Meet our Digital Ambassadors: Alex Blake-Pink

We spoke to our Digital Ambassador Alex, who is working within his community to reduce the digital divide. He lives in West Hampstead in a house on a private road. The house is in a council estate near the West Hampstead overground. 

How did you first hear about being a Digital Ambassador? 

My friend runs a charity called ‘Kilburn State of Mind’ where he took me into a meeting about a partnership arrangement with the Digital Champions. This is where I initially heard about the programme and signed up to become a Digital Ambassador. I then signed up officially through the website where I completed the initial course and Molinda, the Community Investment Lead, stayed in touch with me on the phone. 

Why did you choose to become a Digital Ambassador? 

I realised that the tasks of a Digital Ambassador resonated with what I was already doing with the charity I work for, for example I would get a phone call from an older friend asking me for help to fix his laptop or phone or help him with emails. It’s frustrating for people who don’t know how to do these things and for me it’s quite simple and I like that I’m able to solve other people’s problems. I like helping people and becoming a Digital Ambassador is a way of showing other people how to do things. 

How long have you been doing the programme and how many times a week/month do you run the sessions? 

There are currently no sessions implemented as I work mostly with walk-in sessions that were running twice a week before lockdown. I am quite new to the programme so I haven’t actually run any sessions yet. I signed up to the Digital Ambassador programme last year but due to my work with another charity and Coronavirus, I haven’t been able to run any sessions myself yet. 

The walk-in sessions usually took place on the estate that I work in called Watlin Gardens in Brent. The estate is a sheltered accommodation for elderly people and this is where I put up posters to advertise the walk-in sessions. They took place every Tuesday and Thursday from 10am-4pm and people came in with their devices asking for help on the spot. If they needed more help then I arranged a 1-1 with them. 

Is there anything you have learnt about yourself being a Digital Ambassador? 

I value myself more. I usually have confidence issues because of my cerebral palsy and depression, but for me to achieve a base-line average means I have to excel more which is what I have learnt being a Digital Ambassador. It has helped me build my confidence, including learning the guitar, singing and performing for people which I like and want to share this confidence with other people. 

Tell me about your students – what have you been teaching them? How many students do you have and how often are the sessions? 

From the 1-1 sessions, my students ask me specifically what they want to do, and I show them how to do it. For example this could be anything from setting up their email address, organising passwords, learning about internet security, knowing which emails are spam or not, websites, scams, internet history, trolls, to helping people with small day-to-day stuff like making a skype call, logging onto a zoom call, use a webcam, organising their iCloud, changing their hard-drive, accessibility and how to back up information. I can also show how to do these things remotely. Sometimes I create a document with screenshots and a step-by-step guide for the student to follow.  In total I would say I have helped about 13 people as a 1-1 session, but the walk-in sessions would usually attract more than that each time. I find a lot of repeat students with similar problems returning but I get a personal satisfaction as my reward. 

What has been the highlight of your Digital Ambassador experience so far?  

The highlight of my experience being a Digital Ambassador so far has definitely been when I helped one of my students connect to her sister via Skype who moved to Australia in the 70s and hasn’t seen her in 2-3 decades. It was amazing seeing the elderly student trying to touch the screen as if she was touching her sister’s face. They talked on the phone but haven’t had the capacity to use technology to see each other due to either having an old phone or no internet connection. It was a teary moment for me because it was the first time she’d seen all the grandchildren too. I would love to see this kind of experience every day with the people I help. 

Another example is when someone came into the walk-in session and donated a hamper of products to everyone who helped her make her family album digital so she could send photos to her family in Australia. It was a really big, stressful task which included gathering 5GB of photos so that was a really nice gesture to receive and to know people appreciate the work. 

What would you say to other people who are interested in becoming a Digital Ambassador?  

Personally, I would say take what you can out of the Digital Ambassador Programme. Just do it and you’ll feel the reward of helping people. 

What makes you willing to spend time to help others on a voluntary basis? 

I like helping people and you can’t beat the endorphins that you get from helping people, personal satisfaction and happiness is something you can’t beat and sometimes it comes to you years later and someone would come up to you as say “you helped me as a kid” which is the best feeling. 

What challenges do you face being a Digital Ambassador? 

It’s possible to become too familiar with people and over stepping the mark, for example I would get a phone call at 4am from a student asking to help them with a technical problem but I have to learn to cut the work/life balance. Sometimes people can walk over you because they take advantage of the service but you have to set clear boundaries. 

Does Community Fibre provide you with the right support and training to be a digital ambassador? 

I have previously completed many courses that have helped me with the Digital Ambassador programmes, such as my IT A-Level, being tech-savvy, a little bit of a nerd and having a charitable personality. My primary work role is with the Kilburn State of Mind charity who have given me the resources and training to be able to be successful as a Digital Ambassador. I have completed the initial training course online which included 3-5 individual PowerPoint presentations and at the end of each section has a Q&A and a basic competency test. The presentations teach you about the Digital Ambassador programme, what they do and what you can do to help them. 

How has the Digital Ambassador certificate you will receive at the end of the training be useful to you in the future? 

You receive a certificate at the end of the training course that you can print off. I am however over-qualified for the role but completed the training to help me stay with the Digital Ambassador programme. You can use the qualification in the future for your own personal use and you can add it to your CV; I say yes to a lot of things and want to help people going forward so the training and the programme is very useful. In addition to this I like volunteering as working with music and podcasts so it can also build your confidence with other things.