Does Not Compute

iPlayer is one of those killer apps on the Internet and the BBC have just give in some more whistles and bells with it’s  Beta version launched in May. You can find out more and have a play:

Discover the new BBC iPlayer

What is your favourite programme on the BBC at the moment?

At the age of 93, Dame Vera Lynn is embracing technology and encouraging everyone to have a go on Silver Surfers’ Day 2010 – Friday 21st May.

Attend a Silver Surfers’ Day event and you will be able to listen to Dame Vera’s new album online – and maybe even learn how to download it yourself!

Find an event in your area by clicking here or make a free phone call to 0800 100 900.

And find out what else Dame Vera and her daughter Virginia  have to say on YouTube here

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.

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.

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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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 »

Fiona, blog editor, here: This year, our partners ERoSH (Essential Role of Sheltered Housing) have been focusing on Mental Health. If you click here it will take you to their website and an article on how using computers can make a difference, by guess who? (us of course!)

Also this year, to coincide with Silver Surfers’ Day, we successfully trialled a new initiative with ERoSH to help sheltered scheme managers to link up with local schools to run internet taster sessions. You can read all about that here

Fiona Syrett here, DU deputy tutor network manager.

Apparently, millions of people worldwide do some form of computer-based brain training every day. It seems to make sense that by regularly ‘exercising’ your brain with special tests and puzzles, you can improve your ‘brain skills’ and become better at everyday thinking tasks. But does brain training actually work? Recent research suggests that the scientific evidence is lacking.

The BBC are conducting a scientifically valid study called The Brain Test Britain Experiment and are hoping that thousands of us will help them to answer, for the first time, the question: does brain training work?

You can take part here

Gill, blog editor here:  We hear so much about what is bad about schools admissions and exams, so it was rather exciting to hear news of a service, being trialled in Bristol and elsewhere, whereby you can go on a video tour of a school and then apply to it online! For parents, this could make selection and application very much easier. (Those who aren’t online once again miss out!)  Here is the pilot video from Brislington, Bristol. It’s all part of a Government desire to make sure parents get online – and we’d like to see the same motivation for grandparents, too!