On 25 May, LOTI was delighted to hold the annual London Digital Inclusion Conference at the Coin Street Neighbourhood Centre. The interactive event brought together London’s Digital Inclusion community and we were so pleased to be joined by almost 100 digital inclusion practitioners from the public, third and private sectors.

A few highlights from the day

We started the day on a positive note with Theo Blackwell, Chief Digital Officer for London, outlining the aspirations of the Greater London Authority for continuing the work we’ve started and announcing a second round of funding for Get Online London. This will be vital in supporting voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations to support the amazing work they already do in helping Londoners get online.

This was followed by a speech from Helen Milner, Chief Executive at Good Things Foundation, the delivery partner for Get Online London. Helen shared the early successes achieved by the service highlighting the critical role of the VCSs in London, who are distributing the devices, mobile data SIM cards and digital skills via the Learn My Way platform.

Our three breakout sessions delivered lively and passionate discussions on the themes of digital champions, triaging digital inclusion support and creating a directory of digital inclusion services. It was evident that many lessons had been learnt from running these initiatives and there was an appetite to build and expand on the knowledge and experience of others.

Christine Goodall from the HEAR Equality and Human Rights Network and Zarine Avagimyan from the Centre for Armenian Information and Advice (CAIA) did a fantastic job in bringing to life the support received by Londoners from Get Online London.

Maria Agiomyrgiannaki, from Waltham Forest, outlined the borough’s high ambitions in this area.

We also had the pleasure of learning about what other regions are doing from Beena Puri who is the Greater Manchester Digital Innovation and Partnerships Lead.

Finally, our panel session shone the light on a few organisations like Renaisi and Clear Community Web, who are actively involved in Get Online London.

My key reflection from the day was the continued huge appetite for collaboration, as this is our second year holding this event, from people giving up their time to learn and share with others to the genuine passion to help and support people.

How do I get involved?

If you’re a VCS organisation and you’d like to become a member of the Good Things Foundation Network, please visit the Digital Inclusion Hub page to sign up. This is completely free and it will enable you to access free devices, and sim cards for your beneficiaries.

If you’re an organisation and you’d like to donate devices, more information can be found on our device donation page. This process is free to you and we can provide information about the safety and security measures for wiping devices.