jump to navigation

Green ICT Web Tutorials

June 4, 2008 Posted by Stephen Hilton in : Bristol, Environment, Technology, Green ICT , 2 comments

What is green ICT? Why do we need greener data centres? What is the smart grid?

Internet Evolution’s Green IT web tutorials present the answers as short online videos. Watch them here. You can even email the video tutor your own green ICT questions and he will respond on-line.

Thanks to Giles Liddell for sending the link

Listen to this (mp3) Listen to this (mp3)

Virtual Farmers Market - Join us on 29th May to Help Develep Bristol's NESTA Big Green Challenge Bid

May 19, 2008 Posted by Stephen Hilton in : Bristol, Innovation, Events, Environment, Green ICT, Food, Bids , 10 comments

NESTA Big Gren Challenge
VIRTUAL FARMERS MARKET PROPOSAL

The food we eat makes a significant contribution to climate change, accounting for 31% of our greenhouse gas emissions (EU 2007). If we are to stand a realistic chance of preventing runaway global warming, it is time to rethink our agricultural systems. This project seeks to go beyond the popular concept of “food miles” to consider the complete life-cycle of food – from field to plate. A sustainable local food system will address emissions by engaging the communities of the Bristol city-region, from the farmers and allotment associations, to the consumer, to local government, academics and community groups…

Open Collaboration Session

Date: 29th May
 Time: 2.30-5pm (followed by networking opportunity)
 Location: Connecting Bristol, First Floor, 11-19 Wine Street, Bristol BS1 2PH MAP

Purpose:

Bristol’s bid to create a Virtual Farmer’s Market (VFM) has won through to the next stage of the NESTA Big Green Challenge competition. Well done Matt Fortnam of University of Bristol for taking the proposal this far!

Read a PDF summary of the bid here - Virtual Farmers Market Sumary

The timescale is, of course, very short. A final bid must be made to NESTA by 9th June. We are working with local food consultants F3 and Ed Mitchell to further develop the bid and will be holding an open collaboration session on 29th May to achieve the following,

Registration

The Open Collaboration Session is an opportunity for anyone who is interested in this proposal to join-in. Please join us at this session. We welcome your input. Just confirm your attendance by registering HERE

We look forward to meeting you

Listen to this (mp3) Listen to this (mp3)

Knowle West Media Centre

April 7, 2008 Posted by Makala Cheung in : Digital Challenge, e-democracy, Bristol, Community Media, Regeneration, South Bristol, Events, Mentoring, News, Learning, Skills, Environment, Connecting Bristol, Guest Bloggers , add a comment

I’m Press and Communications worker for the Knowle West Media Centre. We offer cutting edge media services and facilities from our new environmental building, and exciting hands on learning alongside professional practitioners. We are strongly embedded in the local community and run various groups for residents, especially young people.

My role involves doing press and marketing for KWMC, editor for the community newsletter, running parts of the community website http://www.knowlewest.co.uk (including the events pages), community communication both face-to-face with residents, clubs and organisations, facilitating Mouth of the South (more below) and taking part in community events, networks, and city-wide work for example I took part in Connecting Bristol’s bid to the Digital Challenge.

The new Knowle West Media Centre at Leinster Avenue will be holding its official 2 day opening event this week. Young people who work with Knowle West Media Centre will launch the two day programme of celebration on Thursday 10th April when they officially open the £2.6m green new HQ that they helped to plan, design and build. The opening ceremony will mark the successful end of a 5 year project to provide Knowle West with a beacon of creative and climate-friendly media enterprise, where young people can develop the technological skills demanded by the digital age.

Thursday 10th April 12pm-5pm
Official opening of KWMC by the Archimedia Core Group and KWMCC Director Carolyn Hassan from 12pm, this will be followed by building tours and displays of each departments work, as well as film screenings and projects and performances by young people and community groups.Then at 3.30pm Matthew Taylor, Chief Exec of the Royal Society of Arts, will speak about Young People, Media and Community.

