Digital Inclusion one year on...

This is the fourth National Digital Inclusion Conference - and it's kicked off with a look back to some of the promises delegates made in the closing plenary of the 2008 event.

So how have we done? What progress has been made?

Getting connected
Last year, UK Online Centre's Helen Milner promised to carry on their support for the 6000 UK Online Centres, and to be bold in pushing forward a digital inclusion agenda. Since the 2008 event over 100 new UK Online Centres have been established, and now over 80% of the most deprived areas in the UK have access to a UK Online Centre. And over £4m of grants have been given to local UK Online Centres.

Reaching Out
Many of the delegates sharing their pledges for action in 2008 talked about their outreach. Richard Huckett from MillRaceIT shared a vision for taking Internet Access skills out to people in sheltered housing, and over 2008-9 they have introduced over 350 people to the web for the first time, reaching another 1100 people through community outreach.

Derby Libraries were working in 2008 to extend their partnership working with ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) groups and reaching out minority communities. Reporting back in 2009, they were able to share news of a successful outreach programme in Asian communities in Derby, and a dynamic Get Online Day in October 2008 - giving many people in the library their first experience of the internet.

Digital United shared their commitment to encouraging older people to get online, and with Silver Surfer's day have been working to increase Internet Use amongst older people. The importance of getting older people connected was soon underlined at this year event by the statistics shared by Helen Milner on low usage amongst over 70s, and Paul Murphey MP's emphasis on supporting Silver Surfers.

StartHere - first steps to engagement
Sarah Hamilton-Fairley shared in 2008 proposals from StartHere to get their online, digital TV and kiosk based information systems into a wider range of venues including Prisons, MOD Information Offices and Probation Offices. Reporting back at this years conference she was able to reflect on a range of successful pilots, and plans to roll out the scheme wider. With a report on the pilots soon to be published (and a video on the project being shown here at NDI09 tomorrow) Sarah shared how the project has ticked two key boxes: connecting people very quickly to the information they were looking for, and acting as a starting point giving new internet users the confidence to get started using technology.

Resting on laurels, or leaping on the springboard?
Last year's conference saw one of the first speeches from Minister for Digital Inclusion Paul Murphy MP - and now, 12 months on, Stephen Dodson from the DC10Plus network shared his sense of the Groundswell taking place in the world of digital inclusion. A lot has gone on, but few delegates are resting on their Laurels, and as Mathew Taylor put it in his closing remarks for the first session "It's been a year of real progress but we're also going to use the next few days as a springboard for even more action."


Your Action
Have you got a story of digital inclusion progress since 2008? Or perhaps a remaining challenge?

Add a comment below or create a blog post to share your updates and ideas.