Chiefdragon’s Weblog

VCF sector technophobia is alive and well

We are now well into the twenty first century and we can’t seem to make a slice of toast without programming the microchips in the toaster, yet I am constantly dismayed by the number of community groups out there who you are still unable to contact by email or through other messaging technology.  We do go out into the community and visit venues, centres and join in with events, however we do have a ‘virtual’ side to our business, but trying to engage with other groups this way is proving to be very difficult.

Where we are based in St Helens, Merseyside there are 1500 people who are housebound for health reasons, (and they’re just the one’s we know about!) – that’s the size of small village!!!!  Many of these people are only connected to the world through virtual means – or could be connected.  I feel that VCF should be looking much more at the way technology can assist them to engage with these hardest to reach of the ‘hard to reach’ groups in our society.

From my day job in the third sector I know that over the last ten years, millions of pounds worth of technology, have been invested into the community…so why is no-one using it?  You could say that it is because people don’t know how to use it…but there are opportunities to learn.  I have witnessed too many IT course places be cancelled or be left unused. – this morning I heard of a computer suite being shut down because of lack of take up!  So this leaves me with only one conclusion the VCF sector, at grass roots level, is still stuck in a time before the 1980’s and its trustees are still shortsighted when it comes to the benefits of technology to the sector itself and to the service users.

Maybe funders should take note and fund technology to service users only, then once the service users begin to demand products and services ‘on-line’ then the sector will have to begin to use it…?