Introduction to panel discussion at European Conference on Information Literacy, October 2016 (ECIL2016)

1. 1
Information literacy
and digital inclusion:
from advocacy to action
Sharon Wagg
Tinder Foundation, UK
Jane Secker
London School of Economics and
CILIP Information Literacy Group, UK
Stéphane Goldstein
InformAll, UK
European Conference
on Information Literacy
ECIL2016
Prague
10 October 2016
Photo: Astronomical Clock at the Old Town Hall, Prague
jaime.silva on Flickr - CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

2. • 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. 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. 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. 5
Tinder Foundation
Our vision
A world where everyone can benefit from digital
@SharonWagg @TinderFdn

6. 6

7. 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. 8
About Tinder Foundation

9. 9
Partnerships

10. 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. 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. 12
ILG advocacy outside of higher education
Working in partnership with:
In discussions with:

13. 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 workplac
New projects just being announced:
• Refugees and information literacy
• Information discernment in response to misinformation

14. 14
Digital Literacy TeachMeet events
Two held in February 2016
(London and Leeds)

15. 15
Questions for discussion
Question 1:
What are your experiences of digital inclusion in your
respective countries (collaborations, projects, research,
policies…)?

16. 16
IL and digital inclusion: a global perspective
https://padlet.com/secker_jane/ECIL2016

17. 17
World café discussions

18. 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. 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. 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. 21
Sharon Wagg
sharon@tinderfoundation.org
www.tinderfoundation.org
@SharonWagg @TinderFdn
Jane Secker
j.secker@lse.ac.uk
http://informationliteracy.org.uk
@jsecker @infolitgroup
Stéphane Goldstein
sg@informall.org.uk
https://www.informall.org.uk
@stephgold7
Thank you for your attention!
Photo: Charles Bridge, Prague
Bill Hertha, on Flickr - CC BY-NC-ND 2.0