100% Digital Leeds have partnered with Leeds Arts Health and Wellbeing Network to host a series of 3 free 30 minute lunchtime webinars this month showcasing the range of engaging and accessible online tools and resources available to those who would like to explore arts, culture, and creativity from their own home during lockdown.

Leeds Arts Health and Wellbeing Network (LAHWN) was launched in 2019 to enable different sectors to work together, supporting Leeds residents to enjoy fulfilling lives. Our aim is for arts and creativity to support Leeds’ ambitions to be a healthy city, where people who are the poorest improve their health the fastest.

Over 2020 we have seen brilliant and innovative work across Leeds to work differently – arts organisations, like theatre Slung Low, have been involved in Leeds response to Covid-19, running foodbanks and supporting people with the essentials and across Leeds we have seen creativity everywhere from the rainbows in windows to exhibitions, groups and classes moving online. With many people in Leeds making more use of digital technology LAHWN and 100% Digital Leeds wanted to collaborate to share examples of what is on offer in Leeds and beyond – an opportunity to explore what is possible online, try something new or access something important.

Geraldine Montgomerie, Project Support Officer at Leeds Arts, Health and Wellbeing Network

Arts engagement can support improved mental health

Following the government’s Creative Health report in 2017, the World Health Organisation published a review of existing research on What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being? in 2019 and new research has begun in 2020 on the role of arts in looking after our mental health. We know that arts and culture has many benefits from supporting a healthy routine to connecting with other people, from learning new skills to having a distraction during challenging times… and we are seeing a range of specific health benefits from arts engagement, music and dance in managing and recovering from health problems.

It’s widely known that the pandemic has had a negative effect on the nation’s mental health. According to Mind, more than half of adults and over two thirds of young people said that their mental health has gotten worse during the periods of lockdown restrictions. Restrictions on seeing people and being able to go outside, and worries about the health of family and friends, are the key factors driving poor mental health, with boredom and loneliness being further contributors.

We know that making and experiencing arts and culture can transform a person’s quality of life and research from Arts Council England shows that people who engage with ‘arts on prescription’ schemes’ experienced a 68% improvement in mental health symptoms as a result. 

With social distancing, travel bans, and the closure of most face-to-face arts, community, and leisure facilities for much of the previous year, it has never been more difficult to engage with arts and culture. For many people activities like going to the theatre or watching live music, taking part in drawing classes, or visiting galleries are enjoyable activities that are sorely missed. 

Geraldine Montgomerie, Project Support Officer at Leeds Arts, Health and Wellbeing Network

Engagement in the arts is more difficult without digital skills and access

The pandemic has pushed lots of people to look to digital means of entertainment to keep them busy.  TV streaming has surged during lockdown and loans of online e-books, e-magazines and audiobooks were up an average of 63% in March 2020 compared with the previous year. The arts and culture sector were quick to respond, with lots of big names making streamed content available online for free.

In Leeds we have seen a huge effort from community and arts organisations to work together to adapt to the pandemic, creating ways to engage in the arts from home. From musicians and poets performing outside care homes and DAZL Leeds’ Garden Groovers offering socially distant dancing, to online groups and activities, to arts by post; across the city we have tried to offer something for everyone. For some, including those who might have found the cost of travel prohibitive, these innovations have made things like West End Theatre more accessible.  

But new way of connecting isn’t open to the city’s more digitally excluded citizens. More than 20% of UK adults lack the basic digital skills necessary to make the most of the internet and 7% are completely offline. Digital skills can be a lifeline for people and are even more likely to be at this moment in time. Of those with good digital skills and access, 44% say it helps them to manage physical and mental well-being and 55% say it makes them feel more part of a community.

Arts and culture as motivators for digital inclusion

Although lack of equipment and skills are key factors, for many motivation is the key barrier to doing more online – over 30% of those offline say the internet ‘doesn’t interest me’. For these people, just knowing more about the kinds of things they can do online can make all the difference. When lack of digital skills and confidence is a factor, word of mouth awareness becomes an even bigger factor, alongside support and encouragement. 100% Digital Leeds have trained more than 200 Digital Champions, all of whom are encouraging and supporting the city’s residents to understand the relevance of digital to them and to build their digital skills and confidence to make the most of the online world. 

