Triaging support for digitally excluded residents — Discovery and approach to Alpha
Our research has shown that Havering frontline staff and voluntary and charity sector staff have limited information on where to signpost residents who need additional digital inclusion support, and we aren’t utilising all the services and support that are available around digital inclusion.
We need a way to identify the digital need of the user and be able to signpost them to the support they need to become more included.
The Vision
A simple to use triage tool that can be used by frontline staff, volunteers, friends, family or self-referral to identify the type of digital inclusion need and triage them to the appropriate service available in the community
User groups who will use the tool
We identified 5 main types of users that use and benefit from the triage and signposting tool
- The person(s) with the digital inclusion need
- Havering staff that identify the need and signpost to support
- Voluntary / Charity staff that identify the need and signpost to support
- Family/friends that identify the need and signpost to support
- Organisations that provide the support to the person(s) with the digital inclusion need)
Our main user that we are designing for is the person with the Digital Inclusion need.
The other users will assist them to get the support they need.
Digitally Excluded Resident
digitally excluded resident
User can have multiple needs
Needs:
- Connectivity at home
- Connectivity for a short period of time
- Device for use at home permanently
- Device to loan and use at home
- or access to a device for a short period of time at a location
- Support to do something online
- Digital Skills for life
- Digital Skills for work
The user may use be able to identify their own need and self-refer or they may need help to identify their needs
Havering staff
Havering front line staff
Sally works in Harold Hill library. She is busy most of the day helping people access and use the computers, locating books and finding information. She wants to be able to help people with digital inclusion needs but she doesn’t know where to signpost people to help and she doesn’t always have time to sit with people and give them support the support they need.
Needs:
- A quick way to identify the Digital Inclusion need of a user
- A quick way to signpost the user to the support they need
Frustrations:
- Not sure where to refer users to get support
- Doesn’t have the time to provide this support
Volunteers
Volunteers
John has been volunteering in Havering for the last year and half. He normally helps people with shopping and general handy man jobs. He sometimes helps people with their online transactions but he’s not very ‘digital’ himself.
He often works with people who have digital inclusion needs but isn’t sure how to help them.
Needs:
- A way to identify the Digital Inclusion needs of a user
- A way to signpost the user to the support they need
- Simple information that he can relay back to the user
Frustrations:
- Not sure where to refer users to get support
- He isn’t very digital and finds a lot of information online confusing
Friends and family
Family
Jay now lives in Manchester and his mum lives alone in Rainham.
He worries about her a lot especially since the pandemic as she’s a lot more isolated.
He wants her to get some digital skills so they can FaceTime and she can see her grandkids.
He would also like her to be able to interact online and find local events and pay her bills.
Needs:
- To find what support is available in Havering
- A quick way to signpost his mum to the support she needs locally
Frustrations:
Organisations that provide support
Support organisations
Organisations like Age UK, tapestry and Peabody etc. offer Digital Inclusion support to residents.
Needs:
- To be able to add their support offer so people can be referred to them
- To be able to remove their support when its is no longer available
- To be able to add categories and filters to the support they offer so that it is inline with their restrictions and what they offer e.g. age uk is support for over 50s
- To be able to signpost users to other organisations who can provide support that they don’t
Frustrations:
- Not sure where to refer users to get support that they don’t provide
- Want to be able to help more people locally and would benefit from users being referred into their services
User needs Digitally Excluded residents may have 1 or multiple needs
As a digitally excluded residents I need….
- Access to a device
- Access to internet
- Skills to do things online
- Support to do things online
- Access to a device, internet and skills
- Access to a device, internet and support
- Access a device and internet
- Access to internet and skills to do things online
- Access to internet and support to do things online
Definitions:
Access to a device
This could be:
- using public device in places like libraries and hubs
- Device loan schemes
- Refurbished devices
- Free devices
(criteria may be in place to access some schemes e.g. free devices for over 70s who are isolated and on pensions credits) Access to the internet
This could be:
- Using free wifi in public places like libraries and hubs
- Free wifi hotspots e.g. Market, cafes etc
- Affordable broadband
- Free broadband schemes (criteria will be in place e.g. job seekers)
Skills to do things online
This could be:
- Basic skills like turning on a device and connecting to the internet
- Skills for life (e.g. staying safe online and communicating online via email and social)
- Skills for work (e.g. applying for work, searching for jobs, work specific training like using Excel and Word).
Support to do things online
This could be:
- 1–2–1 support to help with online transactions
- Support from within the community like Digital Champions
- Help with using your device (tech support)
(More details may be needed to signpost them to the right support e.g. age and language spoken). Approach to Alpha
An Alpha to understand what a common pattern for Digital inclusion Triaging and signposting would look like and prototype this tool for user testing.
We have partnered with Mortar works for this alpha phase.
- This is an alpha of a service pattern. It isn’t an alpha of the actual service. We will prototype to test ideas and concepts that will inform the pattern.
- We’ll recorded our design decisions as we prototype and test (e.g., why have we asked this question in this way).
- Each part of the pattern will be informed by research about what meets the user needs
What is a service pattern?
A service pattern can be seen as a best practice guide for providing services that meet user needs.
- It does not not require uniformity across all service providers
- It does not mean that there should be a single system that multiple councils will use
- Councils should be able to adopt all or part of a pattern
- Existing suppliers could also adopt the pattern
Digital inclusion support is not a static process and depending on the need and the information provided many different options and interventions can be provided and each local authority may choose to manage each need differently.
Plan for Alpha
Originally published at https://medium.com on March 17, 2022.
