Social Media
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Creating Community where I am
Last winter I did an online digital storytelling course with Daniel Greenberg from the Findhorn Foundation. After collecting a few photos and deciding that my story would be about Community and my friend Eva, I dived into We Video and played with iMovie. It was a great experience and I plan to do more. Here it is below. I am also a resource person for the Findhorn Foundation in Portugal. Sadly they have paused their educational programmes for the time being, but the joy of what Findhorn represents is still alive and thriving. Do connect if you want to know more about love in action, growing vegetables and the magic…
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Thinkers and Doers meet in Málaga, Spain for the first Global NESI Forum
What would a sustainable world involve? Can it be achieved? Should we leave it to politicians and corporate interests to determine our future? If you are a thinker and doer and want to be part of the process of finding solutions to some big issues, NESI may be for you. On 19th-22nd April, Málaga (Spain) will host the first New Economy and Social Innovation Global Forum (NESI Forum). Sounds grand but it is a simple enough concept. The forum will bring people together so they can focus on what is wanted to influence wider agendas. The issues associated with population increase, the democracy deficit and crisis, the changing environment, gender…
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Media and the digital divide
The nature of technology and the media as it relates to the concept of a digital divide is a huge topic and a good deal has been written about this subject. This article will look at this concept from a social policy perspective with some transgression into the role of community information as an approach to enabling people to both access and effectively use technology. Some identify the divide as the technological gap that exists between the developed and developing world. For example, Webopedia defines the digital divide as “a term used to describe the discrepancy between people who have access to and the resources to use new information and…
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Cadbury’s, Kraft takes it and covers it in ?
Cadburys – Kraft takes it and covers it in? 1968, Cadbury’s, green grassy banks, packed lunches and school friends. 19 January 2010, husband, greenhouse, twitter and tapas lunch. Memories and reality collided in the pit of my stomach today, as it was announced that Cadbury’s had accepted the takeover deal from Kraft. Shareholders have till the 2 February to accept the offer. In 1968, my Auntie Jean worked at Cadbury’s in Bournville. She often appeared at our house with orange bags of Misshapes. Misshapes were bags of chocolates, including Milk Tray, which had not passed the quality level required that day. I was 13 years old and thought Cadbury’s ruled…
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Publish it yourself
Some technologies are allowing writers to publish their work at no cost. Authors can use Amazon’s Digital Text Platform and upload their work for Kindle download in seconds. Smashwords, is another publishing medium. that allows authors to upload their work for purchasing in multiple electronic formats. It’s easy. It’s quick and cuts out the middle layer of publishing. There is also Feedbooks where they can publish and download free public domain books. An added benefit to all this is that they can send their e-book to freelance reviewers which could mean it will get reviewed on Amazon, Digg it, Librarything for free. I wonder what publishing will look like in ten years?
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Social Media – A Force for Good
I watched the Nesta event yesterday that was streamed live. Stephen Fry, Biz Stone, Founder and Chief Executive of Twitter; and Reid Hoffman, Founder and Chief Executive of LinkedIn discussed the phenomenon of social media and its future impact. It can be viewed here http://www.nesta.org.uk/assets/events/social_media__a_force_for_good
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It is lonely having a second life
I received an email via a community informatics list, this week. The author is C. Wagner. I mention this because the community use of technology is a passion, especially as virtual and engaged communities are surfacing. Being part of networks who are researching the intersections is broadening my understanding of the importance of open source and what it means to be part of a community of interest. BBC News Magazine just published an article about the fadinginterest in Second Life. If corroborates what many of us Second Lifeusers have experienced already, namely that it’s pretty lonely out therein Second Life. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8367957.stm I don’t think this diminishes the value of this…
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Wired for Success
In around 2006 I developed a learning programme for the Community Sector Coalition .The programme is for small community groups who want to start using computers and ICT. A report and two volumes can be downloaded for free. See below for links to PDF’s The key findings of the research into the ICT needs of the community sector are: 1. There is a direct correspondence between the size of organisations, and their state ofdevelopment in adoption and management of ICT. 2. There is evidence that technological developments become more widely adopted and better managednot only according to size and resources, but also with the passage of time. 3. There is…
