Seoul City Holds 3rd Launch Ceremony for Digital Guides, Companions for the Digitally Disadvantaged

Active as a Major Hub for Multi-use Facilities

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 20th that it held an inauguration ceremony to appoint 150 members of the '3rd Digital Guides,' partners of the digitally disadvantaged, with Mayor Oh Se-hoon in attendance. On this day, the Digital Guides shared their past achievements and spent time cultivating a mindset of embracing and caring for those who have difficulties using digital devices.

The 3rd Digital Guides will operate until December 20, 2023, touring major hubs such as train stations, subway stations, and large supermarkets?places frequently visited by the elderly?to assist citizens in using unmanned terminals (kiosks) and provide guidance on smartphone usage.

In the second half of this year, a total of 150 Digital Guides will be deployed across 75 routes (about 300 hubs) equipped with kiosks in daily life settings to assist with the use of smartphone applications and digital devices, including social networking services (SNS), train ticket reservations, and navigation apps.

‘Son Yong-won,’ a guide active in both the 2nd and 3rd terms, said, “With the transition to the digital era, everything around us requires the use of digital devices. While younger generations find it very easy to use these, people my age and the elderly often face difficulties. As a Digital Guide, I want to alleviate these challenges and share a warm digital world with them.”

The 3rd Digital Guides will be deployed on-site starting July 21, working in pairs from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., touring routes including Seoul Station, Cheongnyangni Station, traditional markets, and hospitals.

At the inauguration ceremony, Mayor Oh said, “As we begin the 8th term of the civilian administration, I promised citizens to make Seoul a ‘Special City for Accompanying the Vulnerable,’ and as part of this, we are promoting the ‘Project for Accompanying the Digitally Disadvantaged.’ Over the past year, a total of 250 Digital Guides from the 1st and 2nd terms have provided guidance services to more than 160,000 citizens, and I was very pleased to hear that citizen satisfaction reached a very high rate of 98.3%. It made me feel that starting this project was truly the right decision.” He added, “Going forward, Seoul will continue to accelerate the project for accompanying the digitally disadvantaged so that all citizens can participate in the digital world without any discrimination or exclusion and enjoy its benefits equally.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.