1 Connecting Scotland: An Introduction

Connecting Scotland was set up in May 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and provides a national, human-centred, consistent, and comprehensive approach to reducing the rates of digital exclusion and digital marginalisation due to low income.Footnote 1 It is a collaboration between public, private and third sector organisations, with Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and Scottish Government working together as the leads.

The programme provides devices, data, and person-centred support to those facing highest risk of digital exclusion, and further impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown. It utilises a ‘Digital Champion’ model: staff and volunteers across Scotland who have trusted relationships with end recipients are trained to provide holistic ongoing support in the digital space, focused on building foundation and essential digital skills, confidence, and digital understanding.

In its first twelve months, Connecting Scotland supported 1047 organisations which delivered 4917 projects. In total, 30,462 Chromebooks, 29,697 iPads and 51,021 MiFi Devices were issued to households across Scotland. The project continues to deliver this work at scale.

This programme has provided a vital lifeline for many people by helping families maintain virtual contact and allowing users to access public, health and employment services that were only available online as a result of Covid. Kate Forbes, Economy Secretary.

1.1 Digital Inequality in Scotland in 2020

Prior to the pandemic, digital participation was an identified key priority of Scottish Government, with the strategic approach outlined in Realising Scotland’s Full Potential in a Digital World. Much had been achieved since the adoption of this strategy, including a co-ordinated partnership approach to addressing digital exclusion, led by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO); the introduction of a Digital Charter; funding streams for the direct delivery of meaningful work to address digital inequality, as well as significant advances in infrastructure and the provision of high-speed broadband, covering a significant portion of Scotland’s challenging landscape.

Nevertheless, there continued to be challenges and many remained offline. Research in the field identified key demographics of people less likely to have essential digital skills, or indeed those who were completely offline. These groups included older adults; people with a disability; people experiencing poverty; people not in employment, education or training and also children and young people living in those households that were struggling financially. (Lloyds Bank Consumer Digital Index 2019, 2019) Additionally, young people who were care experienced were also identified as being likely to be impacted by digital inequality. Furthermore, those living in hyper rural areas, not yet served by connectivity also brought a particular challenge. (Philip et al., 2017).

COVID-19, necessitated urgent and immediate change, as all aspects of community were moved into the online space, a space which provided a necessary lifeline for citizens to access health and wellbeing services, education, employment, financial support, connection with loved ones and much more. For those offline, without digital skills, connectivity or access to devices, the impact of digital inequality suddenly became a matter of life or death. (Arakpogun et al., 2020; Buchholz et al., 2020; Khilnani et al., 2020).

2 Origins: Call to Action and Mobilisation Up to the Point of Agreeing the Pilot

Scotland’s response to the exacerbation of digital exclusion during a national lockdown started with a ‘Call to Action’Footnote 2 (No One Left Behind Digital Scotland: COVID-19). Initiated by the Chief Designer at Scottish Government, both SCVOFootnote 3 and ScotlandISFootnote 4 published the Call to Action on 19 March 2020 to engage with and mobilise their respective sectors, following an initial meeting on 18 March. This Call to Action defined the ‘problem’:

Digital connectivity will quickly become a lifeline for our most vulnerable people in the COVID-19 emergency. However, in the most vulnerable populations we have many people who do not have:

  • access to an internet enabled device and / or broadband or 4/5G

  • the ability to use them even if they do have them (significant numbers will be unable to use them or they will be sitting in a cupboard)

  • the ability to pay for access to the internet, maintain devices when they break etc.

