The key message of the Polish edition of the Get Online Week was linked to the European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations. The campaign in Poland was focused on solidarity between three generations (children, parents and grandparents) and the role of technology.
The Information Society Development Foundation (FRSI)- national coordinator of the Get Online Week in Poland – invited public libraries, schools, cultural centers, e-centers, local and regional administration to be a part of the campaign. Their task was to organize one or more meetings during the Get Online Week according to the specific scenarios developed by FRSI. The goal of the meetings was to bring together the three generations, and for them to spend some quality time with each other on the Internet.
The key message of the Polish edition of the Get Online Week was linked to the European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations. The campaign in Poland was focused on solidarity between three generations (children, parents and grandparents) and the role of technology.
The Information Society Development Foundation (FRSI)- national coordinator of the Get Online Week in Poland – invited public libraries, schools, cultural centers, e-centers, local and regional administration to be a part of the campaign. Their task was to organize one or more meetings during the Get Online Week according to the specific scenarios developed by FRSI. The goal of the meetings was to bring together three generations and spend some quality time with themselves and the Internet. All scenarios were accompanied by easy-to-fill / ready-to-print templates such as posters, invitations, flyers, diplomas, press releases etc., thus enabling telecentres to save a lot of time.
The scenario’s were:
» “Around the world in 80 minutes” – virtual sightseeing
» “Plant a tree…in the Internet” – creation of family trees using Internet tools
» “Warm-up before EURO 2012” –a quiz about soccer with the use of Internet resources.
Organization & preparation:
- Partners and supporters
The Polish edition of the Get Online Week was conducted under the patronage of the Ministry of Administration and Digitizatio and of the Coalition for the Digital Inclusion of the 50+ Generation “M@turity in the net” – which unites business, NGO’s, agencies and institutions to encourage older people to actively use the Internet. Also a number of organizations, institutions and companies supported the campaign:
» Polish Telecom, Microsoft Poland and UPC Poland with the financial support
» University of Warsaw Library hosting the launching event
» Polish Scouting and Guiding Association motivating scouts to volunteer during the campaign (helping telecentres to organize meetings)
» the Center for Citizenship Education and the Federation for Educational Initiatives – two nongovernmental organizations promoting the campaign among schools
» the Foundation Supporting Physically Disabled Mathematicians and IT Specialists – promoting the campaign among e-centers.
» the internet services heritage.com and ciufcia.pl were supporting the campaign with their content – resources in the area of genealogy and educational games for children. - Information and promotion
To promote the Get Online Week FRSI used the following communication channels:
» the portal for public libraries – 21 000 unique users, 69 000 visits per month (the campaign website was part of the portal)
» the Library Development Program’s newsletter (4500 subscribers)
» community portals (librarians, NGOs)
» newsletters and websites of GOW partners
» since mid-Februar information about the campaign was also distributed to schools and e-centers through the network of partners and supporters - Launching the campaign
More than 400 institutions registered for the Get Online Week. Among them 287 libraries and 80 schools. On March 26th we organized a launch event at the Library of the University of Warsaw with approximately 80 guests: partners of the campaign, librarians, representatives of national authorities, representatives of NGO’s and media. During the meeting a special video address from the Polish President – Bronislaw Komorowski was presented. It was a short message to the participants of the Get Online Week 2012 events about how the Internet can bring generations closer.
During the second part of the event, a discussion about the role of Internet in everyday life was held among the invited special guests: the President of the Office of Electronic Communications, the Deputy Minister of Administration and Digitization, President of UPC Poland, the General Manager of Microsoft Poland and the President of Polish Telecom. The guests were encouraged to answer questions referring their personal perspective of the use of new technologies: “Where and how did you use the Internet for the first time?”, “Could you survive 24 hours without the Internet?” They had a lot of fun answering those questions and were really engaged sharing interesting stories!
In the next part of the launch event we divided all attendants into 3 groups and invited them to take part in meetings about the Get Online Week scenarios. For the FRSI staff members who leaded the meetings it was a very good test to know what worked well in the scenarios and what should be improved next year.
