Digital Day 2014 – NIACE Cymru

Today is Digital Day 2014, NIACE Cymru’s national theme day which encourages digital inclusion in Wales. Digital Day is part of Adult Learners Week, the largest celebration of adult learning in Europe which engages with over 19,500 current and potential learners.

What are the facts?

The Welsh Government has identified that those individuals with low levels of digital inclusion are those with high levels of social and economic exclusion and that being digitally excluded reinforces social exclusion and poverty. In modern society, the demand for online services is growing rapidly; Digital Unite proposes that the landscape of the UK in the future will see all public services being ‘Digital by Default’. 

Currently, it has been identified that 785,000 adults in Wales don’t use the internet and that 72% of employers won’t interview someone without basic online skills. The repercussions of these statistics mean that those individuals who are already digitally excluded may not have the capability to manage vital aspects of their lives, such as health, employment and finance in the future ‘Digital Wales’. This lack of digital skills is the first and most important barrier to becoming a digitally inclusive nation.

With the closure of libraries and digital hubs across Wales, the issue of accessibility is the second key barrier. With a lack of information and signposting to affordable home PC equipment, there is also a lack of awareness for digitally excluded individuals in Wales who would like to buy their own.

The wider benefits of digital inclusion also include sociability which can be enabled and increased through social and digital media.  There is a direct link between digital skills and health and wellbeing – in modern society, social media can be a relevant and powerful tool to combat social isolation.

Impact

A high proportion of events staged during Adult Learners Week each year are categorised as ‘Digital’ and NIACE Cymru as an organisation aim to provide skills to those individuals who are most likely to be digitally excluded. Throughout Adult Learners Week and Digital Day, NIACE Cymru is linking up with 180 digital events in Wales which aim to equip learners with a new digital skill. This may be an introduction to facebook, internet banking, online shopping, internet safety or even getting online for the first time.

For Digital Day 2014/15 NIACE Cymru will be working in partnership with Community Housing Cymru. Both organisations strive to engage with the same core demographic across Wales and believe that their audience need to be equipped with the digital capability to face the future landscape of Wales –

‘There are an estimated 240,000 social housing tenants digital excluded in Wales, representing nearly half of all social housing tenants. These are some of the most socially and economically excluded individuals with high levels of demand on health, social care, education and welfare services.’

Through supporting and evaluating 2014 Digital Day events and with support from key digital inclusion organisations in Wales, such as Computer Recyclers and Communities 2.0, NIACE Cymru and CHC hope to identify ways in which future  digital events  can be tailored and directed towards digitally excluded individuals in Wales.

The results of this process will form part of a September launch event which will take place during Employment & Skills Week at the Digital Showcase in Cardiff. They also hope to get 100 social housing tenants online for the first time during this exciting event!

How can you get involved?           

For 2014 NIACE Cymru are launching a social media drive on Twitter with #DigitalDayWales We will be inviting all organisations, charities & businesses  to help us promote the importance of digital inclusion in Wales by retweeting this hashtag which will encourage national trending.

If you would like to be involved in the NIACE Cymru’s future digital campaigns, please email [email protected]

Emma Harris is the Communications Officer for NIACE Cymru