In defining the ‘problem’ the Call to Action established economic and social inequality as drivers for digital exclusion, highlighting key elements of a possible solution. Organisations and individuals were invited to join a national response team to:

  • Find those most impacted by digital exclusion

  • Get devices to them

  • Provide connectivity

  • Provide ongoing support to use the devices through trusted intermediaries

This approach sought to draw on research findings addressing first, second and third level digital divides, (Helsper & Reisdorf, 2017a; van Deursen & Helsper, 2015), drawing on evidence of the positive impact of person-centred holistic support for digital skills as part of wider work around social inequality (Seifert, 2020; Wagg & Simeonova, 2021) French, Quinn and Yates note that ‘Digital inclusion supports better social outcomes by helping people increase their confidence, self-efficacy and resilience. Equally, digital inclusion works best when it recognises and reflects individual needs, and helps people achieve outcomes that are relevant to their lives. This research therefore underlines again the case for embedding digital inclusion in all types of social support programme, whether public, private or community sector (French et al., 2018).

The response to the Call to Action was significant, with offers of support from the voluntary, private and public sectors. This response enabled the formation of a project team, working collaboratively to establish a plan to realise the aspirations of the Call to Action. In these early days there were no financial resources committed to the programme, with everyone working on a voluntary basis. The response enabled the emergence of a programme team working across eight teams (see Table 4.1).

Table 4.1 Connecting Scotland objectives
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In the three weeks from the inception of the programme on 18 March, this team of volunteers worked to understand the scope of what a response would look like; how the questions outlined in the Call to Action could be answered with actions; and how this could be operationalized during an unprecedented national lockdown. During these three weeks, funding was secured from Scottish Government to conduct an initial pilot to test and learn and work on a minimum viable product was agreed on 8 April 2020.

3 The Pilot, and Establishing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

Entering the initial pilot phase, there were many questions that needed answers, if the solution were to be delivered at scale. The initial pilot was to be limited in scope, as some parts of the process were not as developed at this stage. In particular the procurement and distribution processes. There were, however, some key issues that this pilot could explore:

  • What kind of device best meets a learner’s needs?

  • What level of connectivity would be needed?

  • How do you provide digital skills support remotely?

  • How do we define and determine eligibility for the programme?

The pilot was a significant part of the design and development of the programme. Given a key driver was the need to move at pace, the pilot was a key opportunity to inform many of the decisions needed to deliver the programme at scale. The initial pilot was agreed on 8 April 2020 and ran into early May.

To help answer some of these questions, and to get maximum return from the initial pilot, a number of assumptions were made. These assumptions were defined based on existing best practice, and research in the field of digital inclusion:

  • Trusted pre-existing relationships are key to developing digital skills and confidence (Wilson, 2017)

  • Community organisations play a key role in enabling digital skills development (Agnew & Ripper, 2011)

  • Community organisations play a key role in identifying those in most need)

  • Need to understand the ‘hook’ at an individual level to motivate someone to develop their digital skills and confidence (French et al., 2018; Helsper & Reisdorf, 2017b; Van Dijk, 2017)

3.1 Running the Pilot

In order to move forward, a minimum viable product (MVP) was agreed, to allow for the testing of assumptions and identification of potential breaking points. The agreed MVP was tested with a Samsung Galaxy Table A, a pay-as-you-go data sim card with 15GB of data, mobile device management (MDM) through G-Suite, a lending library model for device transfer, and support being delivered by Digital Champions. By defining the MVP, we were able to establish what was and what was not within the scope of the pilot (see Table 4.2).

Table 4.2 Connecting Scotland scope
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Two organisations were selected to be initial sites. Glasgow Disability AllianceFootnote 5 was a key organisation in the mobilization of Connecting Scotland since the first call, and it was decided that understanding the needs of learners with a range of different accessibility needs would be beneficial to the programme (See also: Chadwick et al., 2017). The second site was Govan Housing Association,Footnote 6 selected because of existing community-based partnership already undertaken around both digital and wider social inequality (and, in particular, as part of emergency Covid response), allowing the programme to test some assumptions at a quicker pace. The size of both organisations was also helpful for the pilot to explore systems and structures which could either offer opportunity or might inhibit or obstruct progress.

The criteria for user groups in the initial pilot was loosely defined as those who were identified by community-based frontline organisations as being both digitally excluded and experiencing some form of social exclusion. These broad parameters would enable the participating pilot sites to identify users quicker and enable to pilot to progress faster.

