Digital Community

The vision of this pillar is to empower citizens and communities to participate in the development of their communities and to promote and support communities to access digital skills, digital services and unlock opportunities for all.

This pillar focuses on four key objectives:

• Promote digital inclusion and improve digital equality and engagement amongst minority groups.

• Support Digital Education and Training to increase citizen digital skills and digital literacy.

• Raise awareness of the risks and benefits for citizens going online.

• Support the development of Smart Communities to enhance socio-economic development.

Objective: Promote digital inclusion and improve digital equality and engagement amongst minority groups

Where we are now

Digital inclusion is about ensuring that everyone has the ability to use and access the internet and digital technologies so that they are not excluded and left behind in a digital society.

The Council has an obligation to ensure that transforming services digitally does not disadvantage those who are not online. In 2019, Fingal County Council has launched a Migrant Integration and Cohesion Strategy 2019-2024 which aims to ensure we meet the needs of the diverse population and contribute to making Fingal a place where all who live, work and visit are valued.

The digital strategy outlines a number of awareness and engagement actions that will help to support communities and promote digital inclusion.

Fingal Age Friendly Strategy 2018-2023 identifies the need to support senior citizens to bridge the digital divide.

The increasing digitalisation of society is impacting on the lives of senior citizens with the closure of post offices, banks and a proliferation of services being carried out online.

In this context, there is a need to ensure our older citizens are facilitated and supported in a manner which bridges the digital divide while still respecting their choices and needs.

The Age Friendly Strategy outlines a core goal to help bridge that divide:

"Goal 17: To explore opportunities to support suitable initiatives which provide opportunities for senior citizens to engage with ICT and Smart Technology."

The Unheard Voices Challenge is one way the Council has endeavoured to engage and empower citizens to participate in the development of their place.

The Challenge set out to find low-cost, innovative ways to reach citizens who don’t traditionally engage in public consultation. This project aims to engage and empower minority groups to have a say in their place. Two challenge solutions are currently being piloted with community stakeholders.

In 2019, Fingal County Council along with two other local authorities and Age Friendly Ireland piloted the ACORN tablet with members of Older People’s Councils.

The ACORN pilot project aims to trial a digital solution for use by older people, to provide a simplified, customised age-friendly platform on a tablet computer that can positively impact on, and contribute to improved outcomes for older people, particularly those in rural areas or small towns, isolated or otherwise vulnerable older people.

Fingal Arts Office collaborated with Silicon Synapse, an immersive virtual reality experience, which located in the Carnegie Library in Swords.

The artist invited people to experience an audio and visual journey where technology is personified and is engaged in an argument with nature.

The project was co-funded by the Arts Council of Ireland and the European Commission – SciArt Programme.

This project is part of the Arts Office’s intention to create and imagine Swords as a vibrant site for contemporary art and audiences as the town prepares for an exciting cultural quarter initiative.

Using technology and the arts to create this type of experience provides a collaborative opportunity between artists and new digital media.

Fingal Libraries assists digital inclusion through access to technology including PCs, Internet connectivity, free public WiFi and mobile devices.

The Atrium in Swords is another example of how we are supporting digital inclusion through the availability and awareness of digital technologies at public buildings.

The Atrium is equipped with self-service areas enabled by a suite of interactive technologies.

The space enables citizens to access Council digital services with the assistance of a dedicated Customer Care Unit.

What we aim to achieve

The Council aims to adopt a ‘community-first’ approach to digital, engaging with citizens by digital and non-digital means.

Initiatives will be designed with the citizen at the centre, as outlined in our core strategy principles.

The Council will actively engage with representatives of minority groups to reduce digital exclusion and digital inequality and empower citizens and communities to participate in the development of their communities.

Objective: Support Digital Education and Training to increase citizen digital skills and digital literacy

Where we are now

Digital Strategy survey participants remarked that a lack of digital skills was the second highest barrier for people accessing digital technology.

Digital skills are a key factor for socioeconomic development and employability.

In order to navigate in today’s digital society, citizens require at the very minimum basic digital literacy and digital skills.

There are a number of organisations in the county providing training, education and supports ranging from unaccredited familiarisation classes, to third level accredited courses.

The Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment’s Digital Skills for Citizens’ scheme provides basic digital skills classes to help people take their first step online.

The Digital Skills for Citizens classes target; people aged 45+, farming communities, small business owners, jobseekers, persons with disabilities, and disadvantaged groups.

Currently, Digital Skills for Citizens training is being offered in libraries, community centres, training centres and primary schools around the country.

Fingal Libraries play a vital role in our communities, libraries are collaborative community spaces that give citizen access to access to information and stimulate a culture of lifelong learning. A diverse programme of events, workshops and classes are curated each year to support culture, literacy, digital skills, creativity and innovation through the Fingal Library network.

