During three months of the second season of the “Digital Life” project, there were carried out 19 workshops and 1 course “Apashki, atashki and smartphone”. This season, already 557 people from 13 cities of Kazakhstan possess new knowledge about mobile technologies and enjoy all the capabilities of their smartphones.
For example, Nina Aleksandrolvna, a participant of the most expected course “Apashki, atashki and smartphone” from Shymkent, says that since last year she was waiting for the new season of the project: “Last year, I and my friends, having read in the newspaper “Rabat” about the first courses “Apashki, atashki and smartphone”, were waiting for the beginning of the course. All the time we were calling the organizers and asked about the courses. For us it was a real gift. We have learned how to use the messengers, to master Skype. It has become easier to search for information on the Internet. A new world has been opened to us. And we with pleasure have passed the master class “Mobile Apps for education”!”. Coaches exercise the systemic approach to adult participants training, giving them homework, for example, shooting video with the use of a smartphone or shooting photos and sending the media files to the coach through What’s App.
It would seem that the more advanced smartphone users, as journalists, know all the details of operation of mobile applications, but coaches of “Digital Life” manage from time to time to provoke interest of media representatives in useful tips on the use of smartphones in their work. Julia Efremova, a journalist of “First Channel Eurasia” from Ust-Kamenogorsk, shared that at the master class “Mobile Media” she got a lot of new and interesting information: “We, journalists, are used to working with professional cameras, edit programs, but along with this we see how technologies change, and we want to keep up with these processes. For this reason we, with great interest, came to the workshop “Mobile Media”. We were greatly excited with virtual reality projects in the New York Times and the Guardian, which we were able to view on smartphones in virtual reality, or the VR format”.
For businessmen to use simple but useful mobile applications in our time is a necessity. Olga Pak, a resident of Astana city, admitted that the applications can significantly make it easier to do business: “It was very interesting to learn how to make our lives easier in such speedy pace and save time using mobile apps! I learned a lot of useful information: how to sell or buy goods and services, using the smartphone, how quickly to book air tickets, how to plan the tasks and book apartments, how to improve personal efficiency and other mobile tools for effective work.”
One of the most important classes is the master class “Mobile Security”. This workshop teaches how to use the mobile technologies to protect own child from the threats of the external and virtual environment, how to help ourselves in dangerous situations. In Almaty it was held jointly with Kazakhstan organization “Teens”, which helps young people and those who are close to them. During the master class the coaches have taught adults to use applications, running as a “panic button”, including how to protect the child from harmful content on the Internet.
We would like to remind that the project “Digital Life”, which is implemented by Kcell, was launched in June 2015 with involvement of “E-event” Agency. Last year, more than 4 thousand people attended the master classes, workshops and events that took place in 16 cities of Kazakhstan, and covered almost all social groups – from students to retirees.
The purpose of the project “Digital Life” is to raise awareness of the general public about the opportunities and benefits that smartphones and mobile applications offer. Continuing such an important mission, this year it was scheduled to hold 90 training seminars and workshops in 16 cities of Kazakhstan, which several thousand people will take part in.
“We are pleased to observe the progress of participants of workshops and experience with them their emotions in the moments when they discover new and useful aspects in mobile technologies. It is very important to us that mobile users were able to use all the capabilities of their smartphones and could make their lives much easier with the help of different mobile applications. The main mission of this project is to reduce the “digital divide” and show the citizens of Kazakhstan that new technologies are available, fascinating, convenient and easy”, – said Natalia Yeskova, Head of Communications Unit of Kcell JSC.
The schedule of master classes to be held in June can be found here. More information about the project can be found here.