Devices and sims were ordered through online retailers, rather than through planned procurement channels, due to lead times and the need to learn at pace. The devices and sims were shipped directly to the two pilot sites. 55 Google accounts were created and allocated to the pilot sites, who then undertook a setup process. This involved unboxing the device, inserting the data sim, setting up the Google account, and then sanitizing the devices and re-packaging them. The sites then delivered devices to the doorsteps of their identified eligible recipients. The intention of this device set-up was to minimise the impact of some of the initial barriers, such as “it’s too complicated” (French et al., 2018).

3.2 Digital Skills Support

Building on both academic research and existing models of work in the third sector in Scotland, the pilot used a digital champion model to support learners. (Wilson, Grant and Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, 2017; French et al., 2018) The role of the ‘trusted intermediary’ or ‘digital champion’ is a holistic, person-centred approach which sets digital inclusion in the context of wider support work. Frontline staff are upskilled to become Digital Champions, and in particular to understand the impact of digital inequality on those receiving support, and digital inclusion activity is consequently embedded in core service delivery. This leads to greater sustainability, with digital inclusion becoming part of everyday support. A further benefit of this approach is the pre-existing trusted relationships between the learner and the digital champion who is offering practical and meaningful support in a context far greater than solely in the digital domain.

In order to upskill frontline staff to become Digital Champions, a two-hour remote Digital Champion training session was provided over Zoom. At the time of the pilot there was an understanding that remote training was the only option available due to lockdown restrictions and delivering this at scale would require consideration as to what Digital Champions could expect from this training. The purpose of the training was therefore framed as introducing the role of a Digital Champion and sharing best practice for remote support delivery. There was a recognition that more detailed input would have to be provided through supporting open-source resources. Training was provided by Mhor CollectiveFootnote 7 during the pilot, and subsequently throughout the duration of Connecting Scotland.

Despite the delivery method and time limitations of the training, insights from digital champions were particularly helpful. Participant feedback evidenced that all had gained useful understanding of the impact of digital inequality during the pandemic and understood the role and potential impact of the trusted intermediary acting as digital champion. Participants were also particularly positive about the range of open-source resources, particularly for those new to the internet, which were shared during training, reflecting that these would be useful in their support roles.

Govan Housing Association delivered support through their staff and partner agency staff. This was a ‘clean sweep’ at the digital champion model, meaning that key frontline staff engaged directly with device recipients during periods of wider support. With the Glasgow Disability Alliance cohort, the project departed slightly from the embedded digital champion model and Mhor Collective acted as the digital skills support for the first few calls, before handing over to Glasgow Disability Alliance’s own staff to continue support as embedded digital champions. This was to enable an element of co-production both to inform future training and support, and to ensure that those developing the training better understood some of the challenges around remote support for individuals with accessibility needs.

4 Key Lessons

4.1 Lessons from the Pilot

4.1.1 Identifying Target Groups

The pilot provided proof of concept that community-based organisations were best placed to identify people who meet the eligibility criteria. As lockdown restrictions came into force, Glasgow Disability Alliance had undertaken a wide-reaching survey with their members to understand the impact of restrictions and subsequent support needs, which included digital inclusion needs. Govan Housing Association engaged with partner agencies locally to help reach those who were offline; focusing on tenants who were self-isolating, those who lost their job during the pandemic and New Scots (refugees and asylum seekers recently arrived in Scotland).

4.1.2 Distribution from Organisation to End User

The setup process for the pilot organisations was time-consuming and logistically challenging. Each device was unboxed, the data sim was installed, a Google account was registered, and the device was sanitized and repackaged to be distributed to the end user. Glasgow Disability Alliance included an additional step in their setup process, configuring accessibility settings for their users, based on their needs, in advance of distribution. The most commonly used accessibility settings were high contrast keyboards, larger font sizes, magnifier, and increasing time before lock-screen activates.

