#WhatAboutMeNI project

The aim of #WhatAboutMeNI was to support young people in exploring digital technology, learning and sharing skills, and developing tools to help others learn about digital technology.
The project involved two groups, one in the city of Belfast and the other in rural Co Fermanagh.
Each group had 8 members. To kick off the project, both groups went on a residential weekend in Tollymore National Outdoor Centre. This gave them an opportunity to socialise and develop friendships. It was a perfect opportunity to generate ideas for what they would like to do during the project.
The young people set up a blog page so that they could share their thoughts, ideas and skills. During each session they updated the blogs with news about what they were doing and how they were progressing.
The Fermanagh group mapped out storyboards and Google searching images that matched their stories.
They took part in World Safer Internet Day 2016 by creating their own safer internet messages and sharing them online.
The Belfast group created blogs on friendships and relationships for Learning Disability Week. As a result of their involvement in #WhatAboutMeNI, this group were offered the chance to get involved in making a film on learning disability, with Into Film. They created a short film titled ‘My Not So Ordinary Life’ which explored their lives as young people living with learning disabilities. The film won a national prize at the Into Film awards, lead them to engage with media and showcase their work to industry representatives across Ireland.
The project showed that young people with learning disabilities can take part in digital projects but flexibility and timing are key factors to be aware of.
The project was for young people with learning disabilities aged 12-26 and was funded by the Carnegie UK Trust as part of #NotWithoutMe.

Context: The digital world brings great potential for improved wellbeing through faster, more personalised services, new models of communication and cooperation and improved access to knowledge and information. However there are also risks to these revolutionary changes, with implications for equality, skills, privacy and work. The Carnegie Trusts Digital Futures theme explores how the rapid advances in digital technology can be exploited to optimise improvements in wellbeing for people across the UK and Ireland.

Stakeholders involved: funded by the Carnegie UK Trust as part of #NotWithoutMe.

Key learning points: NEI.

Evaluation: No

Read the full analysis: https://www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk/blog/dont-use-computers-much/