potential lifesaving partof a voluntary organisation’s funding efforts

Should you optfor crowdfunding?

Although like every othereffective method offundraising it is an actor in the drama not a one person show

‘’


essential but require specialist expertise to produce,

Two: Study and become familiar with the myriad ofcrowdfunding platforms, learnfrom what others have done onthem to gain success or experience failure.

Three: plan your campaign bysetting agreed start and enddates, ensuring that once up andrunning you can clearly and concisely convey your messagesin terms of what you want thefunding for, why your envisagedwork deserves support, who willbenefit and how. Attentionspans are short on the eyeball competitive web, so you need tobe punchy in how you informand indeed entertain. Crucialtoo is the need to communicate

what people will get by way ofreward for specific amounts ofdonation, as is factoring in yourcosts for fulfillment of each aspect of such offers.

Four: Treat your crowdfundingcampaign as the temporary flagship in your digital armada,complimentarily working in consort with your website content; social media feeds; Instagram or other photo-sharing output; materialon your YouTube channel and inyour regular e-zines. Additionally, while your crowdfunding campaign is live, ifyou don’t already, consider running a dedicated blog on thelikes of Tumbl and putting out a podcast through Sound Cloud orsimilar.

Finally, while space here allows onlya broad skim of the considerations, mycentral piece of advice is that while aDIY approach is ok for a small scalecrowdfunding effort to support for instance a sponsored event you are running anyway, that investment to bringin on a short-term basis external expertise to help advise and co-ordinate is, if you can afford it, worthit to make any major crowdfunding initiative a success.

With rewards of £100,000 plusbeing realistic targets for imaginativelyconceived and skillfully mounted campaigns, investment in consultancytime can bring a multiple return.

To ensure you don’t fall for the typeof ‘consultants’ that ask to borrow yourwatch then bill you for telling you thetime, seek the support of anindividual or agency with the skills; knowledge and understanding to assistyour crowdfunding effort.



VIEWdigital community media has been selected to helpthe Media Innovation Studio, UCLan (University of Central Lancashire) in its research for Nesta on

community journalism.It follows an invitation to VIEWdigital to speak at the

recent ‘What Next for Community Journalism’ conference atCardiff University.

The conference was organised by the Centre for Community Journalism (C4CJ) at the university. The Twitterhashtag #CJ15 was used during the conference.

Keynote speaker Dan Gillmor an American academic andauthor of ‘We the Media: Grassroots Journalism By the People, For the People’ and ‘Mediactive’ told VIEWdigital:“Community journalism should improve the community youlive in, otherwise why bother?”

A new report by Nesta ‘Where Are We Now’, whichlooks at community journalism in 2015 was launched at theconference. Read more about the report here:http://bit.ly/1FbCp7B

In 2012, Nesta published the first in-depth look at thecommunity media sector. It showed how technology haderoded the traditional newspaper industry and had also enabled new entrants to create and distribute local news andinformation at a low cost.

Nesta’s latest report stated: “Our research shows a sector that plays an increasingly important role in supportingthe information needs of communities...across a number ofplatforms, produced by a mixture of committed volunteers and entrepreneurial journalists, driven by a desireto reflect and enhance the communities in which they live and work.”

Top facts about the community journalism sector include:• Nearly three quarters of publishers (72%) have joined in orsupported a local campaign in the last two years. Nearly half(42%) have started their own campaigns.• The growth of mobile devices such as smart phones andtablets is a key driver in the rise in community media con-sumption.• Seven out of ten community media publishers identify theirwork as a form of active community participation, more thanhalf define it as local journalism and more than half see it asan expression of active citizenship.

The ‘What Next for Community Journalism’ conferenceheard that proposals for a more open BBC will include talkswith community media publishers to help local journalismgrow and thrive as a way of upholding local democracy andaccountability.

VIEWdigital selected to help mediaresearch into community journalism

Clockwise from above: Some of the participants at the recent Community Journalism conference inCardiff; VIEWdigital co-founder Una Murphy who addressed the conference; US academic Dan Gillmor and Kathryn Geels, programme manager for Destination Local, which was set up by Nesta



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By Martina Chapman

The digital landscape has changedover the last ten years, but hasthe community sector’s approach to engagementchanged to make the best use of

these new opportunities? Time spent online has doubled over

the past decade, with internet users spending over 20 hours online per week,up from just under 10 hours in 2005.

