There's a new Covid-created opportunity to narrow the digital divide – and business and government leaders know they need to work with grassroots community workers to grasp that opportunity | Partnership content
Aunty Hei lives by herself near Māngere, where the people and experiences of South Auckland slosh together in a sweet and sour and spicy broth. Close to the airport and the Jet Park quarantine facility, it's a community that's been challenged more than most by Covid and lockdowns. When it is possible to mix in the community, it can be a warm and nourishing place to bring up children, and to grow old. For those on their own in lockdown, much like anywhere else, it can be cold and lonely.
But this year, she learned about a group of seniors at Wharekoa Māngere Community Centre learning how to step into the bustling online world on tools like WhatsApp, Messenger and Zoom. She summoned up courage, walked in, and asked if she could be part of the class. There she met others like Aunty Paula and Aunty Tangi, whose experiences through Covid had persuaded them to brave the online world.
It could scarcely have been better timed. After just a few meetings, Level 4 dropped heavily on the country like a stone into that broth. Work and education was disrupted. Families were separated. Aunty Hei and others were again locked down in their small senior flats or bungalows.
"This has enabled me to connect with family and friends and I'm confident enough to use my phone to go on websites. During this lockdown, it's really helped me connect with my doctor's appointments and more." – Aunty Paula, Māngere
But this time, Aunty Hei can video call with her children and grandchildren. "Learning about different apps on my mobile is something that's very unfamiliar to me," she says. "Being able to call and see my family members is by far the best way of connection to my children and grandchildren. It's a bit hard to take all the knowledge in, but practice makes perfect."
The group's organiser Leilani Glassie works with the Spark Foundation and the Digital Inclusion Alliance Aotearoa to help people living in her South Auckland community get access to Skinny Jump and digital literacy training through programmes like Stepping UP and Better Digital Futures for Seniors. She lists story after story like this. Aunties, uncles, kaumātua whose experience alone in lockdown last year finally persuaded them they needed to get online.
Uncle Jim in Pukekohe who has been writing his memoir and using WhatsApp to share it with the group; Aunty Tangi in Ōtahuhu who can now call her son in Ōtara to take her shopping; Aunty Paula who can now scan in with her Covid-19 Tracer app, and use Facebook and Zoom.
Aunty Paula says this has enabled her to connect with family and friends and she now feels confident to use her phone to go on websites. "During this lockdown, it's really helped me connect with my doctor's appointments and more," she says. "Thank God that we have a very nice tutor, that is Lani!"
Digital inclusion and digital equity are government mantras. Few ever use the language on the flipside of that coin: exclusion, inequity. But digital inequity sits grimly alongside every other form of inequity. Not having devices, not having connectivity, often not having enough food in the house, not knowing which agencies to trust.
Glassie was seconded from Auckland Libraries to help students in South Auckland schools get Skinny Jump internet connections in their homes, but she quickly discovered that getting an internet connection is just the start. She is now spending more and more time helping others in her community, especially seniors, get the skills they need to engage in the digital world.
“Having an internet connection and the confidence to use the internet has been a lifeline for seniors in our community, especially during our Covid-19 lockdowns,” Glassie says. “Seniors are now using Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Zoom to stay in touch with their families, and share their stories with each other.”
Glassie grew up in Māngere; she is part of the South Auckland community. Community workers like Glassie sit more closely in their communities than they do alongside the nationwide organisations that support their work. “For me, I can work with local groups; it’s easy, I speak their language. We say a karakia at the start and finish of every class, we share the same values.”
This is important because, as necessary as a smartphone and a modem may be, they will sit in their boxes in the back of the kitchen drawer unless people feel confident to pick them up. And to gain that confidence, a human connection in the community is more important than any internet connection.
The linesman for the country
Laurence Zwimpfer learnt that on the ground, before many of us even knew the word "internet". The 73-year-old is operations director of the Digital Inclusion Alliance, but back in the 1980s and early 1990s he was a manager for Telecom. "I'd spend days on the road preaching the wonders of telecommunications. Schools were our priority then. We worked in supporting schools and kids, and I was actually involved in setting up the Telecom Education Foundation."
