Archive for the ‘Digital Family’ Category

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!

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?

A recent Consumer Expert Group research report, commissioned by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in October 2009, highlighted the barriers many people with disabilities have when accessing the Internet and also provided valuable recommendations to central government.

The barriers disabled people face are actually very similar to non-disabled people, however, the solutions required differ immensely.  With the launch of the Consortium for the Promotion of Digital Participation, and the appointment of Martha Lane Fox (national Digital Inclusion Champion) 2009 was the year this debate really took off in the political realm.  Approximately 17 million people are digitally excluded, many of whom have disabilities.  This report focuses on the disabled, and how this exclusion can be transformed.

More - Digital participation: People with disabilities

Last Tuesday I helped to launch Birmingham’s e-Safety Strategy on behalf of Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board.  My presentation, which is below, talked about the different work that Digital Birmingham has done around the Home Access agenda and then covered Social Networking Sites as a new technology being used by young people that professionals don’t always have a full understanding of.



So I spoke about the Aston Pride project to provide computers in the homes of primary and secondary school children and also the Computers for Pupils grant which has been used by the city to launch 40-50 Birmingham e-Learning Foundation schemes in Secondary Schools across the city. The latter means that more money is coming back in to the system to help provide kit to more kids. More - e-Safety Strategy Launch event

There are many ways to learn, and/or to be taught.  In the digital age that is upon us, it is inevitable that learning environments would become digital as well.

Virtual learning environments (VLE) are very effective, and means that the individual can interact from any location with an internet connection.  The flexibility and mobility of this type of learning is invaluable.

More - Learning in a virtual environment

There are many crimes that are on the increase. If you watched the BBC’s excellent (in my opinion) three part series called “The Truth about Crime” a few weeks ago, you will know that is true (although the people of Oxford, the city that was the focus of the series, may not agree). It was reported today that the police are cracking down on people who drive while under the influence of drugs. We are told that it is just as dangerous as drink driving (I would have thought that was obvious).

However, one of the ways that the police are doing this is by using social networks, they are jumping on the bandwagon and using a successful medium with a massive captive audience - many of which may be the exact people they need to get the message across to. The one(s) that will be targeted have yet to be specified, but I think it is a great way for them to be used.

More - Multi-use of social networks

Birmingham Bulletin the City’s own e-mail alert service delivered a great news story today into my in-box which I have to tell you all.  Birmingham has got its very own digitally enabled news site.  You must visit www.Birminghamnewsroom.com as its a one stop shop for all the news from the City Council.  

No more do I have to go hunting for information across various websites to get the latest news.  It has rss feeds, video, twitter, flickr and links to Birmingham own Youtube channel.   It is great to see that the City is at the forefront of embracing new technologies and social media and this can only enhance Birmingham reputation as a leading digital city.

As the person within the team whose responsibility it is to carry out desk based research, I thought it is about time to share with you what I find, and find useful, regarding the digital agenda.

I am not an expert or even a researcher by trade - but I enjoy looking, have quite a lot of luck at finding useful material and my colleagues have cottoned on to this fact (and it is in my job description!).

More - Research - friend or foe?

From next week (w/c 13th July), a new directory will be launched containing up to 15 million mobile phone numbers. This will enable individuals to search for mobile phone numbers of other people, just by putting their name into a website. The telephone directories for landline phones has been around for years, but it is a surprise to many that this will now exist for mobiles.

The numbers have been obtained from three different sources, none of which are from the phone owners themselves.

More - Mobiles becoming like landlines