Ofcom Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes report for 2015(http://bit.ly/1F3XPjb) gives a detailed picture of how adults across the UK are

using digital technology. It is the 10th anniversary of this report and provides aninteresting glance back at a decade of digital. 2014 saw the biggest increase intime spent online in a decade, with internet users spending over three and ahalf hours longer online each week thanthey did in 2013.

The use of smartphones and tabletsare helping to drive this increase (two bitsof digital kit that didn’t exist 10 years ago)with 66 percent of adults using smartphones and most using them to goonline while nearly four in ten of us usetablets to go online.

Nearly half of mobile phone users are

making calls online and uploading videosand photos. Social media is not just the domain of the young. Nearly three quarters of all adults have a social mediaprofile and 81 percent use social mediaeveryday. Half of people aged 55-64 have asocial media profile.

Watching video clips online is growingin popularity and 40 percent of people arenow watching video clips on their mobilephones.

• Martina Chapman is Director ofMercury Insights and a FacultyMember of the EBU (EuropeanBroadcasting Union) Academy

Martina ChapmanComment


When 66 year old Omagh man,Bernard Green, stepped into hislocal library for a free Got IT?

session, little did he know where that jour-ney of discovery would take him. His threefree IT sessions with staff in Omagh Li-brary focused on basic ICT skills which ledto him being awarded the County Tyrone2015 Essential Skills Learner of the Year.

Bernard gained so much confidencefrom the Got IT? programme in Omagh Li-brary that he went on to enrol with theSouth West College to pursue further ICT

learning. As a result of this, he attained theEssential Skills award that recognised andcelebrated outstanding achievement in lit-eracy, numeracy and ICT at a ceremonyheld at Queen’s University Belfast.

Bernard said: “It has been 50 yearssince I left school and I know I have a lotto learn with computers, but I am happywith my progress so far and have gainedmuch from my experience. Not only haveI made new friends, my tutors are excel-lent. I am planning to take a course in Eng-lish or Maths or maybe even both when I

finish this course, now I have started learn-ing again.”

Bernard called into Omagh Library toshow the staff his award. He said that with-out the free Got IT? programme in the li-brary, he would never have achieved thisand he thanked the staff for helping him totake those first important steps on hislearning journey.

• More information is available onthe Libraries NI website atwww.librariesni.org.uk

A new IT chapter opens for BernardNovel: Bernard Green at one of his Got IT? sessions with Omagh Library staff member Belinda Mahaffey


1Become informed – The core of ‘thedigital thing’ is developing a sensibility about what each of the

range of digital tools, when well deployed,can achieve. Make informed choices aboutwhich combination best serves your organisation’s aims.

2Operate strategically – Considerwhich digital channels youhave the resources,

particularly in staff or volunteers’time, to exploit well. Don’t, forexample, start an organisationalblog that ends up sounding like aforgotten relative invited only to funerals.

3Think multimedia – Reflect on howyou incorporate each still and videoimages, audio content and written

text into your selected digital channels.Timetable the production and release ofeach and plan synergy between them.

4Embed interactivity – digital channels offer so much morethan a means to publish or

broadcast your views, informationand general content. To make effective use of such extraordinary opportunities, organisations must build interactivity into their digital

communication planning and operational activity.

5Design holistically – the sum of an organisation’s digital offerings must bedeveloped strategically and designed

in an integrated way to be effective. Toooften digital communication channels areadopted by organisations in an ad hoc way,with no reference to each other.

6Be human – nobody convincedanyone about anything byspeaking in the drone-tone

style of the policy wonk. Makesure your digital content reflectsand is coloured by human experience and human faces thatyour readers and viewers canidentify with.

7Cultivate creativity – the greatest digital crime is being boring. Produc-ing dull, turgid, yawn-inducing content

is the route to digital oblivion. To be digitally effective, an organization must ensure that staff and volunteers are encouraged to put forward creative and innovative ideas.

8Develop distinctiveness – An organization to be effectiveneeds to develop a distinctive

‘voice’. Not-for-profit organisa-

tions that will thrive in the digitalage will be those with clear vi-sions, something valid to say andwith the distinctive digital voiceto say it.

9Eschew gimmicks – There are constantly new possibilities poppingup but organisations do not need to

chase every digital hare that startsrunning.

