Nlarge Photography are a group of young people between 13 and 19 who have undertaken an extensive programme of training in all aspects of photography. They meet every Tuesday at Knowle West Media Centre. The group are always happy to welcome new members. If you are interested in joining them you can contact them on 0117 9030 444 or  nlarge@kwmc.org.uk

The exhibition at the Create Centre is a retrospective showcasing their work from 2003-2010.

Clay Shirky was at the Watershed this week presenting his theory of Cognitive Surplus. The event was very well attended in Bristol, but was also live webcast to an audience at the Corner House in Manchester (who showed their appreciation by twittering a round of applause at the end).

We are holding a Bristol ICT Refurbishment and Reuse Scheme Providers Day on July 7th from 9.30-11:30 at the Council House.  Register for your place  at http://ictrecycling.eventbrite.com/

We want to support the development of an independent and self-supporting Bristol ICT Refurbishment and Reuse Scheme which is able to operate citywide and will act as a framework for distributing our redundant ICT equipment efficiently to individuals and organisations where it will have the most positive social impacts. This is likely to include older people, low income families, carers, social housing tenants, disabled people, care leavers and poorly resourced community and voluntary sector organisations.

In addition to refurbishing/distributing the equipment, we would also like the scheme to include programmes to tackle digital/social exclusion and to provide appropriate connectivity advice to enable the recipients to be connected to the Internet at an affordable price. We also anticipate that there will be interest from other public sector bodies/businesses in providing ICT equipment to the scheme.

We are looking for an organisation who are willing to run this scheme. The Providers Day gives you the chance to find out more details, ask questions, provide input into the final specification which will be put out to tender following the event and find out more about Bristol City Council procurement processes.

We will be offering Bristol City Council’s redundant ICT equipment and support to make links with organisations working on digital/social inclusion and connectivity. It is not our intention to provide long term funding to run the scheme, which will need to self-sustaining after the first year of operation. We will identify what level of funding and in-kind support is available following discussions at the Providers Day. It is our ambition to have a scheme agreed  by September 2010 and we will be happy to accept proposals from consortia or individual organisations.

People of all ages from across Bristol came together for a free computer training event in May, with the bonus of free fish and chips.The Micro-chips and Mega-bites Event took place on Friday 21 May, 4-6pm at Knowle West Media Centre (KWMC) as part of the Digital Neighbourhoods Programme.

The event celebrated the annual Silver Surfers’ Day. As this year’s theme was intergenerational, KWMC asked everyone to bring an older or younger relative and spend time swapping skills and interests, teaching each other how to use digital technology. Participants ages ranged from 10 – 75. The free food was a ‘well done’ to those who came to learn something new, and a ‘thanks’ to their relatives and friends who were there for moral support and to help them learn.

Feedback on the event was very positive and included one participant who said;

“I enjoyed learning new things and just having fun with everyone around me.”

and another who said;

“I improved my general knowledge of the internet and set up a free email.”

For more information about other workshops, including the Computer Drop-in training on Wednesdays 10am-3pm at KWMC, please contact Makala tel: 0117 353 2895.

A short video will be online here soon showing the event, and interviews with the participants. Other project case studies are available now at http://www.youtube.com/southbristoldigital

B-Open innovative data projects competition, part of Media Sandbox 2010, is now live.

B-Open is one of the digital city projects being developed by Connecting Bristol in support of the 20-20 City Strategy. Its about openly sharing council/city data and working with local digital businesses and communities to create new applications and services that bring added value to citizens and help achieve greater connection with the city environment. Whether its engaging with peak oil, climate change or the wider green agenda.

Media Sandbox is a development programme enabling companies to research emerging possibilities in interactive, digital media, create new ideas and deliver innovation to the market.  In its third year Media Sandbox, managed by i-shed, is offering seven £10,000 commissions to support research and development of innovative experiences content, applications of experiences under two strands: open data and pervasive media.

A launch event is taking place on the afternoon of 30 June at Watershed in Bristol.
Further details and registration are available here.

Resources:-

Bristol City Council Open Data Scoping Document.
A copy of the B-Open logo can be download here

Tele-Health, Tele-Care and Assistive Technologies hold massive potential to help people take greater control of their own health and to live independent lives.  But as with any innovation, there is a need to overcome fears and to build understanding both within organisations and amongst potential service users.

