Digital

What does it mean to have a digital mindset?

November 3, 2022 by Stewart Hamilton No Comments | Category Connecting Scotland, Digital Scotland

From Right to Left – Myself (Shahid Khan), Glenn Liddall, Elaine Brown, Eilidh McLaughlin Jim Legget

Blog by Shahid Khan, Senior Digital Policy lead, Digital Citizen Unit.

Is Scotland a digital nation? If your answer to my question is yes, then you are reading a wrong article. But if your answer is no, then you have a part to play. And the following content will make sense (I hope).

Research from Inspiring Scotland notes that 19% of Scottish people do not know how to use digital technology. Lack of access to digital devices, infrastructure, connectivity and support can have a negative impact on someone’s life chances.

While working for the Scottish Government, in the service of Scotland, we are called on to have a digital mind-set. But what does it really mean?

When I worked in Covid-19 vaccinations team, I developed a digital mind-set, out of necessity or by default, when I sought out opportunities with digital teams to finds solutions of problems such as how to set up record of vaccinations for groups such as international students coming to study in Scotland and sea-farers within Scottish waters. I built partnerships across the digital systems in the Health and Social care to align and tried to connect system to itself. It was challenging but we finally made it there.

During our team meetings, I have heard our unit head, Eilidh McLaughlin, say that for digital inclusion, we need to connect the system to itself. Connecting the System to itself means, having an open mind to learning, building, developing and maintaining alliances, proactively seeking solutions and ensure system approach to issues. In our case digital solutions.

Last week, some of Connecting Scotland team visited Edinburgh Remakery, a local charity which is doing excellent work to repair and recycle digital devices and making a difference in lives of their communities.

During the conversation with Remakery, I was struck by the idea of how much more we could do if we connect, calibrate and collaborate to ensure digital accessibility becomes a reality for those who do not have it.

As we prepare for our full business case ready in December, I am happy to speak to you or someone you know who could engage with Connecting Scotland. We are here to make digital inclusion a reality for everyone in Scotland. My contact email is: Shahid.Khan@gov.scot

Tags: Connecting Scotland, Digital inclusion, Remakery Edinburgh

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