I’ll tech medal from the Queen if it means more people online
IT specialist on his mission to bridge the digital divide
When Gary McKeown started refurbishing old computers in his spare time to help people get connected, he had no idea it would connect him to the Queen.
The college IT specialist filled his home with computers, working day and night to refurbish kit to help disadvantaged folk cross the “digital divide”.
His dedication saw him honoured on the Queen’s birthday list with a British Empire Medal, for services to education.
Gary, 53, who works at Glasgow Clyde College, hopes his regal recognition can help boot up his charity Gift Tech, giving people the gift of technology. gy.
He said: “It’s weird seeing ng your name written down as ‘Gary McKeown BEM’. It’s an honour and I’m proud to getet it but I hope it helps what we’re e’re doing with Gift Tech.
“If people at that level can an appreciate it, our governments nts have to appreciate what this is is able to do for people.”
Gary first had the ideadea of repurposing old kit whenn his colleagues at the college asked ked the IT department for spares es for students who couldn’t t afford home technology.
He said: “We could see the e amount of requests coming ng from lecturers for IT equipment ent for students who had nothing.g. We could see the impact the digitall divide dd was having on people in the community.
“People shouldn’t be left behind in a digital world because of a lack of access to IT. We are putting more things online, like benefits, housing and jobs, making it impossible for people who are unable to afford computers.”
Last month, a study by the Citizens
Advice Bureau in Scotland found that only 54 per cent of its clients had internet access at home. Almost half of those surveyed said they would be unable to f ill out a benefits form because they had never used a computer.
Gary, from Glasgow, has forged contacts between Gift Tech and community groups representing folk in need.
But when Covid all but closed down society, he and his group of Gift Tech volunteers knew the digital divide would make a bad situation worse for many, with access to government funding, home learning and even food shopping all dependent d on households having h online access.
We saw the impact that the digital divide was having
Gary said: “We started pairing with w groups who identified families fa in lockdown hardship.
“We weren’t in college so I had to ask permission for access tto keep the charity going. We mmanaged to get in to take eequipment home and refurbish it to keep the process going and get thithings sent to food banks, where peoppeople could access equipment. “All this was while we were still gegetting college IT equipment reready for staff to use at home. So all the Gift Tech work was done at nightn and at the weekend.” GaryG runs Gift Tech out of a room in thetheccollege and his home but hopes the success of the project – which has seen him provide more than 200 computers to those in need since setting up last year – will help upscale the charity. He added: “Imagine every government office, college and university gathering up their equipment and getting it upcycled like this. It would take a huge chunk out of the digital divide.”