Scotland's Digital Inclusion Charter - Approach

One of the problems with delivering digital inclusion work is that there’s so many ways to do it.  

First, who are you delivering it for? What are you delivering? When, how and where will you deliver it? Do you have the buy-in? Are you doing it right? 

But what if we stopped seeing this as a problem, and started seeing it as an opportunity? 

Digital inclusion work is nuanced – it has to be, because it’s a person-centred process that has to meet the individual where they are. There are different parts of different solutions required at different times.  

This also means that organisations of any size and any sector can get involved. That’s why Scotland’s Digital Inclusion Charter’s second pledge is all about your Approach. It says: “We commit to delivering on digital inclusion across our organisation, based on our understanding of need.” 

Design the right thing  

In a world where services offer so many things, finding the right one can be difficult. People sometimes feel they are passed from pillar to post – never getting the support they actually require. This isn’t always because of inefficiencies in the system, but because what people need isn’t available for them.  

That’s why the Approach pledge is so important.  

If we want to  help people to get online, it’s crucial that we understand what they’re looking for. Running digital skills classes in communities where the main issue is around access to affordable devices means we’re not addressing a need and our resources aren’t utilised well. 

So how can we make sure we get the right approach? 

• Take time to understand the needs of the people you want to help.  

• Think about how you can embed digital inclusion into your service. Where would be good opportunities to think about doing digital nudges or signposting to other services? 

• Explore the five pillars of digital inclusion – how can they relate to the support you do or want to provide? 

Design the thing right 

There are many solutions to the problem of digital exclusion, but all of them depend on the circumstances of the person you’re looking to support.  

Evidence suggests that people who are digitally excluded because of poor digital skills or a lack of motivation were more likely to have had a negative educational experience. But what does this mean for you? 

Without understanding the needs and context of the people you work with, your approach is going nowhere. If people don’t feel comfortable engaging with the learning environment, you need to adjust how you support them to learn about digital. 

And part of this is making sure you get the buy-in from the people you need it from. Whether that’s senior management, Trustees, or partners, they need to be involved in the process of rolling out support. Without them, sustainability is even more at risk.  

You can design the thing right by: 

• Testing your solutions with the people you work with, for example by running short, sharp ‘taster sessions’ 

• Monitoring, evaluating and communicating the change you’ve made 

• Securing that all-important buy in.  

You can always check out the Resources page of Scotland’s Digital Inclusion Charter for more support.  

The approach we take as organisations and services is what is going to make or break the digital journeys of our learners. By making sure we get this right, we can enable safe and confident users of the online world.