Access is only half the answer.
A device, an internet connection or a printed instruction sheet can open a door. But they cannot sit beside someone, listen to what they are trying to achieve, notice what is making it difficult and stay long enough for confidence to grow.
That human assistance is the missing half of digital inclusion. Digital Wings was created to help provide it.
“Infrastructure gets people online.
Confidence keeps them included.”
The things that matter most have never been digital.
They are the people we love. The conversations we miss. The photographs we want to see. The confidence to manage everyday life. The freedom to remain involved, informed and independent.
Digital Wings exists to ensure older Australians are not left behind as more of life moves online. We connect people with what matters most—patiently, respectfully and in ways that feel relevant to them.
Edna and Bob helped us understand what support should feel like.
Our story begins with Carolyn’s grandparents, Edna and Bob, Nana and Papa to the family. Like many older Australians, they lived through extraordinary change. The world around them became increasingly digital, but their need to feel connected, capable and included remained deeply human.
What made the difference was not simply access to technology. It was having someone they trusted who could slow down, explain without judgement and help them do the things that mattered to them.
Their experience revealed a wider need: older people should not have to depend on chance, proximity or a family member’s availability to remain connected to everyday life. Digital Wings grew from that conviction.
What Carolyn and Chantelle saw within their own family is repeated in homes, communities and care settings across Australia. Technology changes quickly. Formal workplace support often disappears at retirement. Family may be far away or stretched. Staff in care and community settings frequently help informally, despite limited time.
Digital Wings is building a people-first response: support that begins with a person’s goals, respects choice and consent, and measures success through connection, confidence and independence.
A personal beginning.
A public need.
Meet the team behind Digital Wings
Digital Wings was co-founded in Tasmania by mother and daughter Carolyn Whitfield and Chantelle Wilson.
Carolyn brings more than 20 years of experience as a trainer, assessor and coach, together with the listening, language and storytelling skills of an award-winning writer. Chantelle brings more than seven years of experience developing technology-enabled solutions, including prior work helping older Tasmanians stay connected through the Digital Hubs program run by TasICT, and a longstanding commitment to helping older people build digital confidence.
Together, they combine human-centred facilitation, practical technology capability and lived family experience.
People first. Always.
Our work is guided by six commitments:
Begin with what matters to the person.
Listen before offering a solution.
Move at a pace that preserves dignity and confidence.
Build capability without taking control away.
Protect consent, privacy and safety.
Notice and value the human outcome, not merely the completed task.
A place to listen, learn and build well.
Tasmania combines close communities with real geographic, service and connectivity challenges. It is a strong place to develop, test and evaluate a model that can respond to metropolitan, regional and rural experience.
We are beginning here with the intention of building evidence, learning alongside communities and creating approaches that may later be adapted more widely.
Two organisations. One shared purpose.
Digital Wings Tech Pty Ltd develops and delivers services, programs and practical solutions.
Digital Wings Foundation supports the charitable, community-access and public-benefit dimensions of the work.
Together, they are designed to help more older Australians access the human assistance needed to participate fully in today’s world.
Help us build a future in which no one is left behind.
We welcome conversations with older people, families, providers, communities, government and funding partners who share this purpose.