News and views

A new Digital Champions Network for Housing has been launched today (Thursday 19 September 2013) to help housing providers support their residents to get online and extend their digital skills ahead of the introduction of Universal Credit.

Congratulations to Joyce Preston of Pulham Market in Norfolk who won this year’s Spring Online prize draw, winning £100 of high street vouchers for herself and £100 in vouchers for her Spring Online event holder, The Pennoyer Centre in Pulham St Mary.

Since we relaunched our website last year we’ve seen the number of our visitors go from strength to strength and can now proudly boast a monthly audience size of almost 130,000, that’s about one visitor every 20 seconds!

On Tuesday 16 July our Business Development Manager, Kathy Valdes, took to the podium at the Digital Inclusion in Austere Times event at the glorious BT Tower.

Attended by around 90 representatives from housing associations and local authorities, Kathy showcased the ways in which Digital Unite is helping organisations to meet the challenges and opportunities of the Digital by Default agenda.  

To see the full presentation click here.

We've just launched a new range of online courses to help people support others with using the internet to manage money and search and apply for jobs online.

Just over 7 million people have still never used the internet* and around 16 million people aged over 15 don’t have ‘basic online skills’**. With digital skills being an increasingly essential part of everyday life the need to support others with getting online has never been greater.

After 17 years in the driving seat I am taking a year off from the marvels that are Digital Unite to go sailing with my family. It feels like a rather momentous decision but I am very sure it is also a very good one not just for me but also for Digital Unite.

Carphone Warehouse, Headline Sponsor of Spring Online encouraged employees to host their own Spring Online events in stores across the nation.  Each of the events sought to help older customers get to grips with tablets and smartphones – further conveying Carphone Warehouse’s vision to ‘make people’s lives better through technology.’ 

On Tuesday 11 June 2013, broadcaster and journalist Joan Bakewell presented awards to six local organisations that helped older people and others to get online as part of Spring Online 2013 in association with Carphone Warehouse.

"I attended the taster days and now I'm on the computer every night. It's so exciting to be able to talk with my son in Sweden and see him."

Three organisations have been shortlisted for the Spring Online Best Event Awards 2013 in association with Carphone Warehouse which will be presented by Joan Bakewell on Tuesday 11 June 2013.

An estimated 20,000 older people and other less confident users were given their first taste of computers, the internet and other digital technology last month as part of Digital Unite’s award-winning Spring Online campaign in association with Carphone Warehouse.

Over 1,000 free digital taster events were held across the UK in a wide variety of places such as libraries, schools, housing schemes, community centres and village halls and even a cinema, pub, street market and candle factory.

One Spring Online event holder, David Armstrong, wrote to us to tell us how delighted he was about his Spring Online event at Putney Methodist Church, where members of the Church got together with the local Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

In our long-held experience we know that getting older people to use computers and the internet is about helping them to unlock the door on the digital world so that they, and the people who support them, can realise its far-reaching potential and fling that door wide open on their own.

The unique beauty of Spring Online is the richness and diversity of the digital taster events which are run by local people for local people, and 2013 is looking to be no exception.

This April, hundreds of events are being held in a variety of venues from Carphone Warehouse and Marks and Spencers stores to housing providers, Age UK branches to libraries, churches to IT centres, coffee shops to community centres, colleges to schools. There are also events for people with visual and hearing impairments.

Members of Putney Methodist Church are getting together with the London Mosque in Southfields this month to hold a cross-faith Spring Online event, designed to help people irrespective of their social background to get online and make the most of the internet.

Leeds Life Skills Centre wants local residents to have a go at getting online as they take part in our Spring Online campaign. The non-profit organisation based at Oldfield Lane Community Centre in Wortley is opening its doors to computer beginners to learn a whole new range of skills, from digital crafting to making your own music CD.

A candle factory near St Albans is one of the most unusual venues for Spring Online this year. Owner Jo Martin is opening up 400-year-old Prae Wood Farm Barn, home of Potters Crouch Candles, to help older people in the area get online.

It’s just four weeks to go until our award-winning Spring Online campaign kicks off. That's still plenty of time to get involved so here are four great reasons why you should definitely hold a free digital taster event for local older people this April:

Just five weeks to go until our Spring Online 2013 campaign kicks off and in this newsletter we're talking about five very excellent reasons why people should get involved this year. There's also a flavour of Spring Online events already registered plus new guides, our Digifest delight, award news and more. It's well worth registering for - just your email address is all we need!

We are delighted to announce that the Digital Unite Trust in association with Carphone Warehouse is now offering grants of £100 to people and organisations who take part in Spring Online 2013 by holding free digital taster events for their local communities.

We are so chuffed to welcome BMI Healthcare as a supporter for Spring Online 2013.

We are delighted to announce that Carphone Warehouse will act as headline sponsor for this year's Spring Online campaign (22-26 April 2013).

It was in 2011 that Home Group, one of the UK’s largest providers of housing and supported housing services, first got involved with Spring Online. With no computers in their sheltered schemes at that time, a manager within their older persons’ service identified the campaign as a great opportunity to begin to bring their residents online.

We are proud to announce that we are working in partnership with Affinity Sutton, one of the largest providers of affordable housing in England, to deliver an innovative and multi-layered digital inclusion programme designed to develop, improve and embed digital skills for residents and staff.

In the first of our newsletters for 2013 we're talking about event registration for Spring Online 2013 which is now open, our free Social Housing Digifest taking place this March, new guides, oh yes, and a visit by our MD to the Palace to receive one's OBE from HRH Prince Charles... Read more here or better still, register for your own copy via our home page.