Highlights of activities across Poland and feedback from campaign participants:
- Elementary School in Głotowo:
“We are glad we could join the circle of institutions supporting the Get Online Week. I work in a tiny country school attended by 41 pupils. The representatives of three age groups willingly came to the meeting. I invited a traveler, a man fascinated with travelling, who told us about his expedition to India. It was an introduction to our online travel “Around the world in 80 minutes”. The scenarios were prepared wonderfully. The ready-to-use materials such as diplomas, the attendance list and links were very helpful, especially for those who conducted the meeting. Thanks to this, everything was very easy to do.” - Community Center in Kołaczkowo:
“This year’s campaign was exceptional, because it gave three generations an opportunity to meet. First of all, I will remember the joy of performing the tasks together. Everybody was helping each other in getting to know the Internet and the world of flora, fauna and culture “hidden” in it. During the meeting you could really see solidarity between generations!!!” - Municipal Public Library in Chrzanów:
“For me the Internet is just about revelations and novelties! I belong to those people who are very much interested in genealogy, so the website I got to know will provide great support and make it a lot easier to collect and document the history of my family.” - City Public Library in Siemianowice Śląskie:
“The generation gap is not an obstacle to playing together if there are good intentions and a bit of understanding. The Internet is not alien to me, but I do not have so much freedom as the young here. The representatives of my generation refer to traditional sources when they look for information, and the young always use the Internet. I am very glad that young people have such excellent knowledge of the history of football. The events that I witnessed were familiar to me. The competition itself was very exciting, too.”
Outcomes and statistics:
The number of participants in Poland was 8.080 (1300 more than last year). It was a big success given the big challenge to gather three generations of people around Internet activities. At the same time the scenarios were more ambitious and demanding for the telecentres. The 400 registered telecentres (and the registration was on a voluntary basis) organized hundreds of meetings across Poland during the week of 26th – 30th March.
These numbers show that FRSI succeed in reaching three generations: children, parents and grandparents. Among the 8.080 participants there were:
» 3631 (45%) kids and young people (under the age of 16)
» 1280 (16%) people between 25 – 40 years
» 1855 (23%) people between 41 – 64 years
» 532 (7%) people over 65 years.
Media coverage
The media on the national, regional and local level were very interested in the campaign. FRSI prepared four press releases:
» on February 20th – the initiating press release entitled “Get connected – join the Get Online Week!”
» on March 7th – about the online registration form for telecentres and other institutions willing to be a part of the campaign
» on March 21th – about the number of registered telecentres and start of the campaign on March 26th; this press release had a number of regional editions
» on April 2nd – summary of activities conducted during the week of March 26th – 30th and information about the start of the contest “Three heads are better than one!”
» a press release is also planned to be distribtued on May 24th, when the award ceremony for the contest will be held at the Library of the University of Warsaw .
Get Online Week media coverage in figures:
» 94 Internet publications
» 30 press articles
» 11 radio and television materials
The contest “Three heads are better than one!”
As an additional activity FRSI is conducting the contest “Three heads are better than one!”. From March 30th until April 30th all telecentres involved in the Get Online Week 2012 can enter this competition. The task is to prepare a 3 minutes multimedia report from the event conducted during the Get Online Week and post it on YouTube or prezi.com. Additionally, the contestants have to fill in an online application form, among other information they have to place a statement of one event participant (obligatory) and a statement of one volunteer (optional).
The contest will be decided in Mid-May and the award ceremony will be held on May 24th. The best competition entries will be awarded with valuable prizes:
» 5 telecentres will receive XBox consoles with Kinect sensors founded by Microsoft Poland
» 5 participants of the Get Online Week events (representatives of one of the three generations) will receive digital cameras, founded by UPC Poland
» 5 volunteers will receive mp4 devices, founded by UPC Poland.
(see below for examples of multimedia reports – videos)
Final remarks
The FRSI is very pleased with this year’s results of the Polish edition of the Get Online Week. The campaign focused a lot on the quality of the activities conducted by telecentres across Poland. Feedback from the campaign participants (through an online evaluation survey for all telecentres participating in the campaign) and the multimedia reports submitted to the contest show that FRSI succeeded in their effort to integrate three generations around ICT.
FRSI is also be proud to have gathered a great group of patrons, partners and supporters from various sectors: business, public administration, nongovernmental organizations. Also the media coverage is a reason for big satisfaction.
The most important however is the fact that the campaign activities are sustained: telecentres (for example public libraries) plan to organize meetings according to the Get Online Week scenarios in the future. These scenarios can be a part of every day activities of telecentres and serve the idea of solidarity between generations.
» Download the complete report of Get Online Week 2012 in Poland
» the Public Library in Susz, “Around the world in 80 minutes” (in Polish)
» the Public Library in Ustka, “Warm-up before EURO 2012” (in Polish)
» the Public Library in Namysłów, “Warm-up before EURO 2012” (in Polish)
» the Elementary School in Chwalibogowo, “Plant a tree…in the Internet” (in Polish)
» the Cultural Center in Trzebiatów, “Around the world in 80 minutes” (in Polish)
