1

Information literacy and digital inclusion: from

advocacy to actionSharon Wagg

Tinder Foundation, UKJane Secker

London School of Economics and CILIP Information Literacy Group, UK

Stéphane Goldstein InformAll, UK

European Conference

on Information Literacy ECIL2016

Prague10 October 2016

Photo: Astronomical Clock at the Old Town Hall, Praguejaime.silva on Flickr - CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

• In the UK, 12.6m people do not have basic digital skills - almost 24% of the adult population

• Highly represented among the digitally excluded: people with no qualifications, elderly, disabled, low income

• Groups who never use the internet:– 13% of UK population as a whole– 42% of over 65 year olds, 58% of over 75 year olds– 36% of people with disabilities– 32% of people on low incomes

2

Digital exclusion: a major social concern

3

Challenges for public policy

UK government has identified four main challenges to going online:• access - the ability to actually go online and connect

to the internet• skills - to be able to use the internet• motivation - knowing the reasons why using the

internet is a good thing• trust - a fear of crime, or not knowing where to start

to go online

4

What is UK government doing?

Some recent activities:• Digital inclusion strategy (2014). This includes:– Common definition of digital skills and capabilities– Promoting working on partnerships between commercial,

public and not-for-profit sectors– Embedding digital inclusion in the strategies and activities

of all government departments• Digital Inclusion Charter (2014)• Benchmarking and tracking of digital inclusion– Digital Inclusion Outcomes Framework

• Digital Inclusion Forums• Digital Friends initiative

5

Tinder Foundation

Our visionA world where everyone can benefit from digital

@SharonWagg @TinderFdn

6

7

About Tinder Foundation

• Charity and digital inclusion organisation• We help the most vulnerable in society engage with

technology and use it to improve their lives, through face-to-face support and easy to use digital learning

• Learn My Way is our online learning platform - www.learnmyway.com

• Design/deliver digital inclusion programmes for central/local Government, private sector, Trusts/Foundations

• Since 2010, almost 2 million people helped to get online through UK online centres in our network

• Network is a big club with a shared vision made up of 5,000 hyperlocal partners

8

About Tinder Foundation

9

Partnerships

10

Library Digital Inclusion Fund

• October 2015-April 2016• 16 library services funded across

England, delivered in over 200 branches

• Over 1,600 people supported to gain basic digital skills of which over 800 gained digital health literacy

• Reached socially & digitally excluded people

• Different models tested: partnership, tablet lending, mobile classroom

11

CILIP Information Literacy Group (ILG)

• Charity and digital inclusion organisation• Special Interest Group of CILIP (UK’s chartered institute for

librarians) set up in 2003• Organise the LILAC conference annually • Publish the Journal of Information Literacy

(open access, peer reviewed)• Host informationliteracy.org.uk and LIS-Infoliteracy Jiscmail list

(over 2000 members)• Offer training, funding, sponsorship and research bursaries for

members• Twitter @infolitgroup community (over 4200 followers)• Developing links outside the library sector through our Advocacy

and Outreach Officer

12

ILG advocacy outside of higher education

Working in partnership with:

In discussions with:

13

ILG Research Bursaries

Funding projects (up to £10,000) outside the higher education sector:• Public libraries and digital champions in Newcastle (completed)• School libraries and political literacy in Scotland (completed)• Value of information literacy in the workplace (completed)• Information literacy among trainee teachers• Information literacy to facilitate research amongst radiographers• Information literacy to promote citizen engagement at the local

level• Understanding information skills in the workplacNew projects just being announced:• Refugees and information literacy• Information discernment in response to misinformation

14

Digital Literacy TeachMeet events

Two held in February 2016 (London and Leeds)

15

Questions for discussion

Question 1:What are your experiences of digital inclusion in your respective countries (collaborations, projects, research, policies…)?

16

IL and digital inclusion: a global perspective

https://padlet.com/secker_jane/ECIL2016

17

World café discussions

18

Questions for discussion

Question 2:What are the merits of a collaborative approach between public / academic libraries and other players to foster digital inclusion? What are the challenges facing the fostering of such collaborations?Consider the wider benefits to society as a whole as well as the practical benefits for individuals and communities

19

Questions for discussion

Question 3:What is the role of librarians in such collaborations?

Question 4: What lessons have been learnt from collaborations, and what might be done to improve them?

20

Further reading

Geekie, Jacqueline (2016), Report on Digital Inclusion TeachMeets in London and Leeds. http://www.informationliteracy.org.uk/2016/02/report-on-digital-inclusion-teachmeets-in-london-and-leeds/Go ON UK (2015), Basic Digital Skills Framework https://doteveryone.org.uk/digital-skills/digital-skills-framework/ Go ON UK, Digital Inclusion Outcomes Framework https://local.go-on.co.uk/resources/the-digital-inclusion-outcomes-framework/ Ofcom (2016), Internet use and attitudes 2016 Metrics Bulletin. http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/other/internet/Internet-and-attitudes-bulletin-2016/ The Information Literacy Advocacy section http://www.informationliteracy.org.uk/sectors/marketing/ UK Government (2014), Digital Inclusion Strategy https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-digital-inclusion-strategy/government-digital-inclusion-strategy Wagg, Sharon (2016), An opportunity for public libraries to demonstrate their role in digital inclusion. http://www.informationliteracy.org.uk/2016/08/an-opportunity-for-public-libraries-to-demonstrate-their-role-in-digital-inclusion/ Tinder Foundation (2016), What place does digital inclusion have in digital literacy? TeachMeet Facilitator Summary Report http://www.tinderfoundation.org/sites/default/files/research-publications/teachmeetfacilitatorreportfebruary2016.pdf

21

Sharon Waggsharon@tinderfoundation.orgwww.tinderfoundation.org@SharonWagg @TinderFdn

Jane Seckerj.secker@lse.ac.uk http://informationliteracy.org.uk@jsecker @infolitgroup

Stéphane Goldsteinsg@informall.org.ukhttps://www.informall.org.uk @stephgold7

Thank you for your attention!

Photo: Charles Bridge, PragueBill Hertha, on Flickr - CC BY-NC-ND 2.0