Meet the Digital Champions
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Pearl Mann
“Six years ago I was in a rut”, says single Mum of three Pearl, 32, from Toxteth, a deprived inner city suburb of Liverpool.
Inspired by a friend to visit Granby Toxteth Development Trust which provides lifelong learning opportunities for locals, Pearl started volunteering for a few hours and learning how to use a computer. After undertaking a course, she went on to gain several qualifications and has also become a digital champion, teaching adults with learning disabilities how to use computers.
“I left school without any qualifications”, she says. “I wasn’t one of the best learners or the most confident person, but being a digital champion has changed all that”, she says. If I can do it, anyone can. I can’t stop smiling every time I talk about it – I start grinning from ear to ear. I don’t get paid but I do by watching them progress. Seeing their confidence build up, that’s my payment – to know I’ve helped someone.”
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Jayne
Jayne, 53, from Blackpool, has been volunteering at the Blackpool CVS UK online centre for just under a year. She went along after giving up her job at a local supermarket. Medical problems made it tough for Jayne to go back to the same sort of work, and she knew she’d need to brush up on some computer skills if she wanted to find an administration role instead. She enjoyed learning there so much she’s stayed on, and she now helps other people get online too.
“Helping people get to grips with the computers is actually really rewarding, and I get a lot out of it. I think it does help that I can tell people I was in their position a few months ago, and if I can do it so can they! It’s lovely to see people when it all starts to click, and then to watch them progress to do whatever is they want to do. I get so caught up in it all they have to remind me to go home at the end of the day!”
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Iroro Azanuwha
Iroro, 34, and from Liverpool, is one of O2’s 300 Gurus transferring his knowledge of gadgets and gizmos into something that anyone can understand. Tackling people’s fears on a daily basis, he’s now doing the same in his neighbourhood.
“Technology, if shown properly, is something you’ll always remember how to use”, he says. For the past year, he’s been going along to his local community centre on Oakfield Road, hijacking the tea stand and inviting locals along to tackle technology.
“Originally, people just brought along their mobiles”, he says, “but they’d often want to use it to look at something on the internet. I suggested using a laptop, and brought one in to prove a point. Whether it’s talking to families abroad or saving money, we’ll scroll through together.”
Starting out with only a couple of learners at a time, more and more started coming, and the class has become so popular that it’s now attracting up to 120 people a time. “It’s quite humbling”, he says. “It’s just nice helping people and they’re so surprised it’s for free. It’s great to impart that knowledge and to show people that they can do it too.”
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Colin Stevenson
Colin Stevenson, 71, from Paignton had put off learning how to use a computer for years, but after suffering from a stroke, things changed. After his recovery, Colin began researching the effects of strokes, and giving talks on the recovery process, but it was his wife that was typing up his notes and work on the computer.
“I started to get frustrated that I was relying on my wife to type up my work for me, so I decided to have a go at the free Online basics course at my local UK online centre at Paignton library.
Susan Herlihy, Colin’s tutor, noticed that only on the second session, Colin was helping a lady who was having trouble with the mouse. “Susan asked me if I had ever thought about becoming a volunteer Digital Champion. I hadn’t ever thought about anything like that, but now I go to the library every week to help people with computers and the internet.”
“The internet has opened up new horizons for me, and it’s such a wonderful feeling when you’ve helped someone to send an email and they get a reply from a family member that they might not have seen in a long time. I’ve enjoyed it so much that I’ve persuaded my wife to join in too, so now we’re both volunteer Digital Champions!”
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Nicola Greenan
Nicola, 36, is founder of the LS14 Trust, a community owned and community led venture for the residents of Seacroft, a large social housing estate in Leeds.
Born in Seacroft, she doesn’t like to think of herself as “some do-gooder armed with a degree and a list of do’s and don’ts”, but someone wanting to help her local community flourish. "Anything to get people out of the house and be part of the community,” she says.
During an evening to thrash out what would most benefit the area, residents decided that they’d like more computers. And so, with a big push and funding from the Meanwhile project, The Digital Lounge was born. Once a place to meet and greet with computers on the side, the Digital Lounge is now mainly used for surfing the net and has become a vital part of the community. Throughout the day, there’s a steady stream of people chatting to friends and family online and looking up jobs and housing bids. Whether they know a few basics or have never touched a mouse, with so many friendly faces, it’s also a place where member helps member to brush up on their IT skills.
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Avis Hill
Avis Hill, a 55 year old grandmother, is an unlikely web evangelist. Windmill Hill estate in Liverpool where she lives is typical of areas in the UK where internet use is low to non-existent. Nationally, it’s in the bottom 2% in terms of deprivation.
In 2005 Avis slipped a disk in her neck and had to give up her job as a carer. For Avis, internet access represented the chance to retrain and find work. “Once I’d learned how to search the internet”, she says, “using Google, I found a job advert and applied with an online application form. I got the job – as a health trainer in the NHS.
“Years ago, you needed a phone to get by - now it’s a computer”, she says. “Without the computer, I’d never have had the confidence to retrain, and I’d never have been re-employed.” Avis is now championing the benefits within her local community and inspiring her husband too. John didn’t believe in using a computer, saying “I’ve got a pen and paper – I’ll be alright.” However, with help from Avis, he recently saved £350 on his car insurance by shopping online!
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Cheryl Alvey
A Sheffield woman has gone from improving her own computer skills to helping others improve theirs, and now volunteers as a tutor at her local UK online centre.
Cheryl Alvey, 39, from the Gleadless Valley area of Sheffield, started going to the Gleadless Valley UK online centre to access the internet and learn a bit more about computers. But after volunteering to share those skills and help other learners in the centre, she’s become an indispensible member of the team and a top Digital Champion.
“I had so little confidence before I was encouraged to volunteer, but now that I’ve found some I just hope it rubs off on the people I work with. When I see a learner struggling I like to sit down, chat and tell them I understand. I know where they’re coming from because I’ve been there too. And if I can do it, so can they!”
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Tom Little
Tom Little, 69 from Liverpool is a volunteer Digital Champion St Leonard’s Community Centre. Since Tom retired, he’s always been looking to keep busy.
“I’d never even touched a computer three years ago” Tom explains, “but curiosity got the better of me and I got a laptop to learn at home as well as going to my local UK online centre, EverybodyOnline. I started off a little slow, but once I got the hang of it I soon picked it up.
“One day during a class, there were two ladies having some trouble with learning how to email. Phil our tutor was helping someone else at the time, so he asked if I could help them out. I think it also helped that I was nearer to their age than Phil. It can be really nerve wracking when you’re learning from someone so much younger and more experienced. Luckily when I help the group they’re not afraid to look silly or ask me any questions because if I can do it, so can they!”
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Karen
Karen, who is from the Cherry Hinton area of Cambridge, has been volunteering at Cambridge Online since February 1999 when her social worker encouraged her to get involved to help broaden her horizons and meet new people.
As a computer expert herself, having learnt how to use them at school, Karen took to supporting learners like a duck to water and was soon running her own sessions. 12 years later she is still helping learners to get started – and has delivered over 5,000 hours of training herself at the centre.
In her time at Cambridge Online Karen has taught a number of people to use computers for the first time. She says: “I helped Bob, my partner, to get started online and now he volunteers at Cambridge Online alongside me. My niece is disabled, and I’ve helped to get her started with a keyboard and mouse when she was only four. Now she’s eleven and we can’t get her off the computer. I chat to her almost every day on social networking sites.”
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Connect with the network
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