Archive for the ‘Digital Birmingham’ Category

I’ve just read an interesting article from the BBC site which makes reference to London’s attempt to free up some of the public sector data in order to see how people might use it.  Birmingham is doing a similar project called Timely Information - but I hadn’t realised until now that 4ip Channel 4’s innovation fund are offering a £200,000 reward for the best of the ideas that come out of the mashup.  If I were a hacker, that would give me another good reason to work into the small hours.  And when you’re analysing the released datasets, why not check out the Council’s ‘Be Heard’ database.  This is an online portal for all of the City’s consultation.  Eg. what people want.  Hackers, you have the data, and you also have a font of information from the public, on what services they need or would like to see developed. Check out the piece from the BCC here

In my post Christmas, rather over indulged state, I’ve just had a quick look around for some help with how to get back into shape.

It didn’t take me long to find a favourite….   Came across this site from handbag.co.uk that shows you little video clips of different exercises, relevant to different body parts.  Exercises relevant to a pretty comprehensive list such as; banish back fat, get a booty-licious bum, minimise your miffin tops, eliminate jelly belly to list just a few - I guess there’s something there for any ailment.

I’ve been working on the banish bingo wings for the past 10 mins - whilst eating the last of the mince pies in the office.  I’m hoping to pull off a break even calorie count.

A site I will be logging onto quite often over the next month.  Why not check it out here then let me know your favourite and if you’ve seen any improvement.

As we nudge closer to 2010, here is a look back at some of the digital highlights from our 2009 work programme that we have been involved in with our partners and colleagues across the city. We look forward to a successful 2010 - Happy New Year.
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With the e-christmas cards doing the rounds, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to send out our own personalised message. So this is a once only, because I don’t think I’ll be able to persuade the team to do this again - well at least not the singing Santa version. Hope you have a great christmas!
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Thought it would be good to share with you our December headline report that we circulate to stakeholders and interested parties. It provides an update on Computers for Pupis (CfP) initiative which has seen over 18,500 computing devices rolled out to secondary schools across Birmingham; Work with Will Perrin on a Talk About Local bespoke programme to target key communities, Online school admissions idTV development; the digital business campaign - Cafelicious and the Healthy Way to Learn IT project that has demonstrated some significant outcomes in terms of developing language skills and diabetes awareness in the Aston pride community. If you would like any further information on any of these initiatives then please get in touch.

Well, it may be 5 years too late but at last Central Government has decided to catch up with the times and revise the primary school curriculum to include Internet Safety and prepare our children for the digital age.

It has long been the belief of IT educationalists that there is no point in restricting young people’s access to the wealth of information held on “t’internet”.  But, wouldn’t it be better preparing our future generations by providing them with the knowledge and understanding of not only the benefits, but the dangers of “t’internet” and enabling them to make informed decisions and judgements for themselves.  Because we all know, if you tell a young person not to do something … the likelihood is that they WILL go and do exactly what you’ve told them not to!

More - How Birmingham City Council is performing

Birmingham City Council have just unveiled a new and exciting database which pulls together all research & consultation projects they (and all Be Birmingham partners) undertake throughout the year, and gives Birmingham people a greater chance to get their voices heard.  The Be Heard database is an easy to use system which allows the user to search for key words or topics of interest.  There is a simple video which walks you through how to use the system, and a consultation calendar which shows when key pieces of research are planned.  The best bit though, is the database allows you receive email alerts when topics that interest you are due to happen.

According to many recent news reports, the email will be defunct in 10 years as the growth of social networking sites and instant messaging increases ever rapidly.  But is this really true?  Will people actually stop using emails to communicate in their personal and professional lives?

More - Is it really the end of the humble email?