Category: Digital Inclusion - innovation

As part of the two-year, national research project funded by the WES Mariam Assefa Fund entitled “Envisioning the Future of the Immigrant-Serving Sector,” ACS-Metropolis Institute, the Mhor Collective Scotland, and GEO Nova Scotia partnered together to pilot and tailor the delivery of the Digital Champions program for the Canadian settlement sector, a holistic “train the trainer” approach to delivering peer to peer support for newcomers to advance digital literacy.

Digital transformation is more than the tech or software used to deliver services: it’s approaching current models for service delivery in ways enabled by technology. This makes digital transformation a human process as well as a technical one, requiring human support to implement. A settlement sector organization in Nova Scotia, ISANS, is addressing the human element of digital transformation in their support of staff and clients.

If you don't already watch Last Week Tonight to get explainer videos about high profile news stories with a comedic twist, I'm here for you. Below is a recent video he did providing a fantastic introduction and explanation of AI. Like his other videos, he makes a complex topic accessible, understandable, covers all sides of it, and makes you laugh.

This presentation by Dr. Turin Chowdhury focuses on addressing Digital Equity in Calgary. His presentation provides you with a solid foundation on digital inclusion, such as key barriers to inclusion, dynamics impacting inclusion, how digital inequity impacts different groups in society, and a roadmap for action towards digital equity/inclusion. His presentation is followed by Rob Wiles, Issues Strategist, Calgary Neighbourhoods, from the City of Calgary.

Research which took place in Saskatoon during COVID-19 school closures, found that immigrant parents in particular were affected in four ways: parent-teacher communication was hindered; children’s second language acquisition was delayed; schooling was neglected in favour of supporting well-being; and, parents relied on their own communities.

Recently I presented a "lightening talk" at the Future of Good's Dismantling Digital Barriers Summit. The Summit sought to understand "what is digital equity? Who is left behind? And how do we close that gap?" It's a topic that has taken on increased importance in our sector. I thought I'd share my speaking notes.

You’ve probably seen people post about the latest AI media darling, the AI chatbot ChatGPT. AI is here, is coming, will impact our work, all of that. So it makes sense to try things out from time to time, to see how they can actually help our work. I’ve done that previously. And, when I saw Andrew Griffith try it out on immigration and citizenship questions, with good responses, I decided to try it out on digital inclusion questions.

This Techsoup Canada webinar session explores how the differences between the medical and social models of disability can impact the ways in which organizations can create equitable online, hybrid, and instructor training that blends the principles of universal design for learning and trauma-informed care.

Hosted by Civic Tech Toronto, City of Toronto staff who work in technology services share an overview of some of City Council’s priorities, providing an update on Toronto's Digital Infrastructure Strategic Framework.