Lately, digital literacy has become a trending topic of discussion. Digital literacy can have a lot of different meanings, but the most common definition is “the ability to use digital devices, like smartphones and computers, to evaluate, and communicate information.” It’s a combination of technical and cognitive skills that allow people to use information and communication technologies to create, evaluate, and share information but not everyone has those skills. That’s where digital navigators can help.

LDO recently spoke with digital navigator Mark Revolinski about his experiences. Mark works out of Pottsboro Public Library in Pottsboro, Texas, a rural community a little over an hour north of downtown Dallas, on Lake Texoma.

LDO: How did you become a digital navigator?

Mark: I moved from Tomahawk, Wisconsin to Pottsboro in 2021. My grandkids were there. My background was with Nokia, installing cellular equipment so I’ve always been involved with technology. After I moved to Pottsboro, my wife found a Facebook post about the library looking for a part-time digital navigator. With my extensive technical background, I had a good working knowledge of computers, smartphones, and the internet, so I thought, this is perfect. They paid me for the work but I would have done it for free.

LDO: Did you do any digital literacy training before starting this role?

Mark: My training was really just life experience. Most of the digital navigators I’ve met are younger than me. They really have to dig into it and get training from companies like Northstar. I didn’t need that. There isn’t really a standardized training curriculum for digital navigators. The hardest part is being able to share knowledge with clients. A lot of it comes easy to me, but they might not understand it, so you really have to be aware of your audience.

LDO: How does the public library fit into the digital literacy conversation?

Mark: Who else out there is going to teach it? Especially to seniors. Kids in school learn these things and their digital footprint is a lot bigger. But who helps those that get left behind? I’ve been to a lot of big and small libraries, but if you come into Pottsboro, and we serve about 2,000 people, you don’t see a lot of books. What you see is a lot of technology. The library is where seniors can come to learn about this stuff.

LDO: How do you, as a digital navigator, work with your library development director and staff?

Mark: My development director at Pottsboro public library, Dianne Connery, is very innovative. She is always on the leading edge, especially for a little library in a small town. Digital navigator programs are relatively new, and for Dianne, it was brand-new at the time. It just turned into something awesome. It allowed this little library to share tech skills with a community, mostly elderly folks looking for help with smartphones and computers, that would not be able to get them any other way.

Mark: We start by getting the word out about what services are being offered. We did some local TV commercials and printed up fliers to explain. Do you need any tech help? Did you just get a new phone? Do you have a problem with your laptop?

LDO: Talk a little bit about the work. Who do you help?

As I said before, we don’t get a lot of 15 year-olds coming in, our clients are mostly elderly. They may have just traded in a flip phone for a smartphone and have no idea how to set it up and use it. I had one woman bring in her husband’s laptop. She said ‘all he wants to do is check his bank account but he can’t do it.’ I helped her out, showed her how to navigate the laptop, and set it up so he could easily check his bank account on the laptop whenever he wanted.

I also go to senior centers. I’ll bring a tablet or a laptop and connect with people and teach them how to use the technology.

I helped one woman, I’ll never forget her. She was living in an assisted living center. Her husband had recently passed away and she had just moved in there. She was having trouble with her Google nest speaker, couldn’t get it to work. She’d say ‘hey, Google’ and get no response. I figured out the device had been set up by her husband on his old account. So I did a hard reset and set it up in her name. The first thing she said was ‘hey, Google, play Elvis”. Then she looked at me with a big smile and said, ‘I’ve been waiting to say that for three months.”

LDO: How is all of this possible? How do you fund these programs?

Mark: Dianne got a grant in 2022 from the NDIA (National Digital Inclusion Alliance) through Google with money for a digital navigator program that included some money for computers and devices. They come to the classes and it’s nice to be able to share a device. The grant gives us funding for device distribution. We handed out over 50 tablets and 25 laptops to individuals, and, in some cases, introduced them to the internet for the very first time.

We also have a lot of strong partnerships. We work with a multicultural center in Sherman, a town near Pottsboro. With immigrants coming in, we help support them in technology and training. We are partnered with a nonprofit, Family Promise, in Grayson county. They help people transition from homelessness, getting them into homes. We’ve given out a few devices and training, a young single mom gets a computer. It’s amazing to have these resources in a rural town like Pottsboro.

LDO: Speaking of internet and rural places, how does lack of internet access affect digital literacy, specifically in rural communities?

Mark: Early promotion of the internet was really what digital navigators were supposed to do. But then ACP (Affordable Connectivity Program) ended so internet access became too expensive for a lot of folks. It’s over a hundred dollars for Starlink and the service is not very good. Rural internet issues are big. A lot of patrons come into the library just to get access to the internet. It affects kids at schools too. Students have internet at school, but they take that chromebook home and it’s a brick. There are plans to put up towers but it’s all about money. The financial incentive to get the internet to people… they aren’t going to put up a tower to cover 50 people.

The internet needs to be a priority for everybody. If there’s power going to somebody’s house, you should be able to get the internet to them. It’s really all about money. The government allocated 8 billion dollars for EV charging stations and infrastructure but who’s that for? Internet access is a lot more important, especially in small towns where a lot of people have never had the internet.

LDO: What is the biggest challenge you see from learners? What makes them quit?

Mark: The frustration level can get so high. A good digital navigator has to get to know and understand their client. You have to build a personal relationship. If they get frustrated they trust you to work through it. Don’t start throwing a lot of technical stuff at them or they just say ‘I’m too dumb for this’ or ‘I’m done.’ You have to be able to connect on a personal level.

When a client comes in and says, ‘I’m having trouble with my phone’, you can’t just do it for them and then say, ‘okay, it’s fixed.’ You have to show them. They have to understand what just happened so they can do it themselves. You have to be patient and work with them. If you just fix it, you’re just an IT person. A digital navigator is different.

I’ve watched a few digital navigators come in and leave afterward because they could not connect, especially the younger ones who can get frustrated. ‘I’ve told her fifteen times how to do this!’ They’ll say. And I’ll respond, ‘well, how did you tell her?”

You have to have some technical competency, but the biggest requirement for a digital navigator is to work with people, talk to them, understand them. You need a personality that is conducive to the role you are in. If you don’t have that, they will quit.

LDO: What’s the next step for digital literacy? How is it evolving?

Mark: The audience is changing. Right now, the folks who are getting training or interaction are older. People that were homeless or people that come into the country with no skills. In ten years, the people that will be seniors will already have digital literacy. They grew up with it. It’s not going to be so focused on the older generation, the audience will be more diverse.

The main thing for me is, people have to have access to technology. I see it going more into workforce development and education, even telehealth. Right now, it’s kind of hard to get a telehealth appointment. But more and more it’s going to be digitized, more convenient for a doctor to see 15 patients online.

Being a digital navigator is really rewarding for me. Digital navigators aren’t really spectacular to the digital world, but they are spectacular to the people you are helping.

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