In 2018, Fingal Libraries secured €711k funding from the Department of Rural and Community Development to invest in ICT and digital services throughout its network.

This investment will enhance ICT infrastructure, create new meeting spaces with state-of-the-art technology and provide dedicated digital learning suites.

The new facilities and services will attract new users of all ages to our public libraries.

In 2019, Fingal Libraries secured funding from the Department of Rural and Community Development to invest in a My Open Library (MOL) at Baldoyle library.

The MOL service will offer extended opening hours, providing library access to members from 8am to 10pm, 365 days per year.

It complements regular staffed hours and ensures optimum delivery of the service and support for customers.

The staffed hours, combined with the extended My Open Library hours, allows library members to access the library at times that suit them, particularly those who may not be able to access their library during regular staffed times.

The provision of the self-service activities during My Open Library hours will include:

• borrowing and returning items,

• internet access on PCs and with Wi-Fi on own device,

• printing, photocopying and scanning facilities,

• studying and reading spaces,

• community meeting facilities

The Fingal Libraries Development Plan 2018–2023 recognises the importance of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) and identifies Libraries as key facilities to enable citizens to access emerging technologies:

"Action 4.4: Ensure that our citizens have access to emerging technologies by offering STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) based activities for all ages."

"Action 5.2: Empower citizens by providing a unique free training space and offering learning opportunities."

The importance of digital skills for community economic growth is further emphasised in the Fingal Local Economic and Community Plan 2016–2021.

The Plan identifies a strategic action to maximise job creation opportunities within local communities through the upskilling of communities in ICT:

"Action 33: Maximise the potential of e-learning, up-skill communities in ICT, and facilitate access to technologies so as to enable the use of eLearning and access to information."

The Community Development Office delivers a community training programme, Pathways to Participation in the community facilities. This programme includes committee skills, community development training and active citizenship as well as sessions on facility management, companies limited by guarantee, managing Finance, GDPR workshops and Digital Media.

The Local Enterprise Office Fingal provides a variety of digital skills training classes and mentorship programmes to small and medium-sized enterprises, from mastering Instagram and Facebook for your business to website analytics, SEO and supports to help businesses trade online.

What we aim to achieve

Fingal Libraries are committed to providing an innovative and technology-rich service that will meet the present and future needs of our communities.

A creative suite of technology and creative spaces will assist in delivering better services, interactive spaces and a programme of STEAM events and workshops.

The Libraries will provide access to digital skills training, coding classes, 3D printer classes, robotics workshops and much more.

Fingal Libraries plan to also develop a creator in residence programme and develop a suite of creative maker spaces and mobile maker vans to stimulate STEAM learning and to promote Libraries as a place to learn digital and creative skills.

We will actively engage with communities to highlight digital skills and digital literacy training opportunities in Fingal.

Objective: Promote digital inclusion and improve digital equality and engagement amongst minority groups

Where we are now

It’s important to convey the benefits to society of embracing digital and by doing so highlight potential risks and demystify the unknown. By raising awareness, we aim to encourage and motivate more and more people to participate and alleviate fears and mistrust.

Recently, Fingal Libraries took part in ‘Libraries Lead with Digital’.

The project aims to partner Google and public libraries across the UK and Ireland to create usable toolkits in the areas of online safety, digital skills and computer science and to allow for the roll out of these skills to the general public.

The initial phase of this project in Fingal focuses on staff capacity building using coding toolkits, provided by Google, and with assistance from professional coders. The output will be a “how-to” guide for other library professionals across Europe.

To highlight the benefits of digital, Fingal Libraries have programmed a series of STEAM and coding events and workshops over the last 12 months. Most recently the Fingal Libraries opened their doors to EU Code Week and hosted a schedule of events across the county for all ages and abilities.

The council is proactive in ensuring that staff are adequately trained and prepared when it comes to internet safety and data protection legislation. The IT Department delivers training and information sessions on Cyber Security Awareness. The purpose of the training is to help staff stay abreast of cyber-threats including data leakage, data loss and fraud. The training is compulsory for all staff that use technology for work purposes. Regular training is also provided to staff in the area of data protection, including FOI and GDPR workshops.

What we aim to achieve

The Council will continue to proactively provide staff with the required internet safety and data protection training and supports to assist them in their work.

The Strategy sets out two core awareness campaigns that will highlight the risks, benefits and opportunities for citizens going online.

We will undertake a communication awareness campaign promoting the benefits of high-speed broadband and encourage citizens to engage with online council services.

We will also raise awareness of online safety risks for citizens and highlight anti-cyberbullying initiatives in line with the National Action Plan for Online Safety.

Objective: Support the development of Smart Communities to enhance socio-economic development

Where we are now

To support the development of Smart Communities Fingal County Council is working closely with the Department of Rural and Community Development (DRCD) and the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (DCCAE) to bring broadband to every premises in the county.

