The Digital Unite Blog

Once upon a time, tracing family ancestry was a huge undertaking that involved physically visiting libraries and archives around the country – in some cases, around the world – and years of detailed research.

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of websites that bring together census information and access to archives allowing people with just a basic knowledge of their own background to build a hugely comprehensive picture. The 1911 census of England and Wales alone contains over 16 million documents. Read the rest of this entry »

With our Silver Surfers Day Music Maestro page getting refreshed with new resources and links we spoke to one of our Silver Surfers Day event holders about what they were doing to get people involved with digital music. Kerry Morris Service Manager (Information and Digital) from Newcastle Library gave us the following response to how they work to get people into the library to learn about digital music and much more.

Newcastle Library – Adult and Culture Services
Libraries, Information and Lifelong Learning

In addition to 1-2-1 taster sessions and classes on basic Internet Skills and e-mail we also offer sessions on music downloading, online shopping, social networking and will be doing a session on online dating at the end of July and we are planning sessions on eBay, digital photography and file management. We plan new sessions based on public demand and feedback from taster classes – for example we found that by doing the music download sessions that the area that most customers had issues with was basic file management, which is something that most of us take for granted but is essential to both downloading music and moving images from a camera to a pc.

The 1-2-1 sessions are done using handouts that the customer can keep. The taster classes follow the same format using the handout as the basis of a Power Point presentation. We take a show and try approach but this sometimes depends on the skill level of the group.

Taster sessions are aimed at all ages. Although we do not currently gather information on the ages of those taking part a very high proportion are aged over 50. Library customers like the tasters because often they have a specific issue that they want help with and don’t always want to sit through a number of classes on a prescribed course. Our staff are flexible enough to be able to tailor sessions to individual needs and often a taster is a springboard to finding an appropriate course.

From the taster classes we recruited a group of Silver Surfers who meet in the City Library on the first Thursday of the month. After consulting with the group we are working on a monthly programme where we look at a different topic each month. The group wanted to start with basic keyboard skills and we looked at this using My Guides and in the next few months we will be looking at e-mail and file management. So far the Silver Surfers seem to enjoying being in a group setting and are supporting each other and forming friendships as well as engaging with the digital world.

I’ve found the Digital Unite website useful to refer to and really appreciated the link to the ILC-UK report by Simon Roberts on The Fictions, Facts of Older People and Technology as it was thought provoking.

If you would like to share you example of how you or your organisation is helping older people get to grips with digital music get in touch by emailing kate.norman@digitalunite.net

I get asked allot by students about how to improve their typing and move on from 1 finger jabbing at the keyboard that beginners often start out with. Many years ago I took a word-processing and text processing qualifications which whipped my fingers into good habits.

Improving your typing skills has a lot of benefits. Besides the obvious typing speed, people who type with ten fingers make fewer mistakes, spend less time in front of the monitor and suffer less wrist pain.

Here are some free online typing lessons that you or people your are involved with helping along with their IT can try out. They vary from the very formal to the BBC’s version for children (which is just as fun for adults).

Typing Practice 1
http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/typing/

Typing Practice 2
http://www.sense-lang.org/typing/tutor/lessons.php?lang=EN&lesson=1

Typing Practice 3
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/flash/stage1.shtml

Typing Practice 4
http://www.typeonline.co.uk/copypractice.php

Typing Practice 5
http://keybr.com/

Have you got any others which you can suggest and how to you incorporate them in a session?

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?

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

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

We haven’t had a chance to look at this closely yet – but it looks good. It’s been developed by National Council for Voluntary Organisations, funded by the Cabinet Office. If anyone has time to review it, please comment here for all our sakes:

http://www.fundingcentral.org.uk/

Hello, I’m Matt Curry, and I’m the webmaster of http://www.wiltshirefarmfoods.com. Wiltshire Farm Foods is a sponsor of Silver Surfers’ day, and we’re proud to be associated with such a worthwhile cause.

Wiltshire Farm Foods provides nutritionally-focussed ready-made meals, delivered frozen to the door. We pride ourselves on service, trust & reliablility – but how does this translate online?

Read the rest of this entry »

Hi, Great to watch from Ireland where Bealtaine, Ireland’s nationwide celebration of creativity in older age is in full swing. Look here; http://www.bealtaine.com or peek at a project here http://www.themagpiesnest.ie that features an amazing family tree. Bealtaine’s in its 14th year, takes place in every County. Read the rest of this entry »

To support Adult Learners’ Week (9 – 15 May) and Silver Surfers’ Day (15 May), Ofcom has published the first in a series of ‘Managing your media’ guides designed to promote media literacy across the UK.

Available as a video and downloadable guide, this resource is intended to show parents and guardians how to use parental controls and filters to manage their children’s access to digital TV and internet content. The guide also encourages parents and guardians to talk to their children about what they do on the internet and how to use it safely.

The video and guide can be found on the Ofcom website or you can embed the video from YouTube. Please take a look and circulate to your friends, family and professional networks.