THE DIGITAL PARTICIPATION LAB AT TE HERENGA WAKA

RESEARCH FOCUS: VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON

Libraries across Aotearoa New Zealand play a huge role in supporting people’s digital engagement within the community. Partnering with other organisations such as the Digital Inclusion Alliance Aotearoa (DIAA), public libraries enable people to get online through initiatives such as Skinny Jump.

They support the development of digital literacy in communities by making technology available and through digital skills training on a one-to-one basis and with programmes and classes. The Digital Participation Lab based in the School of Information Management at Victoria University involves staff and students from across the school and focuses on the research areas of digital inclusion, digital resilience and digital sustainability. Some of our recent research has focused on how public libraries support digital engagement within communities.

Although statistics show that Aotearoa New Zealand is a very connected society – the World Internet Project states that 94% of our population are internet users – we know that inequalities in access to and use of digital technologies remain. Factors such as race, gender, education, and age can impact the extent to which people engage with digital technologies and, for disadvantaged groups, this can mean that they become further excluded, unable to fully engage and participate in society as more and more government and commercial services move online. Governments around the world realise that steps need to be taken to address inequalities in engagement with digital technologies within their populations and have established strategies and initiatives to try to support more people’s digital engagement.

THE DIGITAL PARTICIPATION LAB

At the Digital Participation Lab, our current work in this research space includes a project funded by Internetnz exploring the sustainability of digital inclusion activities because while there have been evaluations of digital inclusion programmes and initiatives, the longer-term impact on individuals and communities is more difficult to identify. For this research, we are focusing on three initiatives in partnership with the DIAA: Skinny Jump; Better Digital Futures; and the Ministry of Education’s COVID-19 student access initiative. The first two of these have a link with public libraries which are key partners in Skinny Jump, helping people get connected with low-cost pre-pay broadband, and they also host ‘Better Digital Futures’ sessions to build seniors’ skills and confidence with digital devices and the internet. For Skinny Jump, we surveyed 8,000 people who had signed up for the service between March and December 2020 and we had 508 responses. The service was popular with our participants: 93% of those who had registered in 2020 still used it and the vast majority used it every day. Asked what they used their internet connection for, responses focused on paying bills, connecting with family and loved ones, and accessing government services online. Our results indicate that the internet connection available through Skinny Jump supports people in a range of important day-today activities, enhancing their quality of life and providing more convenient and flexible ways to access financial and other services.

Looking at the survey’s opentext responses, we identified three core themes of access, affordability, and activity. Comments around access focused on ideas about access to the internet generally and what it means for people, with comments mentioning how it was “a life support” and “a human right”. Affordability was probably mentioned the most with the cost-effectiveness of the Skinny Jump model highlighted by many. One participant mentioned how Skinny Jump had “lifted a weight” off their shoulders and allowed them to manage the costs of connection more effectively. Finally, comments related to activity traced how people used the internet and the idea of connections featured strongly here – keeping and building them - especially during the pandemic. Comments about using the internet for jobs and job seeking and for education and learning were also common.

HELP FROM SKINNY JUMP PARTNERS

About half of the respondents had received help from a Skinny Jump partner, a majority of which (62%) are libraries. The role that library staff play in supporting people’s access and connectivity is an important one, brokering the interaction between people and technology to support digital inclusion within communities.

Some other research by the Digital Participation Lab indicates that library staff are keen to extend their own digital skills to support digital inclusion activities and programmes more effectively. The ‘Digital Wellbeing for All’ training, another DIAA programme, aims to build library staff capacity to deliver digital literacy support within communities, aimed at adults and particularly senior learners. Our evaluation of the programme found high levels of library staff confidence in digital skills before the training began which increased over the life of the programme. During times of stress and change caused by the pandemic lockdowns, the training provided tools, resources and networking for participants. While many of the participants’ libraries were already offering services like Skinny Jump, the workshop content offered “a good refresher”. For other library staff, the training provided insights into working with adult learners, although this remained a little intimidating for some. Nevertheless, our evaluation showed that staff who participated in the training experienced a rise in confidence in their abilities and a wider appreciation of how what they had learnt would support their work in the library. There was a keen sense that the training would be beneficial in communities as it related directly to library staff roles in supporting digital skills, and it helped them as individuals through upskilling and developing their confidence with a wider range of digital technologies and services.

ASSISTING LIBRARY USERS WITH DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT

Assisting library users with their digital engagement needs is now an accepted part of the job for public library staff and businessas-usual for public libraries. The diverse nature of public library customers and their need for digital support means that library staff must be adaptable, flexible and willing to continue their own learning to ensure that they can provide appropriate support within communities. While the ‘Digital Wellbeing for All’ programme aimed to support library staff in providing small group classes within libraries, our research shows that people often have very specific queries that require one-to-one support. This can be challenging for libraries to provide, given their resourcing. A “one-size-fits-all” method for supporting digital engagement is cost-efficient and can be effective, as the success of Skinny Jump shows. A more nuanced approach may be necessary to help develop digital skills within the community, though, and to support people’s access to and use of digital technologies and the internet on their own terms.

Anne Goulding is Professor of Library and Information Management at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. Her research focuses on the management of library and information services including how libraries support digital engagement within communities. She is a member of the Digital Participation Lab based in the School of Information Management which undertakes research on digital resilience, digital sustainability, digital inclusion, and the use of technology to improve services.