Over the past decade, and especially in the past five years, there have been a number of national schemes to help low income families with children to get online. The Computers for Pupils scheme started in 2006 and provided grants through local authorities. In Birmingham that money was increased by the voluntary donations to the Birmingham e-Learning Foundation made by recipients.
Over 20,000 families in Birmingham have received devices under the scheme.
Children with PDAs
It has been widely reported that British singer, Lily Allen, has decided to de-activate all of her social networking profiles (Twitter, MySpace etc) because she believes she has become addicted to the phenomenon. Many press photographs of her over the last couple of years have usually shown her with a PDA of some description, updating her profiles.
However, the initial explanation for this was that Allen used MySpace to promote her music when she first started out. This is done by a lot of musicians wanting to get their singles noticed. But for Allen, and many others, it appears that their use of digital devices and social networks has taken over their lives.
So, for many of her fans, Lily Allen will not be as visible any more – but as her music is known widely and critically acclaimed, she has perhaps used these forums as much as she has needed to. It is interesting to hear about ‘celebrities’ admitting their over-use of social networks, or the internet and digital devices in general. It has brought more attention to this issue, as an individual must balance their existence in the digital and real world.
Ed Gibson, Chief Cyber Security Adviser at Microsoft
Next Tuesday is International Safer Internet Day, which provides a focus to look at how to help our youngsters stay safe online and ensure that they grow up knowing how to behave and act responsibly when surfing and chatting on social networking sites or even gaming online.
The internet is probably one of the most significant digital technologies for the children of our time – it’s become a vital tool for homework, as well as being their playground and entertainment centre all in one. Facebook celebrated its 5th birthday on Wednesday with a staggering 150 million users where many see it as central to keeping track of their social life and what’s on. More – Being safe and secure online is paramount
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the thinking behind the creation of the World Wide Web, has voiced his concerns over moral panics and disinformation that are spread so easily and quickly through the Internet, and has also come up with a way of decreasing the problem.
More – Reliable websites to be branded by new WWW Foundation
It has been proven that people’s stress levels rise when they find that their internet connection is not working, from research been undertaken by You Gov on behalf of 118118. This type of stress has also been given a slightly weird name, “discomgoogolation”, which might get you even more frustrated when you try to pronounce it!
Delta Airlines are working on providing Wifi broadband access to its domestic flights across the USA in the near future. For a small fee, air passengers will be connected wherever they are in transit.
Digital Birmingham is a Birmingham City Council initiative and part of a city wide strategic partnership of more than 40 public, private and voluntary organisations
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