Projects and pilots

Social Impact Demonstrator projects

Background

Thousands of socially excluded people will get the chance to change their lives and reconnect with their communities by connecting with ICT, with 20 'Social Impact Demonstrator' projects led by UK online centres across England.

The projects will support the areas identified in last year's Social Exclusion Action Plan - families in poverty, teenage parents, adults with mental illnesses and those supporting children in care. Some projects will also support older people, who form a significant proportion of those at both a social and digital disadvantage.

In September, UK online centres were encouraged to bid for their share in the £2 million of Social Impact Demonstrators grand funding, provided by the Department for Education and Skills. The top 20 projects were picked by a panel of judges in December 2006, including private and voluntary sector stakeholders.

Next steps for social impact

More than 150 UK online centres across England are involved in delivering the 20 projects. Each project has received up to £100,000, and will run for between six and 15 months until April 2008. Some will help disadvantaged people with free or loaned home computers and Wifi internet access. Others are using blogs, video diaries and digital media to collect stories and record how ICT can change lives.

From outreach activities to community websites, the successful projects all plan to make innovative use of ICT and bring together local voluntary and community organisations to engage and support the people they're targeting. They are designed to make a deep impact on specific groups, getting some of the hardest to reach people online for the first time, learning new skills, connecting with their communities and interacting with public services.

The projects will explore the links between social and digital exclusion, and how ICT and the skills to use it can benefit individuals, families and communities.

Case study

Leeds Library and Information Service Social Impact Demonstrator Project

One of the successful Social Impact Demonstrator projects is to be run by the Leeds Library and Information Service. Involving the 50 plus libraries across Leeds, the project will target families in poverty.

In this section

Latest news:

Get online day gets underway at Holborn Library - Today the second national Get online day was kicked off at Holborn Library UK online centre.

Government’s online plans are a major step in tackling digital divide - UK online centres, the organisation which provides access to technology and support in using it, yesterday welcomed Gordon Brown’s announcement at the Labour Party Conference to fund a million extra families to get online.

New research links digital inclusion and social impact - Learning about computers and the internet can help improve the lives of disadvantaged groups, according to a new research report from UK online centres and Ipsos MORI.

The second annual Get online day is taking place this year on 24 October 2008, and it’s another chance for families to get into UK online centres and onto the internet…

The UK online centres Awards took place over the summer. Find out more about the winners from the Awards programme, or get a flavour of the day by watching the Awards film.