• Harry Reid’s forthcoming book‘Digital Head, Human Heart : TheAlchemy Of Fraternity, Storytelling & Empathy BasedCommunication’ will be publishedby the Kilby Press in e-book andprint editions in June 2016.

Harry is available to not for profitorganisations on a consultancybasis (Tel 07717 582208 email [email protected]) and in thecoming months will be tutoring anumber of masterclasses on arange of digital themes.

How can charities, community groups and other not for profit organisations best embrace and harness the full potential benefits thatdigital platforms, tools and content offer? We asked digital communications specialist Harry Reid to share his 10 top tips

Producing yawn-inducing contentis the route to digital oblivion . . .

Practice discrimination – Do notbombard your audienceswith an avalanche of

material. Remember less is more.

10


By Sophie Mullan

Afounder partner of Go ON UK -the UK's Digital Skills Alliance –Lloyds Bank UK has spelt out the

‘state of digital’ in Northern Ireland but it’slatest Business Digital Index makes grimreading.

While Northern Ireland in many re-spects is becoming a leader in its own rightin the digital sector, with technology giantsmaking their home here, sadly the oppositeseems to be true, according to this year’sDigital Skills Index, looking at SMEs andcharities across the UK.

It would be easy to mistake NorthernIreland as a digitally skilled nation. Belfast israted as number two in the UK in terms ofaverage tech company turnover, and wehave the fastest growing “knowledge econ-omy” in the UK.

The reality is that Northern Ireland issitting at the bottom of the digital skillsleague and has done for two years runningnow.

It is a particularly issue for the com-munity and charity sector. Throughout theUK more than half of all charities remainwithout basic digital skills.

Zoom into charities in Northern Ire-land and the situation becomes bleaker, be-cause instead of data, you see a large hole,with a subnote in the Business DigitalIndex explaining that researchers could

not obtain a contactable representativesample for the charity sector in NorthernIreland.

The question is are we too discon-nected as a sector from each other, letalone the internet? It is unclear. What is

clear is a blatant need in Northern Irelandand in the charity sector as a whole forsupport and training to help increase theskills and confidence of its workers.

That is why VIEWdigital communitymedia social enterprise has published aspecial edition of VIEW social affairs maga-zine focusing solely on the issue of ‘thecommunity sector goes digital.’

We applaud the initiatives taken tohelp the community and charity sector ‘godigital’ and we are committed as a com-munity media social enterprise to do ourpart.

VIEWdigital will hosting ongoingpractical digital and media training by in-dustry experts.

On pages 8 and 9 you will see our calendar of upcoming training coming up.Alternatively if you need someone to sitdown beside your staff and provide bespoke support, we can also help.

Northern Ireland is now providing ahome to digital giants, and we can’t let ourcommunity groups, charities and SMEs getleft behind in this great digital race..

Sources:

• http://bit.ly/1yLwtZE

• http://bit.ly/1NGD6qt

• http://bit.ly/1E2OwSv

Is charity sector being leftbehind in digital skills race?


By Una Murphy

THOUSANDS people in NorthernIreland are set to understand welfare changes better though an

advice service using digital technology.Belfast-based independent advice

organisation Advice NI has receivedfunding from the Big Lottery backed Building Change Trust to help citizens understand changes to welfare.

The Ushahidi Crowdmapping platformsoftware puts people’s voices on a map, toenable Advice NI to gather geospatial datathat will track the impact of Welfare Reform and identify hotspots across NIwhere people are being affected.

A Citizen Report Card tool will be

used via an online platform to enable individuals with experience of goingthrough the process of welfare reform torecord their experiences.

Digital Fact Checking will be incorporated on the Advice NI website so

that people can submit and ask questions,access an archive of previous answers andflag up false or misleading information. Advice NI will have a panel of experts responding and submitting informationonto the platform.

The Crowd Wise tool will be used insmall group discussions. Advice NI willbring to the table a number of issues whichwill then be discussed, votes taken andthen prioritised and agreed. Interactive realtime voting tools will be used during thediscussions to help make decisions..

Advice NI will use Citizen Reporting,Advice NI to highlight the impact of thewelfare changes with real time discussionof issues, sharing of information and mapping of impact.

Advice NI taps into technologyto help track welfare changes

Barry AdamsComment

It’s easy to get lost in the digital forest.With so much pressure to ‘do digital’, itcan be hard to know where to begin,

and – more importantly – how to measurewhether your digital efforts are actuallyworking.