The setup process flagged logistical difficulties that would prove to be a significant challenge when delivering at scale. There were challenges around the data sim not connecting, which required the pilot organisation to change the Access Point Network (APN) settings on the device. The devices needed to be charged as they were being setup, and as the majority of services were working from home this meant staff using limited sockets to charge and setup a couple of devices at a time. They also discovered that during the initial setup process required installation of system updates, which would use around 1GB of data from the data sim if the devices weren’t connected to home Wi-Fi.

Two thoughts for people who are setting up these devices in their own homes during lockdown. Charging 15 devices can be a logistical challenge. I had a number of USB port plugs (3 USB ports in one 3-point plug) but even then I could only charge 6 at a time given the space. Digital Lead at Glasgow Disability Alliance

The desire to provide a seamless out-of-box experience for end users would need to be balanced against the ability of participating organisations to deliver devices at scale, and not exclude organisations that would have limited capacity and technical knowledge to be able to complete the device setup process and deliver devices at speed.

4.1.3 Capacity of Organisations to Provide Digital Champion Support

The two pilot sites had different experiences in relation to their capacity to provide Digital Champion support. For Govan Housing Association, the Digital Champion approach was a familiar model already being utilized. Glasgow Disability Alliance were new to this approach and capacity to support such a large number of members was a concern. Too meet the need for skills support, Glasgow Disability Alliance formed a partnership with Glasgow Life, an organisation delivering cultural, sporting and learning activities on behalf of Glasgow City Council. Glasgow Life was then able to provide digital champions through their own work. This raised two key considerations for the programme:

  1. 1.

    A clear onboarding process would need to set out the role of organisations in relation to Digital Champion support, clearly defining what is expected. This will need to be assessed by the programme to ensure that organisations would be able to meet their commitments to providing support before devices are allocated.

  2. 2.

    Partnership working is crucial to enable organisations that have the reach to those who are digitally excluded but may lack internal resource to provide the required support.

4.1.4 Digital Champions Providing Support Remotely

On average, support calls took 50 minutes, although a significant amount of time was used dealing with technical issues related to both sim card activation and connectivity. Callers were positive about the communication with the digital champions, and remained patient despite the previously mentioned various challenges unrelated to learning. Despite the challenges of remote support, progress was evident. Discussion with the learners showed that 11% of participants had Foundation Digital Skills.Footnote 8 By the second call, 23% had learned all of the foundation skills. This suggests that ongoing confidence building is an essential part of digital champion delivery.

One digital champion noted:

The calls have been a success, unfortunately 4G has hampered progress but hasn’t deterred the user. I thought the 30 minutes would not work, as it would be too short a time, however, it seems to be a good amount of time to hold the learner’s interest and not allow them to become frustrated with the connectivity issues.

Some learners made quick progress, even from a very basic starting point:

We managed to get a couple of Google searches completed and the learner was extremely excited to get the results and scroll through to see how much and what variety of information was available.

Digital Champions expressed surprise at the amount of self-directed learning by the device recipient since the previous call, with some learners experimenting with BBC iPlayer and YouTube.

She mentioned she had really enjoyed using YouTube after our first call – she had found lots of things to make her laugh and distract her which she really enjoyed. She managed to download and register for BBC iPlayer and search for programmes, play them and pause them and return to the beginning to search for other programmes. She also went back to the home screen to check that she had an icon for BBC iPlayer which she did.

Digital Champions also reported that many learners also wanted to talk, and not necessarily about digital skills. Many of the learners were isolated and lonely, and any form of social contact was an opportunity for them to have general conversations about loneliness and anxieties about the pandemic. This reinforced the need for digital champions to be embedded in core service delivery, so that frontline staff are equipped and able to blend digital skills learning with other social interactions – and are subject to PVG checks and safeguarding policies should there be any significant concerns.

