News and views

As an organisation that has been delivering digital skills support for 21 years we were heartened to see the new, long-awaited Government Digital Strategy launched last week (1 March) with a firm commitment to closing the digital skills gap.

Residents at a retirement village in Nottingham have been given the skills and confidence to get online thanks to two local Digital Champions.

With over 1,100 Digital Champion reaching more than 11,000 people with digital skills across the UK, the One Digital partnership is celebrating the end of a highly successful Test and Learn programme.

One Digital is a unique collaboration between six diverse and distinct organisations; AgeUK, AbilityNet, Affinity Sutton, Citizens Online, Digital Unite and Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations (SCVO).

London Borough of Waltham Forest has become the newest member of Digital Unite’s Digital Champions Network as part of its drive to improve digital participation across the Borough.

AmicusHorizon is an award-winning social landlord managing 28,000 homes in London, Kent and Sussex. They joined the Digital Champions Network in January 2014 and now have more than 100 trained Digital Champions helping hundreds of customers with digital skills through 6,000 learner sessions…and counting.

We've just released new guides to help you get the most out of your smartphone, meaning our extensive collection of how-to guides just keeps getting bigger! This month’s new releases include:

“The course gets you thinking at the level clients will most probably be at. When trying to engage people with very limited skills the digital world can be a confusing place, the course does a good job in simplifying with a focus on giving confidence.”

One Digital in partnership with Walkgrove has been shortlisted for the prestigious Learning Technologies Awards in the category ‘Team of the Year’, reflecting the way the partners have worked together to provide new and effective digital skills training.

Two new classes to help residents develop their computer and internet skills have been launched in Mansfield, thanks to Nottinghamshire Digital Champion, Milly Alonso.

The weekly sessions are being held every Wednesday at the community centres of two of Mansfield’s District Council’s sheltered housing schemes; Sherwood Court and the Flint Avenue Centre and will cover a variety of digital topics.

We are delighted to see our collaborative digital skills programme, One Digital, shortlisted for this year’s NextGen Digital Challenge Awards in the Digital Inclusion category.

Digital Unite Chief Executive and One Digital Programme Director, Emma Weston reflects on the Digital Skills Crisis report published by the Science and Technology Committee Report on 13 June 2016. 

I have not yet been through the Science and Technology Committee Report on the Digital Skills Crisis (13 June 2016) line by line but I did skip straight to the section on Digital Champions. 

Collaboration, not competition – that was the overriding theme at the One Digital stakeholder event in London on Wednesday 25 May 2016.

Hyde Plus celebrated its Digital Champions programme at an event for 60 volunteers who have taught residents to get online throughout the past two years.

Hyde employees, residents and local community members came together on 14^th April to celebrate the programme’s achievements at London’s British Film Institute on Tottenham Court Road.

 With digital and housing high on the political agenda, the Greater London Authority has confirmed that four key recommendations made by the Connected Housing Initiative (CHI) will be included in briefing materials for the next Mayor of London. 

The recommendations are:

One Digital has been successfully chosen as a finalist for this year’s Digital Leaders 100 list in the category, Cross-Sector Digital Collaboration of the Year along with its Programme Director, Emma Weston, in the category Digital Leader of the Year.

Residents at Lark Hill Retirement Village in Nottingham have been celebrating their new-found digital skills which they’ve gained thanks to the help of a Nottinghamshire Digital Champion.

Over the past 10 weeks local volunteer, Hugh Evans, has been helping the residents learn how to get the most out of life online and on Monday 21^st March 2016 he and Councillor Diana Meale presented them with certificates to mark their digital achievements.

A new, collaborative programme to train hundreds of Digital Champions to help thousands of people across the UK to get online has been officially launched today (11 February 2016).

One Digital is a unique collaboration between Age UK, the Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations, Citizens Online and Digital Unite with its partners Affinity Sutton and AbilityNet.

(Click on the image to enlarge)

A new One Digital Infographic has been released today (11 February 2016) that shows how Digital Champions can have real impact in helping people to get online.

A new, collaborative programme to train hundreds of Digital Champions to help thousands of people across the UK to get online has been officially launched today (11 February 2016).

Digital Unite is looking for an experienced, dynamic and organised Project Delivery Manager to join their team. 

This a great opportunity to work with national partners delivering a £2million Big Lottery funded digital skills programme, One Digital.

The One Digital project is a collaboration of national organisations committed to helping those are without basic digital skills by recruiting, training and inspiring volunteer Digital Champions across much of the UK.

 Tim McSweeney is a Digital Champion for housing provider, Affinity Sutton. In his day job at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), Tim was involved in helping to develop the Government Digital Inclusion Strategy, which is all about getting more people online to help improve their lives. As a result of this work, Tim was keen to get involved with supporting people to get online and learn digital skills in his local community. 

Digital Unite’s Digital Champions Network took the Runner Up spot in the Digital Inclusion and Skills category at the NextGen Digital Challenge Awards in London on Thursday 5 November 2015.

This is the 5th year for the Digital Challenge Awards programme that recognises great projects and teams who are striving to deliver online success.

In May this year the County Council launched the Nottinghamshire Digital Champions Network (NDCN) as part of the Better Broadband for Nottinghamshire Programme. The aim of the NDCN is to create and support a team of Digital Champions who can help residents and businesses get the most out of life online. So far over 40 volunteers have got involved to help. Joe Bonser, 74 years, lives in Mansfield and is one of the Digital Champions.

Elite Business Systems and the Connected Housing Initiative have teamed up with EE to offer a 20% discount off the price of an EE Osprey 2 mini 4GEE WiFi with 6GB PAYG sim card, see more here.