What sets digital apart from mostclassic marketing and communicationschannels is the level of accountability.Whereas with the classic channels you can,at best, make some educated guessesabout how effective a particular campaignis, with digital channels almost everythingcan be measured.

Data is gathered about every click,every pageview, every app screen. This isalso digital’s greatest drawback: there’ssuch a vast amount of data available, decision-makers can drown in numbers without ever arriving at any useful conclusion.

To make sense of the mountains ofdata that digital channels can offer you, youfirst need to have a clear picture of whatyou want to measure. It’s easy to loseyourself in endless graphs and spreadsheets, so you need to have a laser-like focus on the right numbers andignore everything else.

The best approach is to start withyour target audience. In the end, digitalchannels are just another means to communicate with your audience. It’s stillabout people, that has never changed. Yourdigital analytics therefore need to startwith the people you want to talk to.

Clearly defining your target audienceis a crucial first step. You can use personasto define your target audience, makingsure to detail how they use digital technologies such as the web and smartphone apps, and how this aligns withyour organisation’s efforts. If you’ve concluded your target audience doesn’t use iPhone apps, and you are developing such an app, there’s something amiss.

When you have a clear understandingof your digital audience, you can start

setting goals for your digital activities. If, forexample, your audience uses Facebookabundantly, you can use that social network as a cornerstone of your onlinemarketing, and set goals for engagementlevels with your Facebook page.

Each goal needs to have clear KeyPerformance Indicators (KPIs) attached tothem. In the example of Facebook, theKPIs for the ‘Increase Facebook engagement’ goal would be the amount ofLikes on your page, and the amount of interactions with your posts – likes, comments, shares, clicks, etc.

Measuring these KPIs is somethingyou’ll want to do on a regular basis. Amonthly report tends to serve that purpose. Ensure you’re reporting on theright goals, and ignore the numbers thatdon’t align with your KPIs.

One of the cardinal sins of digital analytics is to look at numbers in aggregate. A total figure tells you very little. Instead, drill down in to the data bysegmenting your audience, and identify

how each interacts with your digital channels. How do smartphone users interact with your website? Does this differ from how desktop PC users interactwith your site? Do visitors from Facebookspend more or less time on your site thanvisitors from Google search?

By looking at the numbers in definedsegments – which come pre-configured inmost analytics packages like Google Analytics – you will get a clear pictureabout how each of your digital channelscontributes to your online success.

Every monthly report should conclude with actionable recommendations. Digital analytics enableyou to find out what works and whatdoesn’t. Then it’s up to you to do more ofwhat works, and less of what doesn’t. That,more than anything, sets digital apart fromclassic marketing channels.

• Barry Adams is the founder ofPolemic Digital – an SEO consultancy based in Belfast

How to avoid drowning in digital data


By Claire Savage

An award-winning digital project fromAdvice NI is helping older people inthe community get online, with over

300 people taking part since 2013.Financed by the Big Lottery Fund,

Supporting Active Engagement will be ongoing over the next few years, teachingpeople in sheltered housing and folds howto use the internet via iPads.

Each strand of the project runs over12-weeks, with one hourly session perweek, and also focuses on helping elderlypeople access information about theirrights and entitlements. Indeed to date, theproject has identified more than £400,000in unclaimed benefits and has empoweredmany people to use online servicesthroughout Northern Ireland.

The digital inclusion project also received a prestigious Star Award from thenational adult learning organisation, Aontas,in February this year, when it was namedoverall Ulster winner 2015. As a volunteer-led initiative, Advice NI is subsequentlykeen to recruit more volunteers to assist

with the sessions, so they can deliver themin even more locations.

Sarah Lynch, who co-ordinates thetraining, says: “We’ve worked everywherein Northern Ireland so far – from Portstewart to Enniskillen. Our volunteerslove it because it’s really good fun.”

Very much a hands-on experience, theSupporting Active Engagement projectstarts simple and always progresses at thespeed of the slowest learner. There’s noneed for prior knowledge of computers oriPads, and the team starts from scratch, beginning with how to switch onthe digital devices.

“It’s about encouraging confidence andmaking people feel less socially isolated,”says Sarah. “We start by explaining what atablet is and what the internet is. We thengo online and teach them what a websiteis. It’s all very relaxed.”