When it comes to motivating people 100% Digital Leeds encourages Digital Champions to help people discover something digital that they’re interested in, that’s less likely to cause stress, and that is hard to get wrong. Exploring arts and leisure digitally can also support people to have some normality, opening up opportunities through online resources and tools to experience some of the things enjoyable things they’ve not been able to do because of the pandemic and in the most recent third national lockdown, promoting independence, quality of life and supporting to combat social isolation.  

It’s about finding things that people feel able to ‘give a go’. Arts activities like drawing apps, accessing music on YouTube, or live streaming theatre can be accessible ways for people to do more with digital, developing their digital skills and confidence along the way. 

Amy Hearn, Digital Inclusion Coordinator, 100% Digital Leeds

Raising awareness of how to engage with the arts and be creative digitally 

With community centres, museums, galleries and other venues currently closed, the internet is now the place where we can still enjoy arts and culture, however the digital world develops at pace and can be overwhelming to navigate. This has been all the more apparent during the pandemic as organisations that have previously relied on face-to-face engagement have worked quickly to adapt their services to be delivered online. 

Online tools, classes, and services are popping up all the time and it can be difficult to keep up. Arts practitioners across the city have reported finding it difficult to make sure people know about their new online services. People that are more digitally excluded are less likely to be reached through social media advertising or sign up to email newsletters. It’s this problem that sparked 100% Digital Leeds and LAHWN to partner up to develop a series of free 30 minute lunchtime webinars, telling people about some of the easy, accessible, and fun ways for people to engage with arts and culture digitally, from home. 

A series of 3 lunchtime webinars

The webinars are aimed at anyone who would like to know more about what’s available for people looking to engage with the arts over the internet and are perfect for Digital Champions or anyone else looking to support people to access and do more with digital.

Each of the webinars will showcase a range of the websites, apps, and online events, focussing on tools that are accessible and suitable for a range of audiences, including older people, people with learning disabilities, those likely to be suffering from the effects of isolation, and those with low digital skills and confidence.   

All three webinars are free, via Zoom, and bookable at Eventbrite:

Wed 13th Jan, 12.30 – 1pm: Online arts and culture for health and wellbeing: tools for individuals

Focussing on online tools that people can use to explore the arts independently in their own homes. We will give practical hints and tips on how people can access free and affordable content from home including streamed performances, podcasts, eBooks, and creative courses.

Wed 20th Jan, 12.30 – 1pm: Online arts and culture for health and wellbeing: connecting with others 

Sharing engaging and accessible ways people can come together digitally to explore the arts socially and as part of an online community. We will highlight a range of online groups, classes, events, and other digital tools and spaces where people can engage with the arts communally and connect with like-minded people.

Wed 27th Jan, 12.30 – 1pm: Online arts and culture for health and wellbeing: tools for groups 

Showcasing the variety of engaging and accessible ways existing groups can explore digital arts and culture together. This session is ideal for anyone facilitating online groups and meet-ups who would like practical hints and tips on how to bring arts and culture into your meeting. Tools and resources recommended will be accessible and of interest to online social groups of all kinds, including those aimed at older people, people with memory issues, and people with learning disabilities.

All sessions will be recorded and shared on our website, along with links to the various tools and resources shared.

Becoming a Digital Champion

Digital Champions inspire others, improve people’s confidence and help raise awareness of the online world. It’s not about being a computer expert, it’s about being supportive, encouraging and patient. If you’re active in your local community – through your paid work, as a volunteer, or as a resident – and you understand the importance of everyone having the opportunity to be online, you’d make a perfect Digital Champion.

100% Digital Leeds offers free training to anyone looking to support Leeds residents to do more with digital. Sessions are delivered remotely via Zoom or your preferred platform. Sessions last around 90 minutes and work best in a group setting. Session content is tailored to reflect the support needs of your service users and your team. 

To organise free Digital Champion training for your team fill in our online form and someone from 100% Digital Leeds will be in touch to make arrangements.

Guest post from David Hampton – Interaction Designer and Developer at Croydon Council

If you’ve read our previous blog posts about the Digital Inclusion Toolkit project, you’ll know that Leeds City Council and Croydon Council have teamed up in partnership with AgeUK Croydon and TechResort. Why? We have a joint mission – to share a wealth of existing information about Digital Inclusion in a collaborative way.