4.1.5 Mobile Device Management

Linked to the logistics of setting up the device, pilot sites encountered additional obstacles

It was time consuming waiting for the pre-loaded apps to install and I did wonder if it was doing anything

A ‘lending library’ model was used to take account of the deployment of Mobile device management. All device recipients were issued with an agreement that set out what this meant, and to what extent the devices were managed and what information the programme had access to. This document explores concepts that can be difficult for most people to comprehend, and was more challenging for those without previous experience of the digital world. Digital Champions engaged in the pilot also reflected that Mobile Device Management created anxiety on the part of some device recipients, some of whom expressed concerns around surveillance and privacy.

A further issue that surfaced as part of the pilot was the ability to respond to requests to ‘whitelist’ additional apps and push further content. Both pilot sites requested apps specific to their user groups, and this demonstrated that delivery at scale would require a process to be able to respond to these requests.

4.1.6 Data Allowance

The cost of providing data is a key consideration for any device distribution scheme, and as such this provided a good opportunity to get a sense of how much data people would use over a period of time. At the pilot stage it became clear that for those most digitally excluded, 15GB of data was insufficient for their needs as their confidence with using the devices grew. Operating on a “topping up” data model was time consuming and not cost effective. To deliver this model at scale would not be possible.

Our pilot with Govan Housing Association saw their Digital Inclusion Team offer Netflix and Spotify access to families with children or individuals without a TV. Other individuals were introduced to services like YouTube for the first time. These data heavy apps meant that Data Allowances were maximised within days, meaning the individual was once again cut off from digital access or leaving the community project to continually top up data. To help users manage their data allowance there was a need to explain what exactly data is and how it’s used, a concept that can be alien to someone who has no frame of reference for the digital world. The pilot sites were upgraded to 20GB per month for 12 months when their initial 15GB was used up, bringing it in line with the data being offered in Phase 1 of delivery at scale. From Phase 2 the data offer was changed to unlimited data for 24 months, and all previous data packages were upgraded to be brought in line with this.

5 Design Principles and Rationale

Following on from the initial pilots, Connecting Scotland scaled up at pace, with the programme officially opening in June 2020, three months after the initial call to action. The processes used for the duration of delivery, into 2022, remained largely unchanged, and influenced heavily through learning from the pilots. Subsequent pilots in May and June 2020 with children’s charities, a Family Nurse Partnership and local authorities helped refine our learning and processes. There are some core design decisions that underpin the model that was used (see Fig. 4.1).

Fig. 4.1
A flow diagram of connecting Scotland core design decisions. From top to bottom it is as follows. Application, assessment, contracting, distribution, and support.

Connecting Scotland core design decisions

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5.1 Key Principles that Underpin the Model

5.1.1 Trusted Intermediary Organisations

Community-based organisations are key to the delivery of Connecting Scotland for multiple reasons:

  • Access and reach to those the programme is designed to support. A key question in the initial Call to Action was ‘How do we reach those needing support as quickly as possible?’ These organisations already know their local communities and would be able to identify those that meet the criteria.

  • Validation of eligibility. Each phase of Connecting Scotland has core (low income, digitally excluded) and thematic (e.g. clinically higher risk to coronavirus, families with children, young people) criteria. Rather than a prolonged bureaucratic process of assessing individual eligibility, a process was implemented that placed trust in these intermediary organisations to use the knowledge of their users to make this decision. These requirements are managed through the application process and an agreement between the intermediary organisation and Connecting Scotland following a successful application.

  • Trusted relationships. It follows that if intermediary organisations are active and engaged with their local communities then so are the frontline staff and volunteers delivering support on behalf of these organisations. Trusted relationships are key to helping people develop their digital skills and confidence. Engaging with intermediary organisations enabled Connecting Scotland to leverage a large pool of potential Digital Champions.

5.1.2 Variety of Devices

The desire to streamline as much of the offer as possible, making it more manageable to create support resources and to limit the number of devices Digital Champions would need to become familiar with was a core aspiration. A key principle established early in the development of Connecting Scotland was that there was a desire to limit the number of different devices being used. These principles were also supported by practical factors such as demands on the supply chain for such a large quantity of devices at a time when there was unprecedented demands of technology suppliers. Consideration was also given to those devices in use by local authority education providers, and also to accessibility features.

