"Residents are happily emailing friends and family and each other, posting comments on their own Digital Unite Noticeboard and the Internet in general and also entertaining their grandchildren at the computer". Martin Calvert and Peter Wade, Scheme Managers, Thalia House
So how do you make such a community approach work?
Perhaps it's best to talk about a particular group of residents in sheltered housing in Bexhill, East Sussex. The residents of this 88-flat complex called Thalia House in the seaside town of Bexhill, had expressed an interest in learning to use computers and the Internet. Thalia's housing provider, Rother Homes, responded by approaching the Horizon Housing Group (of which they are a member).
Horizon's People for Action department, specialist social and economic development department, responded saying they knew of a specialist organisation with a track record in bringing in IT literacy projects to sheltered settings: Hairnet Computer and Internet Training.
In partnership
As with most things in life, once the partnerships are in place, and everyone is facing in the same direction, the rest of the journey is comparatively easy. And so it was with Thalia House. Pretty soon they had a computer, a broadband connection, an engagement meeting (so that everyone knew what the project was about and the part they had to play; this included residents and scheme and housing managers); and a weekly training 'day' when their local Hairnet accredited trainer, John Gaunt, came to visit every week for 11 weeks.
The culmination was the appointment of a pair of 'Computer Caretakers' (residents) who were trained by John to housekeep the computer - and the slow exit involves John in facilitating the computer club on a monthly basis for three months before the group goes 'solo'.
If all this sounds like a huge effort, then against this one must look at the benefits gained: At one level the benefits are as varied as the people who've gained the IT skills and are putting them to use.
But the great big news flash is really about enabling a step-change that's occurring anyway in society, driven largely by the rising demographic of older people. Sheltered housing communities lie at the heart of this change - they're the place where increasing numbers of people are now living, and who need to have their voices heard by the wider world and by service providers locally.
With email, Internet and projects and strategies such as Digital Unite programmes that help older people to access them in a way that makes sense to them, there's a real chance of making sure that this step-change happens in a way that empowers rather than disempowers the people in these communities.
Brian Collins computer caretaker and club member of Thalia House summed up the activity beautifully in one of his postings on the website:
"Now that at least two Rother Homes sites are on the Website, hopefully a two way exchange of information will be come the norm, using the wealth of knowledge of the residents for the benefit of all. We all need to get away from the 'them and us' idea, and to work together with our landlords for a better life all round. Rother Homes are not the big bad landlord, all residential associations throughout the land are hamstrung by rules and regulations. Let's all work towards a better tomorrow".
Hairnet is an Internet and Computer training company that works nationally and locally. We are experienced at facilitating IT project ownership and mediating allocation of tasks and responsibility with tenants and staff at sheltered schemes.
Digital Unite Programmes make sure that learners see the relevance of their skills from the moment they embark - by giving them a space and place for their 'voice' to be heard.
About the author
Gill Adams, HairNet
Hairnet is an Internet and Computer training company that works nationally and locally. They are experienced at facilitating IT project ownership and mediating allocation of tasks and responsibility with tenants and staff at sheltered schemes. Digital Unite Programmes make sure that learners see the relevance of their skills from the moment they embark - by giving them a space and place for their 'voice' to be heard.