In this article I am going to talk about some of the design and development decisions that have driven the Toolkit’s first iteration in just 12 weeks.

The design brief

Having worked as a designer and developer in both the private and public sector, I can tell you the initial design brief for this project was very open. I’d say the first challenge for a designer in a collaborative project like this, is there’s no single client or service to aim your questions at. For me this meant I needed to put the right questions to the whole team, before starting prototypes or designs. To help build a consensus on direction. A more focused design brief.

We used Slack and sprint planning sessions to discuss these wider objectives. It soon became clear to me that the collaborators were all open to each other’s ideas and expertise. Thankfully they shared an overall vision from the start.

Here’s what we did know:

• There is a user need among councils and other groups, to find and share information about basic digital skills
• We want the information to be open, encouraging contributions and discussion
• The information should have a clear structure, be easy to navigate and search
• We need to publish content created by multiple contributors quickly
• We should develop something rapidly, within the constraints of the budget and team skill sets. We want to get something out fast, a first iteration that can be tested
• The content should be accessible and mobile friendly

Design research

As a team we went away and looked at various websites offering a similar proposition – presenting lots of detailed information in a clear way that’s easy to navigate. Some influential sites were Gov.uk Service Manual, dxw’s playbook, policies.google.com, PayPal and Wikipedia.

We talked about what we liked and disliked. Here are some of the things we liked:

• A focus on search and clear categories used for navigation on the Gov.uk Service Manual
• Tabbing between ‘Read’ and ‘Talk’ on Wikipedia
• A sticky menu of page contents that highlights your reading position in long pages, used on Gov.uk, dxw, Google and Paypal

So is it a Wiki, a website or a blog?

Before stepping too deep into design, being mindful not to design myself into any blockers in the development phase (I am the designer and developer on this project ). I encouraged the team to reach a decision on the platform early on. Although to some extent our choice was limited by the skill sets we have, a clear impetus was how open and collaborative contributions and discussion should be.

We explored a few routes. And thanks to TechResort we were able to fire up installations of these platforms for investigation.

Firstly we looked at CommentPress, a WordPress theme and plug-in designed to allow in page commenting at paragraph level. We decided this may be too detailed for us, we were looking for general discussion and contribution on the themes.

Not to take anything away from CommentPress – it does what it says on the tin. But from a developer perspective the complex UI potentially opens up a can of worms when accessibility testing.

Secondly we looked at MediaWiki, the platform that powers Wikipedia. Although designed for collaboration, we found the concept of a Wiki too open for us. Instead of any visitor being able to make new pages and live edits (like Wikipedia), we need more control over a content plan. To make the content as useful as possible to users we need to work with collaborators on a shared standard, in both content and style.

After playing around with an install of MediaWiki and looking at their Accessibility Workboard I was impressed. It’s an extremely powerful tool should you wish to create a true Wiki. The documentation is vast, and somewhat overwhelming at first. Saying that, if you put your mind to it you can get a working Wiki set up pretty quickly.

Lastly we looked at self hosted WordPress. We found some of the native WordPress publishing features suited the project goals. The built in comment functionality, and the user roles. From contributor users who can draft their content but not publish, to editors who can edit and reorder any content, and of course administrators who can set user permission level.

I have experience building WordPress child themes so I knew I could create something bespoke and fast, with limited days available each sprint and within the rapid turnaround for the first iteration. You can read more about the custom child theme I’ve created later in this article.

Based on the above we decided on self hosted WordPress as our platform.

Back to design

Now, with a steer on platform and a clearer understanding of the collaborative goals, it was time to begin prototyping a user interface for the toolkit. Based on the research phase I began drafting some mobile and desktop wireframes , first for the chapter content page. Designing in the features we liked – the ‘Read’ and ‘Discussion’ tabs, a contents menu, and a way of highlighting contributed content visually.

Time and resource permitting I start by hand sketching layouts then produce prototypes for user testing. All this before working on full colour designs. In this case due to time limitations, I worked up some basic sketches then moved to PhotoShop producing visuals that not only demonstrate the interface but the look and feel as well.