He worked alongside a communications trust that was focused on getting data cables into schools, but the Ministry of Education wasn't interested. "They'd fund power cabling, but not data cabling," he recalls.
"It was really just last year with the Covid lockdown that we got a lot of pressure to extend the reach to other community groups." – Laurence Zwimpfer, Digital Inclusion Alliance Aotearoa
So the trust would go into the communities and announce a Netday. They would get communities out, digging trenches and pulling Cat 5 copper cables into schools.
"That was happening before the Government would really recognise that data cabling was going to be an issue in schools," he laughs. "Of course it's gone through a whole cycle and now most schools have got both fibre connections and wifi."
There's been a long-term investment in giving kids the opportunity to shape their digital future. Get that right, says Zwimpfer, and a lot of the rest of society's problems will sort themselves out.
Zwimpfer shifted focus to those kids' parents and grandparents at the Digital Inclusion Alliance – but suddenly, they are being asked to broaden their role and perspective. "It was really just last year with the Covid lockdown that we got a lot of pressure to extend the reach to other community groups that could benefit from Spark Foundation’s broadband service Skinny Jump."
"You've got to get people connected first. That's the first part of the digital inclusion equation. But," – and he echoes Glassie – "if people don't have the skills to use it or they don't have the trust to stay safe online, or they don't really have a reason to go online, then people can't really engage in the digital world."
"You can send me the box, but I may not know how to connect it, or even if I do, I'm unsure about whether I want to connect. I don't really understand how to navigate the digital world. That's one of the important roles our partners play in supporting Jump customers." – Jolie Hodson, Spark
That early communications trust was entirely focused on schools; now Digital Inclusion Alliance has 300 partner organisations, three-fifths of them libraries. Increasingly they're working with community workers like Glassie, working with elderly people, those with illness or disability, immigrant and refugee groups and ex-offenders. Those people are often excluded not just because they don't have online banking and Instagram accounts, but also because they don't have literacy, or spoken English, or a car to get around, or nourishing food in the fridge.
Zwimpfer recalls one older woman who was persuaded by her friends to attend digital banking classes in Hurinui. She was "dreading it", she said, but she saw Susie from the library, and immediately relaxed.
"What we're talking about is scary stuff," Zwimpfer acknowledges. "The digital world is scary stuff to people who don't want to be part of it, or have dismissed it, who feel they're too old to deal with it. But if they see someone they trust, they'll go for it."
Fronting up about the challenges
Spark chief executive Jolie Hodson speaks bluntly. However much money, technology, and staff volunteering days her company throws at the important work of digital equity, it cannot get the cut-through she wants on its own. That's why it's critical to work with local partners like Leilani Glassie and the libraries and community groups all brokered through the Digital Inclusion Alliance.
"Community partners work with the families, they know the families in the community," she says. "Having access is important, but you have other equally important barriers to get past. If the people you are trying to support don’t have the digital skills they need to use the access you provide, it’s not going to work. And then you’ve got people saying, I don't feel comfortable using the technology, or I hear lots of misinformation about scams and different things – how do I know I can trust it?
“This is why Spark Foundation exists. It operates independently of Spark, has a sole focus on digital equity, and has its own board of trustees with representatives from the community. Spark can bring the technology capability, the resources to commit, and the will to get things done – but the foundation brings the authentic connection to the community.
"We work with people who we think complement the foundation’s focus on access, digital skills and pathways, and digital wellbeing – and can help us tackle the broader trust issues we're trying to solve. We recognise we are just one part of the solution – the biggest wins are going to come from better coordination across the public, private, and community sectors. We need to reduce the fragmentation that plagues progress on this issue.”
Government Minister David Clark agrees: "Making sure everyone in New Zealand is digitally included is a team effort – with many organisations currently making important contributions."
