Great event for anyone interested in getting neighbourhoods online

I can’t make it but this looks like a great event for anyone interested in building and running websites for local communities. It will have a London bias but will be a fab event for meeting other people – check the guest list to see who’s already signed up. London Neighbourhoods Online Unconference, 2010, Saturday, September 25, 2010 from 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM.

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TalkTalk Digital Heroes Awards 2010

Do you know a Digital hero who deserves £5,000? TalkTalk, in association with Citizens Online and The Daily Mirror, are launching the Digital Heroes Awards 2010 to find this years UK Digital Heroes. The Awards will be recognise outstanding individuals using the power of the internet to implement bright ideas which bring about positive social change. Nominations are open now until 30 September 2010.

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New Microsoft funding announced

Microsoft has announced funding of up to £85,000 available for training in e-skills. See below for details and download the form at the end of the post.

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Downing Street beckons

So the Prime Minister has invited me to Downing Street today (Monday). Maybe it sounds better if I say ‘summoned’, or perhaps it should be ‘bizarrely’? Whatever it is I will be there because Martha Lane Fox is launching a ‘Manifesto for a Networked Nation’. She’s the Government’s Digital Champion,  responsible for all things relating to Digital Inclusion and has a campaign to get everyone online called Race Online 2012. See details at www.raceonline2012.org.uk

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Is iHobo patronising or a great new type of fundraising?

iHobo is a controversial new fundraising tool in the form of an iPhone App that reflects the growing use of the internet on mobile phones. It is being used to raise awareness and generate funds for Depaul UK, a charity that helps young people who are homeless, vulnerable and disadvantaged. It offers a glimpse into the life of a young homeless person and asks you to help them to decide what to do and how to survive. It is breaking new ground as a new generation of fundraising tools but it is also creating a storm of controversy as people say it is patronising and compares homeless people to Tamagotchi.

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Latest News from the Villages | NABUUR

Nabuur.com is a great networking site, helping to tell stories from people in villages in Africa and showing you how you can help them. There’s lots of great interactions and lots of insight into the lives of real people, missing out so much of the drama and negative filtering we often see in reporting about Africa.

Latest News from the Villages | NABUUR.

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Do you know a Digital Hero?

There are still a few days left to nominate a Digital Hero, as part of a scheme run by TalkTalk and Citizens Online. The TalkTalk Digital Heroes Awards rewards one individual from each UK region who is doing outstanding work using digital technology to bring about positive social change and improve the lives of people in their local communities.

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Facts and figures about digital inclusion

How many people have access to the internet? Are they mostly young people or mostly old people? What impact does the internet have on their lives? What about people who don’t WANT to use the internet?

Helen Milner, CEO of UK Online, has pulled together some basic facts and figures to help us understand who uses the internet, who has access to it and, more importantly, who doesn’t. She also suggests some of the ways that people may be disadvantaged by not having access. 

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Making Facebook more accessible

A tool to make Facebook more accessible to visually impaired users has been created by Project:Possibility, a group of not-for-profit software developers in the US. The application, which can be found at http://fastlink.headstar.com/pp2 allows visually impaired users to log in, navigate and use the site by combining screen reader technology with other coding techniques.

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Recruiting IT Volunteers

I’m working with Helen Snashell and Nigel Parrish at Isle of Wight Rural Community Council to help them recruit more volunteers with IT skills. I had a great meeting with them yesterday to plan a campaign for the new year, supported by Anne Stafford from IT4Communities, which has access to a UK-wide network of thousands of IT professionals looking for volunteering opportunities.

The link between local and national resources can be a very powerful one and I hope this work on the Island can build a mutually-beneficial model that can be replicated elsewhere, to support both local delivery and the excellent work of specialist national agencies such as IT4C.

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Workshop: Tackling Digital Exclusion, November 2008

Digital Unite is the organisation behind the annual Silver Surfer Day, which helps promote the use of computers and the web by older people. They’re now running a workshop in November to show voluntary and community organisations how they can help their clients and communities to bridge the digital divide.

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