This approach echoes the way I began my career in commercial graphics and web design. We always produced visuals that are an exact representation of how the finished product will look on screen, with an aim for ‘sign off’. I also find this process useful for defining font sizes across mobile and desktop, as well as seeing the colour palette in action. I make tweaks to colour combinations during the design phase so they have good contrast levels for accessibility.

Of course there was no visual identity defined for the Toolkit yet, it’s a new thing. So I sourced a friendly, accessible web font and defined a basic colour palette for the first iteration. It’s simple but a good start.

I should mention my knowledge of best practice web patterns gained through working as a designer on local authority pattern libraries (Brighton and currently Croydon), plays an important role in my design process. I’m a fan of re-using design patterns that have been previously tested.

The toolkit has a handful of other page layouts, namely the homepage, search, and category pages. I’m still in the process of finalising some of the interfaces, and can say they’re heavily influenced by Gov.UK search, and the Gov.uk Service Manual landing page. Again, if it’s already been tested why not make use of it as a starting point to build on?

An open source WordPress theme

A bonus outcome for the Toolkit project is developing the platform in an open source way that can later be shared and improved. This drove my decisions on the choice of WordPress theme.

For the parent theme I chose UnderStrap and here’s why. Understrap is a free open source WordPress theme, it uses BootStrap 4 as a framework. It’s very bare bones and lightweight to use as a starting point for the front end, which I like.

It took me a number of years to come round to using BootStrap as a front end framework, in fact I never used it in my own projects until a few years after the release of Bootstrap 4 in 2014. Now I’ve invested some time in learning how to use it properly, I find the re-theming capabilities, grid system, and pre-made components an invaluable time saver in front end development.

To customise the functionality and look and feel of the parent theme I’ve created a Digital Inclusion Playbook child theme. I won’t bore you with any more intricacies of WordPress themes but here’s the exciting part.

Both themes can be installed in WordPress using one Zip file upload. If you have a front end developer available you can change the theme fonts and colour palette by amending a set of variables. Failing that anyone with a basic CSS understanding can change the look and feel using the advanced CSS option in WordPress.

WordPress out the box can be limiting in some ways, especially the search, so I extended some of the WordPress functionality:

• Improved search – to show matches relating to author and category names along with the chapter content
• Comments in a ‘Discussion’ tab – something I’ve never seen on a WordPress site before. If you have please let me know.
• Chapter headings and sections – Added as reorderable text blocks, simplifying the editing process
• An automatic contents menu – dynamically generated by content section titles (h2s)

Keep an eye out for an update on the theme release soon, we’re open to sharing and collaboration on the development side of the project too.

During Sprint 1, the Leeds and Croydon project to create a Digital Inclusion Toolkit came up with a draft chapter list for the Toolkit, intending to cover all the topics we think are important to include. We refined those headings during Sprint 2 and now we are looking for feedback on the structure of our Toolkit.

What We’re Thinking About

One of the main topics of focus is how we go about successfully creating a Toolkit that covers all of the information and experience our partners have gathered so far, but is also open to collaboration from other councils and organisations with their own experience of Digital Inclusion. We are considering the style that our content will be written and presented in, and also how community-generated content will be moderated and integrated into the Toolkit.

What We’ve Been Doing

Testing platforms – The team has been looking at the pros and cons of different platforms for what they can offer in terms of layout, accessibility and potential for collaboration. We are considering either a wiki or WordPress format, both of which have options for external users to contribute to the discussion, and we’ll be making a decision soon on which to use. We are looking for a final product which is easy to navigate, looks professional, complies with accessibility legislation and includes functionality for comments and collaboration.