Clark is responsible for the digital economy and communications. He highlights foundation work to address barriers, like the $15m approved as part of the Covid-19 Recovery Fund, to address gaps in digital skills for individuals, whānau, and small to medium businesses, predominantly targeting Māori, Pacific peoples, and disabled people.
"I am acutely aware of the barriers to digital inclusion that some New Zealanders face." – David Clark, Digital Economy Minister
And through the National Library, there is funding for the Aotearoa People’s Network Kaharoa to provide free and facilitated access to the internet and computer technology via the network of public libraries. And in response to Covid, the Ministry of Education has connected up school-aged children: more than 35,000 computer devices and more than 45,000 internet connections to homes that weren't connected.
Clark has a ministers' group and an advisory group to recommend a strategy to build a digital nation, where all Kiwis have what they need to contribute to, and benefit from, a digital world. "I am acutely aware of the barriers to digital inclusion that some New Zealanders face," he says.
That awareness is important, and so too the tech sector expertise on his Digital Council, because as Laurence Zwimpfer's story from the 1990s reminds us, Government has not always been the most forward-thinking in anticipating technological change.
Since Zwimpfer helped set up the Telecom Education Foundation, Telecom has become Spark and the Telecom Foundation has become the Spark Foundation.
It has many partnerships like Code Club, the Electric Garden, Hihiko Te Rawa Auaha, Te Iwi Matihiko, Take2 and the Light Project, as well as the recycle-a-device (RAD) programme and Skinny Jump.
With the leadership of the Digital Inclusion Alliance Aotearoa and its 300 local partners, the Skinny Jump low-cost wireless broadband service has built up to 16,000 customers – but there is still some way to go to reach Hodson's more ambitious goal of 35,000 by June 2023.
"If they're watching Netflix or using differing sites – obviously within reason! – that's a big part of our getting confident in digital literacy, and being able to use it more holistically to share it with your friends and family." – Jolie Hodson
As Spark’s 2021 annual report reveals, the company is focused on matching 4G network capacity to the suburbs of greatest need in Aotearoa, and prioritising the rollout of its 5G network in those areas, so it can upgrade 4G at the same time. But network capacity is just one enabler – the human connection challenge remains.
"Barriers to digital equity extend well beyond network capacity and access and can include challenges such as a lack of digital skills, trust in technology, and the motivation to get connected," it says.
Previous research among the Skinny Jump customer base had shown cost remained a barrier, even at a start price of $5 for 30GB data, so the foundation is also trialling giving customers 15GB of free data each month to get them started, regardless of their ability to pay. An additional 6GB a day during the working week has been added for the duration of Covid-related lockdowns. And to better understand why homes don’t always stay connected, Spark Foundation and Digital Inclusion Alliance have been conducting customer interviews on the key drivers of inactivity.
"That's the practical challenge," Hodson says. "You can send me the box, but I may not know how to connect it, or even if I do, I'm unsure about whether I want to connect. I don't really understand how to navigate the digital world. That's one of the important roles our partners play in supporting Jump customers."
Discovering independence
Digital equity and trust is the first thing Jolie Hodson wants to talk about, when Spark partners with Newsroom to tell these stories. To understand her drive, it helps to understand a little of Hodson's background; that she too sees digital equity as part of a bigger picture of reducing community inequities.
The 50-year-old grew up on the North Shore not far from Westlake Girls' High School, where she was educated and first started down a finance career path. During her time studying commerce at Auckland University, she worked two jobs – nights doing radio market research, and weekends at The Warehouse where she met her husband.
Now, she and Gareth have teens in Y11 and Y12, so she knows about discovering that balance between nurturing digital inclusion and watching that turn into independence.
When the Spark Foundation started its not-for-profit broadband service in 2016, it was targeted at kids' learning, and households weren't allowed to use it for other things. That's not an unusual model for community and educational providers; there are other providers around New Zealand that place bars on sites like streaming TV, to maintain a focus on children's learning.
