Does Not Compute

Congratulations to fourteen year old student, Jenny Pidgley, who has been named as this year’s overall UK winner of BT’s Internet Ranger of the Year and also won the National award for England.

Over the last seven years, these awards have inspired hundreds of young people to help bridge the digital divide by helping older generations acquire basic computer skills; equipping them with the confidence to access and benefit from using the internet.

Jenny has shown her commitment by running free computer sessions at her school for the last two years, taking on the responsibility from her older brother. The sessions are fortnightly on Saturdays and are run in connection with Age Concern, New Forest East.  Jenny teaches basic IT skills such as using the internet and sending e-mails and often visits those that cannot attend to share her skills.

You can read about all the winners here

Fiona

This year, why not give Mum something a bit different?   If she has access to a computer but could do with a bit of help, how about an introduction to  the internet or email or maybe Skype?  It’ll be a longer lasting present than a bunch of flowers, lovely though they are, and the whole family stands to benefit from easier communication.

Most of our excellent tutors offer gift vouchers, particularly at these special times of year, so have a look at our Tutor pages to see if there’s one in the right area and if so, use the Contact Us page to get in touch.

Fiona

Did you see this on ITV1 last night at 7.30? It was a rather nice half hour film on the Tonight programme, showing what a great difference being online can make to peoples’ lives. Rick Crust, our new Silver Surfers’ Day Events Manager, had a starring role as part of the programme was filmed at Hackney Silver Surfers, where he runs computer classes.

If you missed it, you can see it on ITVplayer  here until the beginning of April.

If you are a Radio 2 listener, you will have already heard that their Get Connected campaign launched yesterday. The aim of the campaign is to help more of their listeners get online and understand digital technology better. Many Radio 2 shows will be involved throughout the whole of March and there are lots of tips on their website from presenters such as Terry Wogan. You can also phone 08000 150 950 and they’ll send you a booklet.
There’s more here.

David Sinclair here, Head of Policy and Research at the International Longevity Centre – UK

In debates about the “digital divide”,  older people are often portrayed as ‘clueless’, ‘scared’ and ‘needy’.  The language used is often ageist and underestimates the diversity within the older population. Yes, only 7 in 10 over 65s uses the internet.  But at the same time, the growth in the percentage of older people using social networks is significant.

On 1^st February 2010 the International Longevity Centre – UK (ILC-UK) published ‘The Fictions, Facts and Future of Older People and Technology, the first in a series of think pieces by Simon Roberts, design anthropologist with Intel’s Digital Health Group.  According to the author: “To put excitement and purpose into our technologies for ageing populations we need to talk differently about ourselves, ageing and older people. We need to find ways of continuing to include older people in the process of design and delivery”.
Read the rest of this entry »

Our sister site, BeGrand.net is launching a campaign today that looks at the attitudes of grandparents towards money - and the sacrifices they’re making to help support their families.

They’re trying to draw attention to the important role that grandparents play both providing financially, and forming children’s attitudes to money. Read the rest of this entry »

Most of us can now expect 20 years in active retirement and the number of people living beyond 100 will apparently have quadrupled by 2030!  Research shows that learning can play a big part in improving the quality of life of older adults and can reduce the expensive costs of medical and social care services.

However, our current services are not well prepared for this and the number of older people engaged in learning has actually fallen in recent years.

On Friday 26th March in London, NIACE (National Institute for Adult Continuing Learning) are holding a national conference to explore these issues.  If you would like to be there, there is more information and an application form here

Do you know someone who has never been online but who could really benefit from it?

Do you have some spare time to help them give it a go?

If so, you could become their Broadband Buddy, with help from the BBC Working Lunch team.   Click here to find out more.

Fiona

This story in the Independent online caught my eye this morning. Ivy Bean, who at 104 is Bradford’s oldest resident, is also our oldest Tweeter! (That’s people who use Twitter for the uninitiated). In fact, she’s quite an old hand at social networking, having used Facebook until she reached the maximum of 5000 friends. She then moved on to Twitter where she now has 55,000 followers, including several celebrities!

