GMCA Digital
How a bank is tackling the digital divide
By Kerry Scott, Service Designer, The Co-operative Bank
The Co-operative Bank’s Digital Bees network is running Digital Drop-in sessions on Friday 14 October to help people across the North West feel safer and more self-sufficient online.
Building digital skills and confidence
To mark the Digital Bees’ 3rd anniversary of working in the community, I’ve coordinated these Digital Drop-ins at a number of our branches across the UK to help anybody who wants support with queries preventing them from doing the digital tasks they want or need to complete in their day to day lives.
More and more services are moving online and this digital shift can be positive. But we know that some people feel less confident with technology and they can feel ‘locked out’ of accessing some things. We call this ‘digital exclusion’ and we’re extremely passionate about doing our bit to tackle it.
We want to share our knowledge and guidance to help improve lives, such as:
Help to set up an email address
Help to set up and use video calling on a device
Practical tools and tips on staying safe online from scams online.
It’s also a great opportunity for anyone who doesn’t know where to start when it comes to getting themselves set up online as we’re making sure we give as much time as people need when dropping in.
With the rising cost of living crisis, I believe that understanding digital tools and services can help keep costs down and give people the independence and access to support they deserve. So, we really hope we can play a part of making technology more accessible for the Greater Manchester community this Digitober.
What’s a Digital Drop-in?
The volunteers can help answer technology questions, especially about:
Getting set up online
Staying safe online
Ways to communicate online
Using the internet
Digital banking
Digital safety and accessibility features.
Our next events will take place on Friday 14 October, 10am to 4pm. Anyone is welcome (you don’t even need to be a Co-operative Bank customer).
They’ll be running across the North West in the following Co-operative Bank branches:
Manchester Branch , 70-72 Cross Street, Manchester, M2 4JG
Stockport Branch, 1 St Peter’s Square, Stockport, SK1 1NX
Crewe
Macclesfield
For more information about The Co-operative Bank’s Digital Bees initiative and other events they’ve organised, you can read more on the Digital Bees’ website.
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