Red Chair Highland Joins the Saturday Drop-In
During the last Saturday Drop-in, we were joined by Kirsty Adam, the operations manager of Red Chair Highland. Red Chair Highland are a micro social enterprise based In Inverness which aim to close the digital divide.
The company’s services took rise after 2020 saw many paper-based companies taking their services digital like banking or Wi-Fi companies and even NHS services. For some, this is not a problem but for the more disadvantaged, whether that be people in poverty who don’t have access to personal devices or the older generation who weren’t prepared for the sudden change, this has become a problem. This is where the Red Chair Highland comes in to help, offering 1-1 support and workshops in setting up online accounts, accessing NHS near me services and facetime calls as well as offering cyber resilience to educate people on internet safety. With Wi-Fi companies being particularly hard to deal with and also prone to scamming, the Red Chair Highland also aims to help people spot these red flags, report them and ultimately keep themselves safe.
. As well as that, learning how to manage work digitally can help with people who are trying to find job opportunities online, converting their CV onto a word doc etc. A notable project was research called ‘making sense of media’ which was commissioned my Ofcom to help groups like older people, disabled people, children ages 10-14 and communities experiencing financial disadvantage. Their research concluded that 1-1 in person help was the most effective as each experience was tailored to the individuals and the specific help they needed.
In 2023, the Red Chair Highland was recognised by Social Enterprise Awards Scotland, winning the ‘Tech for Good’ award, drawing in lots of recognition which was particularly helpful for the company.
A new programme has been taking place for Ofcom called ‘Untold Stories’. This surrounds media literacy, investigating misinformation as well as AI generated content. The programme also offers insight into persuasive design techniques in the media as well as how an algorithm works and how to recognise this. As well as that, news production is taught where participants can make local news stories at the end of the course.
You can find Red Chair Highland every Tuesday to Thursday at 58 Denny St, Inverness IV2 3AR for a drop in or scheduled appointment.
For more information you can get in touch by:
Website – About | Red Chair Highland
Facebook – (8) Facebook
Email – info@redchairhighland.scot
01463417240
Written by Olivia Price