5.1.3 Decision-Making Model

By forfeiting the requirement for end users to demonstrate their eligibility, there remained a requirement for some form of checks and balances to ensure that devices would be allocated in line with the aims of the programme. To achieve this, an onboarding process was established encompassing three strands: application, assessment and contracting. It was intended, from the outset, that the process be light touch, rather than onerous. The following outlines this light touch process.

  • Allocation: At the time the thematic criteria is agreed for a new ‘phase’ of the programme Scottish Government decide on how the devices are to be allocated across local authorities. A baseline is set with a minimum number of devices available, and an indicative upper range of devices available for each local authority. This is to ensure that there is a fair distribution of assets across the nation. In Phase 1 and the Winter Support Package the Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE) calculation was used alongside the Scottish Islands Needs Allowance. In Phase 2, additional factors were considered to decide on resource allocation, such as the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) and Free School Meals data.

  • Application: An open call shared publicly, inviting organisations from the voluntary and public sector to apply for devices and connectivity for the people they support. Applicants submit an online application form which includes information about the identification of potential device recipients, what barriers they face, current support mechanisms, and how digital champion work will be provided. At the application stage an organisation will also indicate how many devices they are requesting, and how many Mi-Fi connections are required.

  • Assessment: Following the deadline, all applications are assessed. SCVO convenes one assessment panel for each of the 32 local authority areas. A representative from each local authority joins the local assessment panel. This enables better decision-making, as a national programme will often lack local knowledge and place-based insights that can help inform better decision-making. The assessment process acts as a form of quality assurance to ensure that organisations receiving devices have undertaken due process to identify beneficiaries and have the required capacity to provide support.

  • Contracting: Organisations that are successful at application stage then enter into a agreement with the project lead at Connecting Scotland. This agreement sets out what organisations will receive by way of devices and support, as well as setting clear expectations of their responsibilities to issues devices within specific timescales, collect and provide data on who devices have been allocated to, participate in evaluation activity and provide up to 6 months support for device recipients.

5.1.4 Mobile Device Management (MDM) and a Gifting Model

Following the use of MDM in the initial pilot, the decision was taken not to proceed with this approach for delivery at scale, favouring a gifting model whereby the devices belonged to the recipients. This decision was informed by lessons learnt during the pilot, namely:

  • Privacy and the right not to be monitored

  • complexity of a process to respond to request for specific apps relevant to certain groups

  • Incompatibility of MDM with a gifting model, as the preferred model for delivery at scale

5.1.5 Mobile Wi-Fi (Mi-Fi) and Data

The pilot demonstrated that failing to provide sufficient levels of data would risk users not being able to use their devices and render the programme ineffective and also the concern that individuals who made use of the programme might be set back further that their original staring point as data would become a barrier they had not previously contemplated not accounted for Following the pilot, Phase 1 launched with an offer of 20GB per month for 12 months. Phase 1 data was managed through SCVO’s corporate account with Vodafone, which allowed to the project to gather information on how much data was actually being used, and to identify how many connections were hitting their 20GB limit each month. As Phase 2 launched in August 2020 the programme had revised the data offering to unlimited data for 24 months, retrospectively upgrading connections from Phase 1. This was also in recognition of emerging research which highlighted the immediate impact of data poverty as lockdowns held (Nesta, 2021).

A further change introduced following the pilots was the use of a mobile Wi-Fi (Mi-Fi) device. This replaced the need for LTE enabled devices (i.e. devices which, through an on-device SIM, could access mobile WIFI over the 4 g network), which are more expensive to purchase, and provides an added essential benefit of allowing multiple devices in one household to connect at the same time, similar to a home broadband connection, allowing for greater household digital participation.

5.1.6 Support

Providing support for end users to build their digital skills and confidence is essential to the success of the programme. The adoption of the Digital Champion model enables the mobilisation of support at the scale required for the aspirations of the programme. Remote support can be used to help build digital skills and confidence, but it is not without its challenges. Resources need to be developed for each type of device being deployed to make this as easy as possible for Digital Champions. It was also recognised that there would be cases where Digital Champions would not be available, or that further support might be required.

