The Online Revolution for Older People

Silver Surfers' Day is a fantastic initiative which was launched by Digital Unite in 2002 and has grown from strength to strength. Every year, thousands of organisations have been supported by a number of agencies to assist and train older people to become computer literate and enjoy themselves online with social networking and other skills.

It is estimated that 100,000 older people have been helped in this way since the inception of the project.

This year, a week-long activity called Spring Online all over the country took place, culminating with Silver Surfers' Day on 20 May. In total, 2,500 events took place in 2011, a resounding triumph for Digital Unite, as around 20 older people attended each event making a total of around 50,000 who were encouraged to enter the digital world online.

There were all kinds of venues throughout the UK which included hospitals, pubs, paper mills, museums and offices among others. The events were delivered by Digital Unite in partnership with UK Online Centres and Race Online 2012, and were supported by a number of organisations and government departments.

The participants in the events were often helped to realise their personal dreams. For example, one lady learnt how to email her grandson serving in Afghanistan. Imagine her amazement when she got an instant reply! A 73-year-old lady, Joyce, cried when she saw pictures on the internet of where she used to live. She said: "I never knew you could see things like this on the internet, this is wonderful, coming here today was the best thing I could have done."

Spring Online has its own dedicated website www.springonline.org for both event hosts and interested older people. The website contains some brilliant ideas on what to do in a taster session and the organisers have created an interesting e-card game called Springboard for practising mouse and keyboard skills and creating an online message at the same time.

The website also encourages people to follow their own interests and search for interesting information on Google. There is advice on emailing from Digital Unite on How to Email, as well as a guide to Google Mail. There is a menu of online skills, including digital photography, social networking, music and audio, shopping and banking and interests, hobbies and games.

Older people who have had a taster of what the online world has to offer can also take their interests further with the help of digital unite tutors. For those who are already adept they have the opportunity to become tutors themselves and make a difference to others.

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