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Addressing digital inclusion is complex. It requires recognition of the challenge and sustained effort to address it. There is no single strategy or method that could address all populations’ needs. Instead, localization and customization of different programs in Service Providing Organizations (SPOs) requires flexibility. Digital inequity is multifaceted, and intersects with culture, gender, age, class, and educational background.

COVID-19 has greatly accelerated the education system’s move to remote learning. What was previously a slow growing option suddenly became the only option in many school districts. Yet households and students have uneven access to the necessary resources for successful remote learning. This is raising questions about the ramifications the “Digital Divide” is having on access to education. Many organizations are fast-tracking initiatives to reduce the Digital Divide and its impact on educational opportunities.

In this keynote presentation at the 2021 Pre-Arrival Virtual Conference I spoke about a future connected to our values and vision, which is not so much disruptive, but 'constructive innovation.' A future where newcomers are supported through our collaboration, using systems that help them, and us.

This is a short list of existing and useful materials in and outside of the sector related to digital and hybrid service delivery. The list is merely at a starting point.

Dr. Suzanne Smythe and Dr. Amea Wilbur interviewed over 25 language and settlement workers during the important time. In this interactive session from October 5, 2020 blending dialogue and questions with participants, Dr. Smythe, Dr. Wilbur and guest speaker Marcela Mancilla-Fuller presented key themes from the conversations and insights from related research among newcomer communities during COVID times.

Due to the unprecedented dependency of refugees on ICT, the authors investigate how e-learning can be used to support refugees in the integration process and contributes to their social inclusion into the host country.

At the recent P2P National Conference I participated in the first of 2 panel presentations focused on Immigration, Work and New Technologies. My contribution was a presentation titled How Digital Diversity Shapes Employment Outcomes – Digital Inclusion Is a Settlement Imperative. It was a very interesting panel with some interesting connecting threads I want to share before I forget them.

Hosted on July 27, 2023, this Switchboard training session on creating rapid community assessments (RCA) with refugees was delivered by Dr. Mary Bunn, PhD, LCSW; Ramsha Sohail, MPhil; and, Dr. Karin Wachter, PhD, MEd. RCAs help collect community insights and views on a certain issue and calculate the major needs of the target community. That means the approach is useful for technology, digital literacy, digital inclusion assessments as well.

Canada recently completed an online consultation about our country's AI strategy. There has been much criticism that the AI task force that was created is overly representative of the tech industry and not representative enough of Canadian society. Here are a few interesting and thoughtful submissions you should be aware of that try to address this fatal flaw in our government's strategy.