Ivy lives in a residential home where she doesn’t get many visitors and before she had access to the internet she says all she did was sit and fall asleep. Now, through the wonders of technology, she spends her time chatting to her thousands of new friends from all over the world.

You can read more about Ivy here.

Fiona

The Media Trust Community Voices programme is looking for 26 community projects  to receive funding of either £1,500, £7,000 or £14,000, as well as support from digital mentors to help make a difference in our communities.

They want to fund 26 community-driven projects that help to address issues of isolation and disadvantage with the help of digital media. Communities will be selected based on the strength of their overall proposal, and they’re keen to represent a diverse range of communities, projects, and digital media across England.

Anyone can apply as long as you can show how harnessing digital media can make a positive difference in your community through your activities. You have until 28th February to submit your application. You can read a Help Guide and apply online here.

Hello, Sophie here. As readers of the blog will know, DU has been involved in a new joint venture, BeGrand.net, a website designed for Grandparents.

Well, it’s been a long time coming (and almost everyone knows about it already!) but today is our official launch day!  BeGrand.net is now open for business.

The site provides information specifically for grandparents (much of it from Gill and Fiona). There’s information on everything from the serious legal and social issues that grandparents face, to fun things to do.  There’s also – trust us for this – a section on technology, with articles on useful things like using webcams to keep in touch with your grandchildren.

Please go and have a look. We hope you like it and find it useful.   And as ever, we love feedback so let us know what you think….

Most importantly, we don’t want the site to just give out  information,  we want to start an online community where grandparents can talk to each other. The users should lead the site – not us – and  it should reflect their interests and thoughts.   So if there’s something you’d like to see there – let us know and we’ll see what we can do!

To go to BeGrand.net click here

Hello – it’s Sophie from BeGrand.net/ DU again. This time on the look out for a grandparent in the London-ish area doing the school run or looking after their grandchild/ children. We’re doing a news piece – (I’ll explain why later this weekend…..) about the important role grandparents play in children’s lives. But we need to find a grandparent willing to be filmed this Monday morning, the 25th Jan. If you’d like to find out more – no obligation to take part – contact me on sophie.theunissen@begrand.net and I’ll tell you a bit more.

(Oh yes, I will be checking my email all weekend!)

Thanks v much

Some good news for those living in, working with and supporting older people in sheltered housing. Following the government’s commitment in Building a Society for All Ages (Dept Work and Pensions, 2009) to promote and support digital inclusion for older residents in sheltered housing, Digital Unite and NIACE are delighted to announce a new, far reaching digital inclusion programme, ‘Get Digital’.

Get Digital will work with residents, scheme staff, RSLs and the wider community to promote, deliver and sustain digital literacy skills for older residents in sheltered housing.

Get Digital will also engage with a range of stakeholders from the wider housing, digital inclusion and older people’s fields to raise awareness of the opportunities to promote and support older people’s digital literacy in housing and other social and community environments.

You can read more about this exciting new project here

Hello – Sophie here from BeGrand.net.  We’ve got another request for internet-active-grandparents…

The Department of Children, Schools & Families are looking for grandparents who use the internet to resolve problems & issues to tell their stories for a short film. Read the rest of this entry »

In November, 12 residents from “Johnnie” Johnson retirement scheme Woolsington Court in Bedlington, Northumberland, learnt about computers and the internet onboard Northumberland College’s IT bus, which parked up next to their scheme.

There was a sense of anticipation as residents entered the IT bus and sat down to begin their class. For most this was the first time they had been on a computer. Within half an hour they were surfing the net!

Afterwards, residents were proud of their new found skills. One said ‘This is fantastic! It’s the first time I’ve been on the internet. I finally know what it’s all about.’
Read the rest of this entry »