Friday 11th April 2pm-5pm
Friday will see an opening of KWMC by local residents and Key Funders of the building, including Bristol City Council, South West Regional Development Agency and Arts Council SW. Again there will be film screenings, exhibitions, story telling sessions and tree planting.

To join us on this landmark occasion please RSVP to Katie Taylor at Katie@kwmc.org.uk by 7th April.
Please note children under 10 must be accompanied by an adult.

You will be able to find out more about us and meet some of the young people we work with. Examples of our groups include:

AMAZING ARCHIVE GROUP - A Young Roots Heritage Lottery Funded project for 12 – 25 year olds researching their heritage in and around Knowle West.
In June 2008 an exhibition will present the work of the group and invite the community to become involved in creating a ‘living’ archive for Knowle West.

KNOWLE WEST CARBON MAKEOVER- Knowle West Media Centre is working with 100 homes to be part of this exciting year-long environmental project. The project team will support the families in making changes to their homes and lifestyles looking at the different themes of climate change, for example, shopping locally.

DIGITAL FISH FILM CLUB - A young person-led club for 13-19 year olds, open to young people from Knowle West and South Bristol. They make short films and animations; as well as holding holiday film clubs, and workshops on acting, music recording, scriptwriting etc. The group’s work has won national awards and often run trips to screenings of our work all over the country.

SILVERSCREEN FILM CLUB - Over 50’s Film Club with regular screenings, host guest speakers, an extensive DVD library and cinema visits both in Bristol and further a field. Transport to events if required, and a selection of refreshments. It is open to all over 50’s from Knowle West and South Bristol.

MOUTH OF THE SOUTH - Our young journalists group is for 11-16 year olds and sessions include;
Newsletter - design, writing, interviewing and photography
Website: www.kwmc.org.uk/mos which includes radio and film projects

NLARGE PHOTOGRAPHY - Our photography group for 13-19 year olds is open to young people from Knowle West and South Bristol. The group follow an in depth and exciting programme learning all aspects of photography from a wide range of professional photographers. The Nlarge team take professional commissions and work towards becoming a sustainable enterprise led by young people.

To find out more about us go to http://www.kwmc.org.uk

Meanwhile, I have a workshop to prepare for - The newsletter drop-in club. The newsletter is nearing deadline, and residents will be meeting tonight, and I will be helping them in editing and designing all the new stories I received from residents and local workers over the last week.

So until tomorrow, everyone have a nice evening (whether the sun is shining or it’s snowing - who knows after yesterday’s weather), and if you happen to be reading this weeks Venue, there’s a double spread about us on page 24.

Makala x

Listen to this (mp3) Listen to this (mp3)

Save Money With A Fantastic New VOSCUR Service! - Give One In! Get One Back!

March 13, 2008 Posted by julzswitch in : Bristol, Environment, Guest Bloggers , 2 comments

Back in December you may have heard about the Voscur run ‘Give One In, Get One Back’ project.

Voscur, working with Byteback Computer recycling and Bristol Wireless, supported through the ICT Hubs’ Unmet Needs fund is running project to promote the recycling of old computer equipment and the re-use of machines. Those dumb boxes whose shelf lives have been extended through the use of volunteer computer maintenance and free software.
 

This project now has less than a month to run so if you are still undecided about what to do with your old equipment, there is still time. In the meantime they are evaluating the success of the project and how it was promoted, so it would be really useful to get your impressions of the service, even if you didn’t engage with any of the services on offer. Please go to the Survey below to complete a short questionnaire -www.survey.bris.ac.uk/voscur/giveoneinsurvey

If you forwarded the original publicity in your networks, please distribute this request too. To find our more about the project go to - www.voscur.org/giveonein

For further information please contact Sean Kenny, Development Worker (ICT), Voscur
Tel: 0117 909 9949  
NOTE: Voscur is a Council for Voluntary Service and a Development Agency for the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector in Bristol.

Listen to this (mp3) Listen to this (mp3)