Archive for July, 2010

As my Newly Qualified Teacher year draws to a close I have been fortunate enough to be invited to Google’s HQ in London to participate in their first ‘Google Teacher Academy‘ outside of the US. This involves a 2 day training event, after which participants will become ‘Google Certified Teachers’.

Telling people about this has caused some confusion, and many questions asking if that means I will specialise in teaching children to search. Whilst teaching children to search may be more involved and interesting than it first sounds, in reality Google’s potential for education is far broader than that. They provide a myriad range of tools which can benefit children’s learning, from the ubiquitous ‘Maps’ site, to 3D modelling in ‘Sketchup’, web site creation in the form of ‘Sites’, and remarkable real time collaboration with ‘Wave’ and ‘Docs’. Through the Academy I will have the opportunity to work with some of the most forward thinking teachers in the country in developing ideas for using these tools in schools, and empowering children to make use of the vast array of free tools at their disposal on the internet.

More – Google Teacher Academy UK

Warda Mohammed from Aston and Heather Hawkswood from Erdington were both given the opportunity to meet with the Prime Minister last week.

Both were given access to a computer and internet connection through Digital Birmingham and Aston Pride related projects; Computers in the Home and the Windsor Tower Block.

Following their individual successes; As a single mother, Warda is able to support her family. She has set up her own interpretation business where she assists and trains other Birmingham women to find work  and Heather, who successfully found employment, ways to care for her younger sister and was able to keep in touch and make new friends through the use of social networking.

They were invited to join a delegation visiting 10 Downing Street last week with UK Digital Champion Martha Lane Fox to launch her ‘Manifesto for a Networked Nation’.

To read the

full press release, please click here.

WHEN: FRIDAY 23RD JULY, 10am to 4pm
WHERE: VICTORIA SQUARE, BIRMINGHAM
WHAT: LAUNCH OF DIGITAL TIME CAPSULE

Digital Birmingham would like to invite you to come to the launch of Our Digital City – this is us in 2010, an online ‘digital snapshot’ of Birmingham in 2010 to be created by anyone with an interest in the city.

Digital Birmingham together with Say Hello, Arts Council England and Birmingham City Council are appealing to Birmingham residents, schools, businesses, families, organisations and individuals to help create an online DIGITAL TIME CAPSULE that will encapsulate memorably images, videos, recordings, and texts. The capsule won’t get buried and won’t need to be opened – but will be there for anyone to see, any time of day, from anywhere in the world with an online connection.

The Digital time capsule is being launched as part of this weekend’s Cultural Olympiad events and will be open for entries for the rest of the year. The target is to achieve 5000 entries by December 31st.

We’d like you to be one of the first to upload a moment of your

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choosing – and have a chance to chat to Michael Collie from Midlands Today to tell him about your memorable moment and what you’ve uploaded to www.ourdigitalcity.me.uk.

The whole team will be in Victoria Square from 10am to 4pm tomorrow and we’re looking forward to meeting you!

It’s been nearly a year since Dave Harte last gave an update on our Birmingham Open City project, and the officially supported part of the project is now over.  The Department for Communities and Local Government are currently evaluating the success of the Timely Information for Citizens project, which is where the money came from.  And, we also have a new government who are pushing hard on the open data agenda.  All of these reasons make now seem like a good time to reflect on what we think we achieved with the work we did.

A sizeable chunk of the funding went towards IT equipment.  So, we bought laptops, some Flip cameras, some microphones, a couple of digital cameras and a GPS device. These were intended to provide the capability for local voluntary and community groups to use for mobile reporting and to capture feedback from consultations. Most of this equipment is loaned to Moseley Exchange and has been used by a variety of groups, such as Save Moseley Road Baths, Resident University and the Friends of Highbury Park.

More – Timely Information for Citizens – round up

The dates for the Birmingham Open Weekend 2010, part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, have been confirmed as 23 – 25 July 2010.

As part of Cultural Olympiad, Say Hello, Aston Pride, the BBC and Digital Birmingham will be on hand to showcase the Digital Time Capsule where you, the people of Birmingham, will be able to record and upload your memorable moment in the form of a video, an image and/or audio file etc.

Come and join the

team in Victoria Square on Friday 23 July 2010 from 10am – 4pm and be a part of Birmimgham’s digital journey!