One fold coordinator says: “Our residents, Arthur, Lawrence and Dominichave all now purchased iPads and sit in the common room in the evenings making useof the Wi-Fi. Arthur’s grandchildren havehim Skyping and Facebooking and call him

‘cool granda Arty’ now. He’s also a whizz atemailing, and even pays bills online – allthanks to the classes.”

Meanwhile, a resident who’s benefitted from the programme, adds that“the tutors are very helpful and patient”,while another says: “I enjoyed the coursevery much and look forward to getting myown tablet.”

A fold coordinator further reportsthat: “As a result of learning (about) thetablet she (a resident) was able to locateher niece, who had been given up foradoption, and she’s had a wonderful reunion as a result.”

As an organisation which championsthe rights of the individual, Advice NI previously identified the need for theirproject as more and more services movedonline. In effect, this rendered them inaccessible to many older people, makingthem at risk of missing out on importantbenefits and support. With positive feedback from those involved, Advice NIhas more sessions planned for the futureand hopes many more volunteers are inspired to join them.

John and Lavinia Beck, who have both completed one of the iPad classes at Ardrigh Fold in Glengormley,with Sarah Lynch, centre, Supporting Active Engagement Co-ordinator. Image: Nigel Hunter

Older peoples’ lives transformedwith Lottery-funded iPad project



Exploring the world of the internet atyour fingertips is a lot easier than youthink. Those of you who have never

been online could be missing out on easyaccess to information and education aswell as consumer savings.

As government and industry expandever faster into digital-only services, theDigital Inclusion Unit within Digital Transformation Service of the Departmentof Finance and Personnel continues to promote a digitally inclusive societythrough a range of projects to help digitallyexcluded people get online and improvetheir web knowledge and skills.

The Go ON NI programme providesfree training, awareness sessions, displays,and roadshows throughout Northern Ireland with events such as ‘Spring on Line week’ (which includes Silver Surfers Day) and also ‘Get on Line’ week in October.

These events raise digital awarenessand promote the benefits of accessing the internet for everyday tasks such as keepingin touch, accessing public services, gettinghealthy, saving money, job-hunting, or forjust having fun.

With events like these happeningacross NI, more and more people havebeen inspired to get and stay online.

As the oldest participant at one of theevents was 90 years old – it is never toolate to get started.

Go On NI works in partnership withorganisations such as LibrariesNI, Business

in the Community, Supporting Communities NI, and also works closelywith Go ON UK. Since its creation in2011, the number of citizens in NI accessing the internet has increased by 13percent and the 2014 target of 78 percenthas been surpassed.

By working in these partnerships, GoON NI can offer free services to assistcommunity organisations by• Setting up a group email/website• Assist community involvement in theDigital age• Providing advice and information andawareness sessions• Providing training and factsheets

If you or any of your family members,friends or community groups need someIT assistance, you can find out more bychecking out www.nidirect.gov.uk/go-on-nior by visiting your local library or www.librariesni.org.uk for free Got IT, GoOn courses and much, much more.

• The Digital Inclusion Unit can be contacted by [email protected] or telephone02890 823138.

Why it’s never too old to go online

MacMillan Cancer Supporthead of digital AmandaNeylon will be among the

speakers at the Digital DNA conference in Belfast.

Ms Neylon will set out the digital technologies which havehelped her organisation get itsstory across at a Digital Transformation in the 3rd sectorworkshop.

Cloud computing, digital storytelling and engaging an audience online are among the issues to be explored.

“We engage with over twomillion people through socialchannels”, said Ms Neylon, whohas been with MacMillan Cancer Support for the last four years.

Social media is now “fundamental” to all charities, sheadded, as it provides “a greatcommunication, fundraising andawareness raising medium”.

Ms Neylon will be speaking at

the Digital DNA conference onOctober 15 at Titanic Belfast.

Further details can be found

at www.digitaldna.org.uk VIEWdigital community media

co-founder Una Murphy will bespeaking about digital media skillstraining for community, voluntaryand social enterprise groups atthe workshop.

Digital DNA Head of Sales &Marketing John Bell said: “Fallingcash donations, the rising popular-ity of debit transactions and theincreased pressure on the thirdsector due to declining publicservices point firmly towards a future of change for charitable organisations”.

