Over the past month or so I’ve been talking a lot with colleagues from We Share Stuff, from BCU, and with bloggers I know in Birmingham and beyond about digital mentoring.  The idea of digital mentoring assumes that we are all better off if we can all make good use of all the digital goodness around us.  This has it root in a number of commonly held beliefs: we’re more employable if we have better digital literacy, we’re more socially mobile if we can move through the digital world with ease, and we’re better able to be active members of a democratic process that is increasingly mediated online.

Off the back of this, I came up with a list of three things I wish my students could do from Day 1 when they arrive at Birmingham School of Media: these are not core IT skills that most students already have (email and word processing), but basic social media ideas that make them active and included digitally.

Three steps to digital inclusion

1. Make use of RSS:  the only realistic way to track the things that matter is to you is to use RSS: quite simply it brings the things that matter to you directly to your computer screen, so you don’t need to search them out. There’s no need for me to explain RSS in any great depth, when my BCU colleague Andre Dubber has already done it so well on his New Music Strateies blog.
2. Be able to blog: blogging won’t be relevant to all of the people all of the time, and it may be an activity that comes in fits and starts until an author finds their voice.  But understanding that you have the ability and the right to self-publish what matters to you using free services is a vital step to being digitally included.  We Share Stuff prefers WordPress.com for simple and freely available blogging, and we can even help organisations by taking them through the early stages of setting a blog up.
3. Begin building a network: this third step is more strongly aligned to a model of digital inclusion for my students, though I think it has relevance to all.  A presence, even a basic one, on Linked In is the best way to put yourself in the telephone directory of the digitally included, and underpin the conversations and relationships built through reading and writing online.  I think of Linked In as three services: my CV online, and an address book that will follow me around where ever I go and always stay up to date, and a way of keeping my connections up to date with the progress of my work.  For other people, Facebok, MySpace, Twitter, or a combination of all these and more might be more appropriate.

Before these three items can come into play there is an initial benchmark for computer literacy: understanding file structures, mouse control, the metaphors of modern operating systems (point, click, file, folder), and the ability to send an email.  My list of three doesn’t necessarily assume this benchmark has already been achieved: demonstrating these three aspects of digital inclusion provides a context and a set of real learning outcomes that can be used as the basis of a new way of teaching computing to those who have never even turned on a PC or Mac.

We ran the first Internet surgery on Sunday, and while it was quiet, we still managed to discuss some stuff and throw out some ideas to those who attended. We have decided to make the surgery a fortnightly affair which gives everyone a bit more time to promote / organise etc. The next one will be on Sunday 7th December, same venue, The Red Couch cafe, Erdington from 11:00 am.

The Government’s response to tackling the digital divide has them coming up with a new scheme offering “vouchers” to low-income families enabling them to get online at home. This scheme is costing £300 million. Providing these vouchers will not address the problem, let alone overcome it. We’ve said it before and we’ll keep on saying it until somebody with ears in the appropriate places, gets the message.

It’s not about the access….

The ongoing evolution of the Internet..and it will be all about the Internet, means that people who are still to use the technology or have limited experience, are being left behind at an unacceptable rate. There are some small movements to address the real issues here but it’s all too slow and lacking in volume to make a difference.

I chatted with Nick Booth last night about the situation and we drew similar conclusions about what should actually be happening with that money. It should be providing training, guidance, communication, advice etc delivered by the people with the right skills and attitude and in a manner that recognises that the way we learn will need to change to make the most of what the internet is becoming. These “digital mentors” can be the answer to an as yet fully realised situation.

Our project is in the throws of equipping these mentors with the kind of knowledge and skills that will benefit those excluded from the digital community. Hopefully before too long, those who make the decisions will be aware of what’s actually going on and who knows, maybe do something about it.