Go Digi is a national digital literacy program with the goal of supporting more than 300,000 Australians to improve their digital skills. And we’re lucky to have over 350 Network Partners across Australia, to share this vision. Every month we highlight one of our amazing Network Partners as they share how they’re working towards a digitally inclusive society.

We last featured Campaspe Regional Library, this month we’re pleased to introduce Network Partner, The City of Unley Libraries.

 

What inspired you to sign up as a Go Digi Network Partner?

The City of Unley Libraries' digital literacy program, Reboot, was born in October 2015 and starting a program from scratch, we were keen to get the word out as much as possible that we were here to help people. So signing up as a Go Digi Network Partner was one of the first things we did. Being able to showcase our presence on the Go Digi website is fantastic and the aim is to hopefully engage some members of our community who may not otherwise be connected to us in the library.

What does your organisation do?

The City of Unley Libraries offers a range of programs for our community including hugely popular children’s literacy programs, youth writing groups, adult creator spaces, health and wellbeing workshops, as well as, of course, a digital literacy program.

How does your organisation help the community build digital literacy skills?

The Reboot program promotes lifelong learning in digital literacy. We help our community to learn by encouraging engagement with technology in a hands-on, creative, practical, and fun way. We offer one-on-one classes, small group classes and larger group presentations, for adults from beginner levels – like how to use an iPad for the first time, to more advanced levels – like how to create a podcast or a blog.

We present technology in ways that clearly show what the technology can do for the learner in a really practical way, not just what the technology is and how it works. Instead, we show how it could improve and benefit lifestyles, add convenience, and help in a variety of relevant and creative ways.

We also focus on breaking down the ‘fear’ of technology and encourage participants to play with their devices and learn by trial and error (with the reassurance that they will not break it!) This is a great leap forward in teaching and establishing digital literacy.

When is your next face-to-face learning event (pop-up)?

We are finishing up the year with our last group class for 2017 learning all about Facebook. Our new program starting in February 2018 has a safety theme, with classes on protecting your home PC, internet banking, and privacy on social media. Of course, we are going to throw some fun stuff in the mix too – like learning how to edit and manage your photos on iPhones and iPads and how to access Netflix!

Do you have a #digiconfession to share? where… a #digiconfession is a technological mishap

Nothing like a technology fail in the middle of a digital literacy class! I will confess, though, occasionally they are from my own doing. Like at a recent event when I was wondering why the iPod was not connecting to the speaker – as I was getting more and more impatient and blaming Bluetooth – then I realised I hadn’t actually turned the speaker on!

Can you share one of your favourite memories of community member whose life has been transformed by developing digital skills?

We had a lovely lady, called June, who came into our Goodwood Library branch with her laptop for some of our one-on-one Tech Help lessons. She was in her mid-80s and was so keen to learn as much as she could. She was working on a family history project and we were able to show her how to use Word, burn discs and share large files online using DropBox, as well as use photo editing software to scan and edit her old photos. She often commented on how amazing it all was and how her friends could never believe she did it all herself!

Become a Network Partner and join over 350 organisations working towards a digitally inclusive Australia.

Register your organisation here.

Know a Network Partner who needs recognition for their fabulous work? Nominate them as our next Network Partner of The Month.