In Fingal, seven Broadband Connection Point (BCP) locations have been identified in collaboration with DRCD.

The BCPs are located within the State Intervention Area of the National Broadband Plan (NBP).

The BCPs will be prioritised to receive high speed broadband connection once the NBP gets underway.

These connection points will help to support smart community initiatives and enhance socio-economic development in rural Fingal.

What we aim to achieve

Smart Communities is a recent initiative of the Department of Rural and Community Development. The initiative is being piloted in Tubbercurry, Co. Sligo. Seán Canney TD, Minister of State for Community Development, Natural Resources and Digital Development, described the Smart Community initiative as “a community working together supported by local and central government, to bring people and technology together in time to capture and exploit the opportunities that new applications afford, and broadband-based services can deliver. Such focused and united community efforts create synergy, which allows individual projects to build upon each other and provide a coherence to Government supports and funding opportunities. In order to develop as a smart community, activities must be community driven and supported by industry and Government.”

The Fingal Digital Strategy aims to build on the approach to smart communities and support rural development with the initiation of Smart Community.

We will work with community stakeholders to identify funding mechanisms to enhance access to digital technology and digital skills training that will enable communities to fully engage with the digital society.

PRIORITY DELIVERABLES

Pillar	Digital Community
Vision	Empower citizens and communities to participate in the development of their communities and to promote and support communities to access digital skills, digital services and unlock opportunities for all.
Objective	Promote digital inclusion and improve digital equality and engagement amongst minority groups
Action	Description	Lead Partner	Contributors	Status	KPI
2.1	Support improved access to and use of Libraries as Community Hubs with access to technology, internet and educational resources.	FCC		Ongoing	Number of people using library services. Development of My Open Libraries in Fingal.
2.2	Development of the Unheard Voices Challenge to encourage minority groups to engage in local decision making.	FCC	Smart Dublin, Enterprise Ireland	Ongoing	Number of people engaging in on-line public consultation.
2.3	Carry out a digital survey to analyse digital exclusion and digital inequality in Fingal.	FCC	PPN	2020	Consultation and survey analysis.
2.4	Continue to build e-service resources such as e-books, e-audiobooks, music, newspapers, magazines and learning courses.	FCC		Ongoing	Number of e-items borrowed. Number of online library services engagements.
2.5	Scan Local Studies and Archives material with a view to digitisation and increased accessibility beyond the physical environment.	FCC		Ongoing	Quantity and Quality of material digitised and accessible.
2.6	Develop new opportunities for Artists to work through digital media.	FCC	Draiocht	Ongoing	Number of initiatives that support new ways of communicating art through digital media.
Objective	Support Digital Education and Training to increase citizen digital skills and digital literacy
Action	Description	Lead partner	Contributors	Status	KPI
2.7	Increase the availability and promotion of Digital Skills training available in Community Centres and Libraries.	FCC	Community Centres, Education providers	2020 - 2023	Increased uptake of digital skills classes.

2.8	Increase the availability of STEAM events and workshops in Libraries.	FCC	Community Centres, Education providers	2020 - 2023	Increased availability of STEAM events and workshops. Development of STEAM festival.
2.9	Develop a Creator In Residence programme to promote and curate STEAM events and workshops in Fingal.	FCC		2020	Appointment of a Creator In Residence.
2.10	Develop Maker Spaces in libraries.	FCC		2020 - 2023	Development of Maker Spaces in Balbriggan, Skerries, Swords and Blanchardstown libraries.
2.11	Scope out the development of a Mobile Maker Van to further build on creative activities centred around STEAM currently being delivered by Fingal Libraries Mobile Library fleet to schools around Fingal.	FCC		2020 - 2023	Scoping out exercise undertaken.
Objective	Raise awareness of the risks and benefits for citizen going online
Action	Description	Lead partner	Contributors	Status	KPI
2.12	Undertake an awareness campaign promoting the benefits of high-speed broadband and encourage citizens to engage with online council services.	FCC	PPN	2020 - 2023	Broadband awareness campaign. Online services campaign.
2.13	Raise awareness of online safety risks for citizens and cyberbullying in-line with the National Action Plan for Online Safety.	FCC	PPN	2020 - 2023	Internet safety awareness campaign. Internet safety workshops and events around internet safety day.
Objective	Support the development of Smart Communities to enhance socio-economic development
Action	Description	Lead Partner	Contributors	Status	KPI
2.14	Work with local stakeholders to support the development of community connectivity hubs in rural communities.	FCC	DRCD, PPN	2020 - 2023	Highlight funding mechanisms available. Encourage BCPs to develop their services.
2.15	Support the development of the NotsoDiﬀerent Creative Ability Hub. In the Hub, people with neurodiversity are oﬀered employability skills and opportunities to work with future employers.	FCC	Not So Diﬀerent	2020	Number of people to receive work placements, training and services through the Creative Ability Hub.