Content – The draft chapter list that we developed during Sprint 1 is going to form the basic structure of the Toolkit. It needs to cover all of the content we want to include within an intuitive and easy to navigate structure. Below is the draft structure we have so far:

• Getting Started
  • Identifying your users
  • Getting Buy-In
    • Internally
    • Externally
  • Funding
  • Supporting other organisations to do digital inclusion
• Helping Individuals
  • Barriers to digital inclusion
  • Motivation
  • Access
    • Connectivity
    • Choice of Device
      • Laptops
      • Phones
      • Tablets
    • Lending schemes
    • Peripherals
    • Accessibility
  • Skills
    • Signposting
    • Sharing Skills During Lockdown
• Helping Organisations and Businesses
  • Barriers to digital inclusion
  • Social media
  • Data management
  • Business continuity
  • Cloud tools
  • Accounting
  • GDPR
  • Sharing skills during lockdown
  • Skill-Up employees
• Working Inclusively
  • How to listen
  • Understanding users’ needs
  • Understand the needs of organisations and businesses
  • Children
    • Safeguarding
  • Older people
    • Living with dementia
  • ESOL learners
  • Disability and sensory impairment
• Staying Safe Online
• Useful Kit
• Case Studies

What’s Next?

The next task for the group is to begin the process of content creation for the Toolkit. This will involve translating all of the content we already have into an appropriate format to sit under the chapter headings we have drafted. We will also identify areas where we may be lacking in information and need to do further research and testing. Once we have some model content to work with, this will help inform our decisions regarding the look and feel of the Toolkit.

Request for Feedback

One of the primary aims for this Toolkit is for it to be useful to a wide variety of organisations, with different needs and in different stages of incorporating Digital Inclusion into their work. It’s also intended to be a collaborative project, therefore we are asking for feedback from the community on the draft chapter list we have compiled. If you have any views on the headings we have included or content that we may have overlooked, please give us your feedback using this form.

Guest Post from Aidan Finney at Carers Leeds who shares Monica’s story:

We received several Amazon Echo Show’s from 100% Digital Leeds at the start of the pandemic which we were keen to get out to support Carers in isolation. Through working in partnership with 100% Digital Leeds on the NHS Widening Participation Dementia Pathfinder we had seen the benefits of voice technology for Carers especially supporting with self-management and mental wellbeing.

During the pandemic Monica was referred to Carers Leeds.

Monica told me about her caring situation, she cares for her mother who has a diagnosis of lewy body dementia and psychosis. Monica lives a number of miles away from her mother at the other side of Leeds, she has often needed to drive across to check on her mother when she was in crisis. She has found this a challenging aspect of her caring role balancing her own life and work and driving across Leeds on a regular basis.

When COVID-19 hit this wasn’t something Monica could do as easily and she became extremely anxious about how she would be able to care for her mother and stay in contact through the pandemic. At Carers Leeds we suggested she trial one of the Amazon Echo Show’s from 100% Digital Leeds, which would give her the opportunity to communicate with her mother while she couldn’t drive over to see her.

We set up the Alexa for Monica’s mother, Monica downloaded the Alexa app on her phone which connects to her mother’s device and we talked her through how to use it.

As a result of this, over the past two months through lockdown Monica has been able to link her phone to her mother’s Alexa via the ‘check in’ option and they have been able to see each other on the screen and chat to each other.

Monica has been so reassured by seeing her mother over the video call and her mother is able to be reassured through seeing her daughter and speaking to her through the device. This has given both Monica and her mother peace of mind as they can quickly see each other when needed rather than having to wait for Monica to be available to drive over for support each time her mother is in need.

During the current situation with the pandemic this has been invaluable and has supported both of them to develop their digital skills, increasing their confidence in using the devices and seeing the real benefits of using them.

Monica explained:

My mother has really enjoyed listening to her favourite songs on the Alexa and interacting with it for the social aspect in isolation, she finds this therapeutic. It boosts her mental wellbeing by having a nice atmosphere of music in the home and it puts my mind at ease knowing she’s not as down or feeling as low. It’s amazing that we can now have video calls I can’t describe how special it is.”

We’ve found music is often a really great way for people living with Dementia to enjoy reminiscing about times they can remember from their past and it’s a great tool to help with relaxation and relieve agitation.

This has been the case for Monica’s mother and changed her situation dramatically compared to how she was feeling at the start of the pandemic. Monica can’t imagine life without using the Alexa now, and feels calmer and happier knowing she can have that contact with her mother whenever she wants, she is thrilled it has really boosted her mother’s mental wellbeing and her own.

Thank you 100% Digital Leeds for giving Monica and other Carers through Carers Leeds the opportunity to use these devices which are making such an incredible difference to people’s lives especially in the current situation.