Does Not Compute

alex is a new simple-to-use personal computer that’s aimed at the “digitally-excluded”. Broadband Computer Co, the inventors of alex, are based in Newcastle.

As the Digital Unite tutor in the region Anne Donnelly was invited along to see a demo of the system and borrow a copy to trial for a week or so.
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Arthur England here, Hants Communications and e-Learning Manager

On Thursday evening (26/11) we scooped the award for ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ at the Real IT Awards ceremony in London.

This was a great evening for the IT team at Hampshire County Council, recognising our commitment to a wide range of initiatives to help people learn how to use IT at work and in the community, in particular our work with silver surfers. Read the rest of this entry »

Fiona Syrett

Are you shopping online for your Christmas presents this year? Millions of us are -  it’s convenient, there’s more choice and you can often save money.    It’s also safe and secure so long as you take a few simple steps first.

Ofcom has today published a video setting out the steps we can take and things we should look out for when shopping online this Christmas.  The video can be found here.

The video forms part of Ofcom’s support for Get Safe Online week (16-20 November), an annual event to raise awareness of internet safety issues. You can read more about that here

Katya Coupland here, Director of River Tales.

This Age Concern intergenerational oral history project had a huge ambition – to help re-connect a whole county to their rivers and to connect the generations. The plan was to hold 50 River Tales reminiscence workshops, interview people on camera and involve three schools in the project. A DVD would then be distributed to groups – coffee mornings and care-homes; libraries, museums and heritage centres – to spark more memories and get people talking as well as a CD-ROM created for the schools of Herefordshire and Worcestershire, fulfilling national curriculum requirements and giving children an appreciation of their local rivers and showing older people in a whole new light. Read the rest of this entry »

A note from David Over of the Royal Geographical Society.

Hope you don’t mind me getting in touch. I run a series of talks (21st Century Challenges) here at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) in London, aimed at engaging the public and younger people in important issues that face us as society.

The RGS is a registered charity and therefore this series is not-for-profit series. The next one I am doing is on the digital divide in the UK.

We have got Martha Lane Fox, Government’s Digital Inclusion Champion and co-founder of Lastminute.com, Professor Tanya Byron, psychologist author and broadcaster and Rory Cellan- Jones, BBC Tech correspondent on our panel.

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We are starting work on the resources to support Event Holders for Silver Surfers’ Day 2010. We’d like our readers help to make sure that what we do will provide materials that are useful for Event Holders and Visitors.

We have drawn up a short questionnaire, which you can complete online – click here.

We’ve sent the link to last year’s Silver Surfers’ Day Event Holders, but we’d like to hear from as many people as possible.

The questionnaire covers the Event Holders’ Resources, the Learning Guides and some ideas that we have for the website. We can’t promise that we’ll be able to develop everything that is suggested, but we hope it will help inform our decisions on spending the funds that we have available.

It will only take a few minutes to complete. If you did not hold an Event, you may not be able to answer all questions – that does not matter if you have ideas for 2010. It’s your chance to make Silver Surfers’ Day 2010 better than ever before, so please follow the link and fill it in.

If you’d like to refresh your memory about the SSD 2009 resources, you can find them here.

The Learners’ Resources are on the Learning Zone here.

Get online day '09

Get online day is taking place this year on Friday 23 October. Over 750 Get online day ’09 events will take place at participating UK online centres across England between Monday 19 and Friday 30 October.

If you’re already online but know someone who’s not, Get online day is the perfect opportunity to Pass IT on and encourage offline loved ones to attend a Get online day event for help and support with computers and the internet.

Get online day ’09 aims to encourage thousands of people across England to join their friends and family online, making October 2009 the month they get to grips with computers and the internet.

Get online day ’09 helps people who have never used the internet before to be a part of it and take their first steps with computers and the internet. Search for a participating centre at http://www.ukonlinecentres.com or call 0800 77 1234.

UK online centres provide millions of people with access to technology and support in using it. They offer free or low cost access to the internet and email, deliver online courses and encourage people to progress onto further learning. For more information please visit http://www.ukonlinecentres.com.

My Story

Naomi Arnold, from BBC Learning here:

I want to let you know about a new BBC Storytelling Competition launching in September 09 on the One Show, its called My Story.

True stories have inspired some of the most successful books and films of all time. My Story hopes to inspire the whole Nation to take part in the competition by going online and writing their real life story.

Everyone’s got a story to tell, so the competition will be a great way to encourage people to go online, try some creative writing and at the same time brush up on IT skills.  Plus there’s a great incentive – 15 of the best stories will be covered in short films for BBC One and some will be published.

The My Story website will be packed with tips and advice to help people less confident with writing and we’ll be producing a free My Story magazine to give further support. They’ll be free resources for tutors to run My Story workshops with learners and promotional merchandise like posters etc.

If you would like to find out more about how to get hold of the resources, you need to speak to your regional learning project manager.  Email me to be put in touch with them naomi.arnold@bbc.co.uk.

gill

Hello from the DNC Blog Editor…

UK Older People’s Day is on October 1st, 2009 (at this rate we’ll have a Day for everyone, a kind of Hallmark Calendar – how about  Uncles’ and Aunts’ Day? or Step-parents’ Day, or …well, let’s calm down).

And, yes, you’ve guessed it, it’s all a plot to make us fitter and happier so we aren’t a drain on resources – which is no bad thing. And (you’ve probably guessed this, too) you can hold an Event!  It can be anything you like, really, so long as it’s celebrating being older and being in a community. And there’s a great little ideas ‘toolkit’ (yes, we hate the word, too, but this one is actually quite inspiring and by the time I’d finished reading it I really did want to Start a Community Garden, have a Clothes Swap Party do Strictly Comes to Town, and then had to lie down).

All this is being put out by our own dear government and you can find more here. And, remember, the best way to get ‘even’ (with the inevitability of ageing, the heat, the cold, the government, the credit crunch) is to ‘have fun’. And that’s official…?! (At last, I feel properly understood…)

Gill

Liz McGregor, Engagement Officer for Older People  in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland asked us to publish this:

‘ Once again September has been chosen as Older Persons’ Month for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. A series of events and activities aimed at ‘Listening to Older People’, around the theme of  ‘Safe, Active and Independent’ will be taking place across the county throughout September, with a launch on 27^th August.

Voluntary agencies, emergency services, health and local authorities will be joining forces to engage with older people in their own communities, providing information and advice and listening to their views on services in their local areas.

nformation on events taking place during Older Persons’ Month will be available in a booklet which will be widely distributed throughout August. Please look out for it and help to pass it on.

For more information contact Liz McGregor, Engagement Officer for Older People on e-mail: liz@ccp.org.uk