This is why Connecting Bristol has teamed-up with NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucester councils and PCTs to organise a Tele-Care and Tele-Health Exhibition Day and Market Place

This event is being held at The Vassall Centre, Gill Avenue, Bristol BS16 2QQ and is free to attend for commissioners, clinicians, care providers, service users and carers. It will comprise;

• A Marketplace highlighting a wide range of Telehealth and Telecare providers demonstrating their products and available to answer your questions
• Presentations from IT, Health and Social Care professions on how Telehealth and Telecare can help to transform health and social care

This event runs between 9.30am to 1.00pm, and from 1.30pm to 5.00pm. The  presentations in the Exhibition will be repeated several times throughout the morning and afternoon so you can be flexible about when you choose to attend.

To register to attend this free event sign up on eventbrite

Companies interested in displaying Tele-Health and Tele-Care products or services should email stephen.hilton@bristol.gov.uk

]]> http://www.connectingbristol.org/2010/05/26/event-bristol-telehealth-telecare-exhibition-marketplace-28th-june-2010/feed/ 1 http://www.connectingbristol.org/2010/05/21/silver-surfers-day-21-may-2010/ http://www.connectingbristol.org/2010/05/21/silver-surfers-day-21-may-2010/#comments Fri, 21 May 2010 11:10:42 +0000 Kevin http://www.connectingbristol.org/?p=2597

Silver Surfers’ Day is a nationwide campaign to encourage older people to get online by experiencing how they can benefit by doing so.

The scheme is coordinated by Digital Unite and it is expected that at least 1,500 Silver Surfers’ Day events will take place. These will range from informal sessions for ‘family and friends’ groups, to professionally-organised sessions in libraries and other publicly-accessible centres.

If you know someone who might benefit you could show them the Silver Surfers Day website or let them know that further details can be obtained by phoning 0800 100 900.

This weekend delegates from the Wikimedia Foundation’s office in San Francisco and from “Chapters” around the world will arrive in Bristol for a three-day summit to discuss fund raising and other strategic issues.

It is the first time that Wikimedia UK, the Chapter responsible for supporting the work and goals of the Wikimedia projects in the UK, has hosted an event of this importance to the global movement. Hp Labs, Watershed and Connecting Bristol are supporting the visit.

Although delegates are here mainly on business, there will be an opportunity for Wikimedia delegates to mix with and learn more about Bristol and its plans to build on its reputation as a thriving regional hub for creative media and digital expertise.

Even if the name doesn’t ring any bells you may well have heard some of his ideas. Clay Shirky has written widely and influencially on the social and economic effects of internet technologies.  He is an advocate of the benefits of crowdsourcing and collaborative efforts online, suggesting “the Internet runs on love” to explain the nature of such collaborations.

Shirky’s latest writing explores the concept of cognitive surplus. He argues that as the nature of technology adapts to enable us to be active creators rather than passive consumers of content, the inate human desire to be creators and contributors will bring in a new era of huge creativity, production and sharing that will see fundamental changes to society and technology in the 21st century.

Shirky is speaking about Cognitive Surplus on 30th June between 18.00 and 19.30 at the Watershed in Bristol as part of the Festival of Ideas. Tickets cost £7.00 / £5.50 and are available from the Watershed box office or by telephone 0117 927 5100.

To celebrate 15 years of the National Cycle Network, Sustrans, the charity behind 12,000 miles of walking and cycling routes, have sent time travelling tweed clad alien Cornelius out to find out what you, the public, think of it.

Individuals who take part in an interview with the inquisitive alien will help compile a Rubberductions film about the National Cycle Network’s benefits. The two-minute film will be used later in the year to launch the Sustrans film competition for people to explain why they enjoy using the Network.

Look out for Cornelius’s show in Bristol on 29 April as he rides along the Bristol and Bath path from Eastville into the city centre before sampling the so-called Chocolate Path alongside Coronation Road towards the Create Centre. The alien will then continue his adventures in Birmingham on 30 April and Cardiff on 1 May.