• To have a look at how MacMillanCancer Support uses Twitter follow this link:“It can be hard to know what tosay or do when someone has can-cer. Often all they need is a hughttp://t.co/IRQ1Z7ggEM pic.twit-ter.com/WaNeqJUXQB — Macmillan Cancer (@macmillan-cancer) July 14, 2015 ”

Charity using digitalto get its story across

Iwasn’t expecting this. A room full of paper.Quantities and varieties of paper hinting at asemi-religious fetish with the stuff.

I suppose I’d presumed that my visit to adigital project would bring me face to facewith shiny tech of a bewilderingly capital T variety.

Yet here, first impressions suggested, wasa cathedral for the paper worshipper.

Then, already off psychic balance, I weavedpast Pisa-esque towers of magazines, shimmiedaround tables topped with oozing volcanoes ofword processed and hand written pages, and then,gazing at the posters, maps and lists covering everyinch of wall, I lost my footing, and dignity, by failingto slalom successfully around one too many tot-tering piles of books.

Red faced, from my new vantage point on the floor, I spy the tech booty I had expected.

In an uncluttered enclave,an iPhone 6 Plus winks at meas it charges from, what Irecognise as, a 27 inchiMac. Under the tableshared by this pair, a collection of boxediPads lean against atrunk of electrical andconnection leads of allkinds. At an adjacentunit an Apple TV boxsits beside a wirelessmedia drive in frontof a projector and TV display.

I nestle in thesafe harbour of acomfy sofa and listento a passionately delivered rationalefor why Digital Express came intobeing 18 months ago.This is delivered bythe organisation’s Director of Development, HarryReid, a role he fills part-time in tandem with his successful freelance digital communication training and consultancy business.

“The nine person board that established Digital Expressknew a number of key truths about the circumstances of disabled people,” said Harry. “The board also had a coherentanalysis of how digital technology could be harnessed to challenge the unjust treatment that they all too frequently experience, that subtly, and not so subtly, limit their life chances.

“Digital Express’s constitution requires that over half theboard themselves have to be disabled people. The others are allies

who bring the experience from their positionswithin institutions like Queens University, the Community Foundation, Disability Action and thebusiness community.’

‘Digital Express is led by disabled people –such a constituency-steered situation would be farfrom uncommon, and pretty much expected, inthe likes of women’s, ethnic minority or gay rights organisations – but it is sadly far from the norm inthe disability field here.’

‘It was clear to the founding board members,that lack of awareness of disabled people’s

particular needs, arising from their physical, sensory,cognitive or hidden impairments, or from their mental

health problems, meant that little of the mainstreamcommunity-based activity concerning digital skills

acquisition was genuinely accessible to peoplewith a disability.

“Central to the guiding princi-ples of Digital Express are twin

planks that run contrary tothis status quo. Firstly, thatthe organisation is verymuch in the business ofenabling disabled peopleto acquire the skills tocreate digital content, andsecondly, that both thisemphasis on creative production, and the resulting material produced, in and of

themselves, act as achallenge to the softbigotry of low expectations concerning disabledpeople and the moreovert negative attitudes they are routinely subject to‘.

‘The emphasis ondigital content creationapplies across thespectrum of projectsthat form the meat ofDigital Express’sStrategic Plan for the

next five years that envisions initiatives that have been designed toaddress self advocacy; campaigning skills; creative expression; education and employment’.

‘More recently I was fortunate to gain a Fellowship from theWinston Churchill Memorial Trust to deepen the knowledge baseDigital Express can draw on by researching the potential of digitaltechnology to change attitudes to disability held by both wider so-ciety and disabled people themselves. This involved visiting rele-vant community projects and academic institutions in New York,Boston, Cambridge and Montreal this summer, and undertaking asimilar exercise in Norway and Iceland next February’.


Top of the list of human beings at risk of what fluent policy-speakers call ‘digitalexclusion’, are disabled people. Siobhan Cruickshank visits the HQ of Digital Express to find out about the organisation’s efforts to ensure that people with disabilities have the opportunities to be masters of their own digital destiny

All aboard the Digital Express

A man for all seasonsHarry Reid: As well as beingthe Director of Developmentof Digital Express, he also runs an independent communications consultancy,which offers a range of services, including; • Digital communicationstrategies

• Campaign and public affairs strategies• Project development• One-day masterclasses

Enquiries [email protected] Mobile – 07717 582208

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