HELP CONNECT THOSE ISOLATED AND SHIELDING THROUGH DIGITAL MENTORING

40% of established digital users found that the internet made them feel less alone and 72% of established digital users were better connected to friends and family. (2018 Lloyds Research Study)

We are a group of Glasgow University students passionate about digital inclusion and who want to make a difference to the over 50's who are isolated during Covid-19.

We are using our time and skills to design, develop and deliver a new intergenerational digital mentoring project to support members of the Glasgow community who are over 50, shielding and do not have access to technology. This project aims to provide access to a device, internet and 1-2-1 remote mentoring with a trained student mentor to develop basic digital skills for community members.

We have time, passion and skills - now we need your help to purchase devices and mobile internet to our community members to help us create intergenerational mentoring partnerships.

Our Story - DigiGallus Connect

Digi  (Abbreviation) di-gee. involving or relating to the use of computer technology

Gallus: (Adjective) gal-luss, Scots dialect. Bold, daring, impressive

We are a group of students who are studying degrees or courses at the Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow and are dedicating our Summer to developing a rapid response initiative during Covid-19.

At the heart of our project is realising the value of intergenerational relationships. UK government statistics find that “around 43.5% of over 65's have not recently used the internet”. At the same time, many under 25's (such as students) do not have regular interaction with people outside their own age groups beyond family members. This is important as after graduation we are likely to be working alongside and managing people from four different generations who all bring different perspectives and ways of orientating themselves to technology.

We decided to bring together the need for digital accessibility and the valuable experience of intergenerational relationships - and DigiGallus Connect was born.

WHAT DO WE WANT TO ACHIEVE?

Our goal is to design, develop and deliver a programme that encourages the development of basic digital literacy skills through connecting with our community in the Greater Glasgow area. This will be achieved through a training programme for volunteer students to become mentors for our project alongside a series of short practical programmes mentors can use to guide community members through how to use the internet, set up email, video call and do an online shop. We have researched, designed and developed these programmers and they are ready to go!

Volunteers will engage with members in the community to assist them in their Digital Skills journey as well as provide a device and internet access to support this. Mentoring sessions will be provided over the phone and then online with all DigiGallus Connect activities will comply with social distancing guidelines.

DigiGallus Connect is important to us as we want to challenge some of the perceptions that society has about both older people and younger people while increasing digital accessibility across our City and have a positive impact on our community.

However, this is just the start for us.  We want to deliver a programme that can not only be scaled up across the city and engage with more users over the next year, but also creates a package of open access resources that other student groups across the UK can use to engage their own local communities.  We want to make the world a DigiGallus place for everyone, where people of all ages connect and learn through digital inclusion. And by donating, you can be part of this journey!

WHAT YOUR DONATIONS WILL ALLOW US TO DO

Achieving our target of 70 mentoring relationships will be achieved trough your donations that will go towards provides initial instruction, a device and 6 months internet access to our community participants.

• £5 will pay for printing and postage costs to send our initial instructions and guidance to our community participants
• £10 - Will pay for one months internet access for one of our participants
• £50 - Would cover the cost of a device for our participants
• £115 will provide the complete package of resources needed to mentor a community member

REWARDS

We are offering rewards as our little way to thank donors who contribute to the DigiGallus Connect Project. 

FOLLOW US AND FIND OUT HOW WE ARE DOING

Keep up to date with the project, by going onto our website, as well as following us on our social media accounts.

www.digigallusconnect.com

https://www.facebook.com/DigiGallus-Connect-102448994878092/

https://twitter.com/digigallus

you can also support us in other ways... 

Please help support our journey so that we can provide our sessions as effectively as possible and to make sure that participants are not turned away due to no funds for the relevant equipment. We want to support our community, but only you can help us achieve this!

Remember you don’t have to donate money to support us. Share our story through your favourite social media platforms. This will help generate publicity and awareness and may help encourage someone else to donate! Every share will help us reach our goal.