Drop in tech sessions at FAC

[jackbridger]

Name
Gigi
It's Gigi's idea, I'm writing it up as she's busy moving house and I think it's potentially a great idea

Describe the problem you'd like to solve

Small organisations/freelancers/individuals in the local community need websites or need their websites updated but may not be able to afford professional help.

Also many others need help learning to use technology - e.g. writing an email or learning to whatsapp with their relatives abroad.

FAC has junior devs who want experience working with clients or just want to volunteer more often.

Solution: A website that enables the above.

Could be that you book an appointment
Or just join a drop in sessions and get technical help.

Who are the stakeholders?
Who would this benefit? Who would be affected by it?

Local businesses who can't afford professional technical help
Charities/groups that just need a simple, professional looking website
Older adults who would like support using new technologies

What is currently being done to solve this problem?
Whether it's effective or not, what is in place at the moment to solve this problem?

There are quite a few examples of councils and libraries organising drop in sessions for basic digital skills:

https://walthamforest.gov.uk/content/computer-support-drop-session-walthamstow-library
https://www.inspireculture.org.uk/whats-on/news/2018/12/18/new-tech-and-tea-drop-sessions/
https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/news/article/libraries-aim-inspire-you-learn
https://lewisham.gov.uk/myservices/libraries/free-digital-skills-drop-in-sessions

There seems to be less (or at least I couldn't find) examples of more advanced support e.g. updating content on a website or supporting someone through creating a Wix site.

Note: Gigi will comment on this to add anything

[gminova]

Islington is a borough which is know for high poverty and unemployment rates. (Islington has the third highest level of child poverty in England...Child poverty is closely linked to unemployment) This problem persists for the past 10 years and the future of the local residents may feel uncertain. Single moms struggling to make ends meet, homlessness on the rise, etc. All these issues affect local businesses as well.

During the FAC business meeting in July, we discussed how FAC is a community which aims to support local communities and give back as a CIC. Apart from the courses there are for students, there could be workshops/classes for the public but mostly aimed at local start ups/shops/micro-businesses/self-employed and freelancers form the local area who need online presence to reach a wider audience/clientele. We can help solve this problems in the following ways:

1. Open source our projects and provide sleek vanilla website designs/templates. (As a start, static pages will be fine)
2. Teach these people basic coding and how to update their websites once they get one
3. Teach/Promote free hosting solutions to the public, e.g GitHub Pages, Heroku, Firebase etc.
4. Keep the door open and welcome for these people to come back to seek further help and advice if needed regarding their page.
   

Stats 2019: https://www.cripplegate.org/sites/default/files/field/attachment/20190131stateofequalitiesreport2019.pdf
Stats 2017: https://www.islington.gov.uk/~/media/sharepoint-lists/public-records/communications/information/adviceandinformation/20172018/20170919stateofequalitiesreport2017.pdf

[emaggy]

Great idea! Was thinking it would be a good idea to create a website which allows local businesses to express their tech issues via a FAC website(e.g. need a new website built, need an app built, need help with Wix site etc) which FAC cohorts could then review and work on in order to resolve their solutions.