Brussels 25th – 28th October

26th October

The research team split into 3 groups today to visit 3 separate projects.  It has been a busy day and volunteers are now hard at work creating their blog posts and films to document their activities and findings.  We would like to thank all our hosts today for their generosity in sharing their time and resources today.

The A Team visited Interface 3 for a stimulating discussion and observations of their Digital Inclusion work with women in Brussels.   We observed some powerful strategies and tools for increasing the digital inclusion of women in Brussels.   Digital Activists are currently writing posts on their own blogs around their observations and reflections which can be viewed via http://eurolink2011.wordpress.com/digital-activists-study-trip-blogs/

This photo shows Leigh showing a learner at Interface 3 the DAIN blog and finding out more about her experiences.

Team B travelled out to Braine L’Alleud to visit one of the UCP centres where we enjoyed observing a class of beginners learning about using windows from their volunteer tutor, Robert.  Afterwards we were able to spend some time with Robert, volunteers and learners, discussing ways in which the project attracts new learners and the kinds of  offered.  We talked about the motivation of volunteers, and the way they shared good practice.  The team is now compiling a film record of the visit, and blogging their thoughts and ideas.

Team C visitied a cybercafe near liege. This was started as a project funded by Oxfam with recycled computers, using Open Source software and staffed by volunteers. There are now 7 volunteers who run the cafe, teaching computer skills to older people. The cafe has developed a number of different types of courses. These range from beginners courses, giving introduction to windows, the internet, surfing, email etc,to workshops for users with some experience, teaching downloading music, burning CDs etc. The cafe also offers drop in sessions. They are so popular that people attend from a distance of up to 50 km. A new venture are “breakfast, discussion sessions” These do not teach IT skills but discuss issues of concern, for example using facebook, online payments and accessing public services online. These are also incredibly popular and further titles will be offered this year.

27th October

The research team split into 2 groups today, with Teams A and B attending

Telecentre Europe Summit 2011 Brussels http://telecentreeurope.ning.com/group/telecentreeuropesummit2011

The fourth Telecentre-Europe Summit brought together an invited audience of 100 telecentre network leaders from across Europe.   It was a fascinating day with lots to learn and many projects sharing their resources and findings regarding digital inclusion activities taking place across Europe.  The team split up and each member attended a different workshop which is reported on in their blogs , reflective diaries, and in Study Trip reports to be published in early December.

 Group C went to visit Solival and Cyberterrace www.solivalwb.be

Solival is an organisation which provides advice on support equipment for anyone with difficulties / disabilities. They currently have an equipment demonstration centre based in the grounds of a large hospital nearNamur, with a wide range of accessibility equipment which includes equipment to support ICT access.  Solival is independent of all commercial aspects, doesn’t sell anything or promote any specific brands. Solival provides support to Cyberterrace. The hospital has a large number of volunteers, undertaking a wide range of support functions. Cyberterrace is a self organised group formed from the hospital volunteers. They offer a free, personalised digital skills training service to people with difficulties / disabilities.   There is some excellent practice taking place in this project, and we look forward to exploring further how we may adapt and apply some of this work within DAIN.

Thanks to our hosts at the Telecentres conference and at Solival and CyberTerrace for making us feel so welcome and sharing their resources and time so generously.

28th October

Eurolink Day!  Please see:   http://eurolink2011.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/eurolink-day-2011/