But the new-look Skinny Jump allows families to log into Netflix, or access corporate and government sites. Hodson wants families to learn about the digital world together, so they can do their banking or apply for a driving licence – all those things that many of us take for granted. She doesn't want to patronise Skinny Jump customers by telling them how to use the internet.
"I suppose it goes to a belief I have that you actually want to get people competent and confident in using these applications, so they can then explore and expand their understanding," she says. "So if they're watching Netflix or using differing sites – obviously within reason! – that's a big part of building digital literacy and being able to use an internet connection more holistically to share it with your friends and family.
"It's not for an organisation like Spark to censor what is or isn’t appropriate. Clearly for my kids, I don't want them wandering around to any unsafe online spaces. But that’s why education is so key. One of the projects we support through the Spark Foundation, for example, is The Light Project, which is all around helping parents and teens navigate the online porn landscape, and equipping families to manage or respond to the exposure kids can have quite easily on the edge of a mobile phone."
"It's about having conversations and there's a degree of trust within that. And you want your kids to learn how to use these technologies, but also to feel confident to have a conversation. Clearly there are parameters. We don't want the kids all day, all night on devices!"
But she says it would be wrong to assume people are just using the internet for entertainment; often her teens use it in the same ways that she as a girl would have used the big old family copy of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. "There's a challenge now with misinformation. Dr Google may not always be correct," she agrees. "But their ability and understanding of world issues, it always surprises me. Because you think your kids are gaming all the time or doing other things, and then they'll come out with a view on a world issue, and you think, well, hold on, how did they get exposed to that?"
"We want to build kids and communities who have a perspective and can engage, but also have an ability to really filter this information out and challenge perceptions and not believe everything they see on the internet."
Finding freedom in new skills
When Hodson goes back to speak to today's student at Westlake Girls, part of it is about closing up the gap between what they may aspire to, and what they achieve. She wants them to be ambitious: "When I was a girl at school, would I have imagined I would end up in the role I have?"
But it's not just talking to young people. There are others with challenges ahead of them. The Department of Corrections is a Spark customer, Spark's infrastructure construction subsidiary Connect 8 employs paroled prisoners, and the Spark Foundation supports the Take2 programme to teach IT and digital skills to prisoners who are incarcerated for long sentences.
Hodson has visited prisons as a partner to Corrections.
"If I actually want to be connected to family and be connected to services and have that support, I have to learn this stuff. So where can I go to do that where it's not going to cost me any money? Where I can go where I trust the people?" – Sue Kini, Digital Inclusion Alliance
There's one prisoner, who she met at the Auckland South men's prison not long before his release date. "He'd completed a programme through the Manukau Tech, building some skills, and just talking about what a change it had been in his life.
"Because people are entitled to a second chance. And so, what role do we have as a society to make sure they get that? And what we've chosen to support in that regard is building digital skills."
Increasingly, those working at ground-level in digital inclusion are discovering that some of the last, more reluctant members of the community are deciding it's time to learn these skills. And a silver lining of Covid and the lockdowns has been the acceleration in stepping into that online world.
At the Digital Inclusion Alliance, Whangārei's Sue Kini manages the Stepping UP programme nationally and supports their network of partners and trainers like Leilani Glassie.
Over the past five to seven years, she says, there have still been some in the community reluctant to use online tools. "They said no, no, I don't want anything to do with digital, I'm not interested, I don't need it, I'm going to go and see my bank in person, I'm going to go and buy my groceries at the supermarket, I don't need any of that."
But more recently, with access to devices becoming more economic – and with Covid kicking in and people becoming more socially isolated and financially isolated – there had been an epiphany for some of those last people. "They're going, I can't afford to stick my head in the sand and say, I don't want to know," Kini says. "Because if I actually want to be connected to family and be connected to services and have that support, I have to learn this stuff. So where can I go to do that where it's not going to cost me any money? Where I can go where I trust the people?"
Spark is a foundation supporter of Newsroom.co.nz.
