Digital Manifesto for health, education, democracy and society
Digital Manifesto for health, education, democracy and society
Press release
21 April 2009
The fourth national Digital Inclusion Conference, NDI09, will see digital debate rage around some of the biggest social and political challenges of the day – health, education, democracy and community. That discussion will inform a 'digital manifesto' for future action on each front.
The Conference, which takes place in Westminster at the end of the month, will be attended by delegates from across the public, private and third sectors. They will hear from speakers including Communications Minister Lord Stephen Carter, Digital Inclusion Minister Paul Murphy, Skills Minister Sion Simon, Schools Minister Jim Knight and Communities Minister Baroness Andrews.
Thoughts and themes from the plenary sessions will be taken into four workshops for further discussion – Health and Wellbeing, 21st Century Learning, E-engagement and Communities.
Over the two days of the conference each workstream will develop five big ideas to contribute to the manifesto, which will be presented after the Conference to the new Champion for Digital Inclusion, whose appointment is expected in May. It's another chance for key players in digital inclusion to influence policy development as major pieces of thinking like the Digital Inclusion Action Plan and Digital Britain are taken forwards.
Helen Milner is Managing Director of UK online centres, and will chair the 21st Century Learning sessions. She says: "We know technology is already changing how and what we learn, and that's been recognised in the recent informal learning White paper The Learning Revolution. The idea of this workstream is to explore what else we need to change to keep up with the opportunities for discovery and creation new technology is providing – and more importantly how we ensure everyone gets an equal chance to take advantage of them."
The E-engagement session will be led by Haringey Council and chaired by Councillor Matt Cooke. He adds: "In E-engagement we'll be looking at how we can achieve an inclusive e-democracy, representing the views and experiences of a wide range of citizens rather than amplifying the voices of a small, tech-savvy minority. We'll be hearing about best practice examples of e-engagement at community, local council and national level, and deciding how to build on their experiences."
Meanwhile Health and Well-being is being led by NHS Choices. Chair and Head of Strategy and Engagement at NHS Choices Bob Gann explains: "Our main objective for this workstream is to consider the role of digital inclusion in enhancing choice, equality and personal responsibility across the healthcare sector. We'll be hearing from several expert speakers, and asking delegates to put forward their own views and vote on key themes and actions."
Finally, the Communities group will be led by Yorkshire Forward and chaired by DC10 Plus National Director, Stephen Dodson. He says: "We want to get delegates talking about the future of British communities, and what technology can do to empower individuals to take part in and take charge of what happens where they live. We need think about wider national policies for community empowerment and engagement, and decide what we as community practitioners want to see happen next both in policy and on the ground."
The national Digital Inclusion Conference 2009 will take place on 27 and 28 April at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference centre, and the final delegate spaces are going fast. To find out more about the workstreams and to book your place, please visit www.nationaldigitalinclusionconference.co.uk.
NDI09 is a Civic Agenda Conference in association with UK online centres and DC10 Plus, supported by Communities and Local Government, NHS Choices, Regenerateit, Yorkshire Forward, Intel, Ofcom, BT, Direct Gov, and Simply Digital.
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For more information please contact Abi Stevens at astevens@ufi.com or on 0778 666 0689