City-wide digital project to support digital inclusion across Birmingham
Digital NNS, a city-wide digital evolution project, held a launch event on 23 March 2023 at the Birmingham and Midlands Institute. The event was opened by Councillor Jayne Francis, Cabinet Member for Digital, Culture, Heritage and Tourism, who spoke about the importance of digital inclusion for local assets and citizens in Birmingham.
“Poverty, social exclusion and the rapid pace of technology are some of the factors that make it hard for some people to go online,” said Cllr Francis. “There is a lot of work being done by Birmingham City Council (BCC) that aims to examine and understand how to utilise technology to help citizens.”
To do this, Cllr Francis said digital inclusion should be embedded in services across the city. The Prevention and Communities directorate at BCC recognised that there are existing gaps around digital exclusion and commissioned Northfield Community Partnership (NCP) to set up and run Digital NNS.
“Digital NNS is about improving access and digital skills within the voluntary, community and faith sector (VCFS) organisations that play a vital role in supporting our citizens to lead happy, healthy, independent lives in their own homes and communities,” said Lisa Eleftheriou, Senior Commissioning Officer at BCC’s Prevention & Communities directorate.
The Digital NNS launch event provided an opportunity for the team to share updates on the project’s progress since it started in September 2022; for the city’s 10 Neighbourhood Network Schemes to network with other players in the digital inclusion space; as well as to bring together VCFS organisations and academics to share information on increasing digital skills and the ways they can support digital inclusion across Birmingham.
Guests also heard from keynote speakers Freddie Quek, Chief Technology Officer, Times Higher Education, Community Board Member, Digital Poverty Alliance, & Chair BCS Digital Divide Specialist Group, and Kat Dixon, Third Sector Lead at Snook, The Good Things Foundation Data Poverty Lab research fellow and creator of the Periodic Table of Internet Elements.
“We were happy that so many people joined us at the launch event, to hear about the different aspects needed to ensure digital inclusion and the potential opportunities that exist for citizens and assets when they are digitally included,” said Pauline Roche, Community Lead, Digital NNS.
For enquiries, please contact:
Gena Ng
Admin & Communications Officer
Digital NNS
Tel: 07496 697466
Email: gena@northfieldcommunity.org
Notes to Editors
Download photos from the event and Digital NNS logos HERE.
About Digital NNS
Digital Neighbourhood Network Scheme (DNNS) started in September 2022. It is a digital evolution project being run by Northfield Community Partnership (NCP). It was commissioned by Birmingham City Council’s Prevention & Communities team in the Adult Social Care Directorate. The project aims to identify the digital maturity of each of the city’s 10 Neighbourhood Network Schemes (one in each constituency) and work with them and the NNS Connected Communities groups to maximise opportunities for digital inclusion for the benefit of local assets and citizens. The Connected Communities groups are communities and groups in Birmingham which are not geographically based, currently focussed on the LGBTQ+ community, the deaf community and the GRT (Gypsy, Roma, Traveller) community).
Digital NNS builds on NCP’s successful establishment and management of a digital literacy project in two of Birmingham’s constituencies (Northfield and Edgbaston) in partnership with Gateway Family Services and Age UK Birmingham.
The project is led by digital inclusion and literacy expert Pauline Roche, who previously ran the Digital Literacy Project that aims to help residents over 50 in the Edgbaston and Northfield constituencies to benefit from getting and being online. The project has been successful and has so far supported 350+ citizens since its inception in 2021.
Learn more about us at digitalnns.org.uk.
Keynote speaker presentations
Freddie Quek shared the digital inclusion strategy he has developed, #JoiningtheDots, that aims to mobilise tech leaders, communities and organisations in the UK to come together to tackle digital poverty across the areas of devices, connectivity, support, skills, opportunities, and cybersecurity. Kat Dixon, who created the Periodic Table of Internet Elements, evoked a discussion around digital poverty and its effect on access to essential services and participation in UK society, and what can be done about it.