We want to promote and improve digital literacy in our community
Our Core Activity
Our Mission Statement
Knowledge Pool is a digital capability support organisation based in Doncaster, United Kingdom. Our mission is to promote and improve digital literacy in our community. The project started from a quest of the founder to help friends and family with digital troubleshooting. Starting with just the founder with her personal laptop, Knowledge Pool has 16 volunteers and 2 staff today. Having supported over 700 people within the Doncaster area as well as WMCA (West Midlands Community Authority) and Basildon community area. We helped a lot of people in our community to connect with their friends and families online during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
We have distributed over 50 digital devices (tablets and smartphones) and internet access since March 2020. We have created two digital guidebooks ” Getting Started with Digital Devices” and Getting Started with Online Meetings” sponsored by Doncaster Council, South Yorkshire Community Foundation and Lloyds Banking Group to support the digitally excluded people in our community. This had helped a lot of parents in home-schooling, groups collaborating together, families connecting together, individuals using online facilities like shopping, banking, booking prescriptions, booking appointments, registering for services etc.
We started a pilot training project with Age UK in June 2021 where we teach elderly people who had embraced digital technology on how to use digital devices. This had proved very impactful as learners built confidence in operating digital devices to perform tasks and communicate with friends and family. Learners agreed that the training had helped reduced isolation and helped gain some digital independence.
Through the funding we’ve received from funding organisations we will be rolling out our digital clubs tagged ”Smart Buddies”
The aim of this project is to replicate the impact of the pilot project with age UK. We want to collaborate with community champions and other charities to reach more people within our target audience. We will be providing tailor made trainings for each group in a relaxed atmosphere that will remove barriers like fear of getting things wrong or intimidation posed by digital complexities. We will be creating more digital guidebooks to break down trainings into biteable chunks easy to digest by our learners.
We want to use the digital guides we have to create activities that will bring families and friends together. Our digital clubs will be run at least twice in a week for the first 3 months. We have already got a waiting list of people that are willing to start. We will use the club to teach digital skills and bring people together. Our digital buddies would be made up of people who are willing to train their loved ones using our guide. We will train then on how to use it. We believe that they can support their friends and families better and it may simplify the process for them.