6 Digital Champions and Training

As the project scaled up, digital champions remained an integral element of the work, identifying those most in need, to distribute devices, provide support with set up and to support end learners in developing not only the digital skills to access essential services (health/education/employment) services, but also to develop digital understanding to ensure that those digital skills might be applied to improve the learner’s personal circumstances, and thus to support the development of ‘digital capital’. Digital capital is defined by Ragnedda as ‘the accumulation of digital competencies (information, communication, safety, content-creation and problem-solving), and digital technology. (Ragnedda, 2018, p.3) In other words, digital capital is the way in which material access (devices, connectivity) and digital skills (the ‘second level’ of the digital divide) then enable an individual to develop opportunities in the offline world, including employment; education; positive health and wellbeing; civic participation and more.

In order to empower digital champions to provide holistic and meaningful support, and based on the learning from the pilot phases as outlined above, a training programme was generated to cover key aspects including:

  • The impact of digital inequality on marginalised groups of people drawing on key research in the field

  • The barriers identified in academic research including opportunity, motivation and skills (French et al., 2018; White, 2017)

  • The intersection of digital inclusion and social inclusion (Helsper & Reisdorf, 2017a)

  • Quick start solutions to minimise the impact of barriers

  • Key applications as defined above

  • Exploring basic online safety messages including passwords, privacy and misinformation with key resources from trusted sources in the public domain to support digital champions (White, 2017)

  • Accessibility features on the device and additional tools to support accessibility (again an identified barrier)

  • Safe health information

At the start of lockdown, digital champions highlighted concerns about the impact of COVID-19 misinformation on marginalised groups and, in particular, the need for even frontline staff to use safe and trusted sources of information. As a direct result, the training focussed on two key resources: NHS Inform and the Scottish Government’s own Covid information site for citizens. These were explored during the session and links shared directly with participants.

7 Reflections, Challenges, and Lessons

From project inception, the Scottish Approach to Service Design, with a focus on working at speed, and in an agile fashion, facilitated and enabled both rapid learning and rapid response to that learning. Two years on, we continue to learn from the work, and to develop to meet the needs of our citizens through the lens of trusted relationships of learning and support established across in third sector organisations.

Emerging literature from the pandemic continues to reflect the need for frontline staff in all fields where they may work with people who are digitally excluded to access, for themselves, contextualised support and training to enable them to develop the digital skills they need to then support others. Our early findings from this national approach suggest that while the fundamental understanding of the far-reaching impact of digital inequality now seems to have reached the majority of organisations working in this space, there will remain an ongoing need to ensure staff themselves have the necessary digital skills not only to do their job, but to ensure that those they directly support have sufficient digital capital to use skills and understanding in such a way as to improve their own lives and the lives of others.

The third sector in Scotland values the importance of lived experience to both inform and direct the work of charities and NGOs. This means that we must also accept, as a sector, that many of those working in these spaces have themselves direct, lived experience of digital inequality. They may themselves be experiencing digital poverty related to unequal access, and may themselves have lacked the opportunity, space and support to develop a level of digital understanding which allows them equal participation as a digital citizen. The challenge then is that we must work reflectively, focussing in on assumptions, prejudices and systemic inequalities also faced by staff in these organisations and provide real, person-centred support to ensure that digital champions have genuinely been given the space to explore their own digital skills and develop digital understanding.

In addition to the need to support the development of digital skills amongst frontline workers, the model is also dependent on organisational capacity. The capacity issue is a particular challenge in the context where 32% of charities say IT has become ‘the biggest hurdle they face to achieving their digital plans’ and that just under a third of charities (31%) say their staff ‘are burned out from the demands of intense remote working’. (Amar, 2021) Building services based on trusted intermediaries is vital, and proven to work, but digital champions need skills, space, support and the appropriate digital tools to undertake this in their frontline roles. This requires financial investment and digital leadership.