Rural Digital Inclusion project

Overview

The Rural Digital Inclusion project is a partnership between iNorthumberland, Community Action Northumberland (CAN) and NICRE. The project is supported by partners including Commsworld, and works alongside the installation of full fibre broadband across Northumberland. It will help rural communities and businesses to get full value from the improvements to digital infrastructure by:

Providing practical support to help people use technology in their daily lives
Working with partners across Northumberland and beyond so that new initiatives complement and build on what is already available to support digital inclusion.
Capturing feedback and learning throughout to develop a blueprint for rural digital inclusion for other communities and local and regional policy-makers

Read on to find out more about the practical support available and ways to get involved in the project.

Want support with using digital? Sessions available across Northumberland

As part of the Rural Digital Inclusion project, we're hosting regular and one-off support sessions across Northumberland. If you're struggling with using a phone, laptop, tablet or other digital device, want to find out about using different websites and apps and to feel more confident online, come along and get free advice from our volunteer digital champions.

Find a digital support session near you

Digital skills to share? Join our network of digital champions

Over the next three years the project will recruit and train volunteer digital champions and connect them with village halls and other community spaces to develop a local offer of support.

You don't need to be an IT whizz to become a Digital Champion, you just need confidence, enthusiasm and a bit of spare time to help people realise the benefits of using digital technology. There are lots of different ways to volunteer depending on your availability: from running a regular drop-in service to being part of one-off 'techy-tea parties' or training sessions, or popping up at existing meetings and events. You might also be involved in helping local groups and businesses make more use of digital technology in their work.

To find out more about being a Digital Champion, take a look at the role description, or contact Marc Johnson, Community Development Officer on marcjohnson@ca-north.org.uk or 07477 961096.

Techy Tea Parties - hosts and partners needed

Techy tea parties are one off special events where people can drop in to get support with using technology and getting online at the same time as having a cuppa and a chat. We've already run several of these events in different locations across Northumberland and have had really positive feedback.

Hosts needed: If you run a village hall or other community venue and would be interested in hosting a Techy Tea Party (or any type of digital support session), we would love to hear from you. As a host you would simply provide the space and help spread the word in your local area - our team will do the rest.

Event partners: We're also keen to link up with other organisations who already offer digital support and would like to be part of our Techy Tea Parties. A great range of partners - including Age UK Northumberland, Barclays Digital Eagles, Alncom and B4RN - have already joined us at events: enabling us to reach more people and deal with different types of questions.

To find out more about Techy Tea Parties and how to get involved, contact nicre@newcastle.ac.uk.

Connect with us

CAN and NICRE are keen to hear from any individuals or organisations who would like to link up with this project. Other ways to be involved could include helping raise awareness of the support available, working together to shape and deliver new types of digital support, encouraging colleagues, friends and family to volunteer, donating devices, and sharing experiences around digital inclusion.

Throughout the project we'll be capturing and sharing learning about ways to boost digital access, skills and confidence in rural communities, and showcasing case studies on our Innovation Portal. We would love to hear stories and examples from any part of the UK and beyond.

Get in touch