Green ICT Web Tutorials
June 4, 2008 Posted by Stephen Hilton in : Bristol, Environment, Technology, Green ICT , 2 commentsWhat 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
Look at Me, Connecting Bristol welcomes Jeff McWhinney during Deaf Awareness Week 2008
May 3, 2008 Posted by Stephen Hilton in : Bristol, e-society, Technology, Guest Bloggers, Deaf Awareness , add a comment5th - 11th May 2008 is Deaf Awareness Week so we are delighted that Jeff McWhinney, a leading figure in the deaf community and a recognised digital innovator, has agreed to be Connecting Bristol’s Guest Blogger.
Jeff is the former Chief Executive of the British Deaf Association, Guardian Public Servant of the Year runner-up and now manages a video technology company called Significan’t, which he founded.
Significan’t uses real-time video conferencing to virtually link deaf staff and customers with British Sign language interpreters.
As Jeff explained in 2006, “There are about 275 registered BSL interpreters in the UK and around 70,000 BSL users. You just have to look at the numbers to realise that if a local authority or health trust sees a deaf person who is in urgent need and needs to communicate with them, they can’t do it straight away. There is usually a six-week wait to get a BSL interpreter to help sort out an urgent issue. What usually happens is that a deaf person will take their hearing child out of school to interpret for them if they have a crisis with their GP, for example. You can have the situation where a deaf person is being told they have a terminal illness and their child is interpreting for them.”
During Deaf Awareness Week, organisations working with deaf people across the country are inviting everyone to ‘Look At Me’. The theme aims to improve understanding of the different types of deafness by highlighting the many different methods of communication used by deaf, deafened, deafblind and hard of hearing people, such as sign language and lipreading.
Jeff will be adding a BSL version of his posts to the blog. We look forward to Jeff’s thoughts on how video streaming and other digital channels can help make the world a more inclusive, efficient and fun place for everyone.
DC10plus Ready for Take-off with new Digital Inclusion Minister
April 28, 2008 Posted by Stephen Hilton in : Digital Challenge, Bristol, Events, Technology, Connecting Bristol, DC10 , 1 comment so farAcross England, DC10 partners are dusting-off their best business suits in readiness for the formal launch of the DC10plus network, which is taking place in London on Tuesday at the Third National Digital Inclusion conference… in a place called the Brewery (result!)
It is also apt that Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the RSA is chairing the event. It was Matthew, in his former Cabinet office role, who dreamt-up the idea of the Digital Challenge… from which the DC10plus is now born.
Amongst the all-star line-up of speakers are the new Digital Inclusion Minister, the Rt. Hon. Paul Murphy MP and the Minister for Schools, Jim Knight MP.
Our very own Stephen Dodson will be presenting the DC10’s vision and programme. Stephen is an excellent conference speaker and we are expecting great things from him. Emma Aqusita of Bristol’s Knowle West Media Centre has worked hard to create a dynamic afternoon workshop, which promises to be very hands-on.
Public-i will be webcasting the event. So if you are unable to attend, you will be able to see the key speeches on the DC10plus website. David Wilcox will also be acting as a raporteur during the conference and workshops, capturing less formal video interviews with speakers and delegates in order to find out what people really think about digital inclusion.
The Connecting Bristol Team will be there in strength, as both Kevin and I are attending. We also look forward to catching-up with some South West friends from COSMIC and Bristol Wireless.
The DC10 sees this event as the start of a conversation about Digital Inclusion. Please join the debate.
The Big Green Bookshop
March 17, 2008 Posted by Andy in : e-democracy, Bristol, e-society, Technology, Guest Bloggers, Business , 1 comment so far
I came across this blog last week and thought it was another nice demonstration of how people are using “social media” in real life.
When Waterstone’s closed their branch in Wood Green (near me in London), there was a petition online and a local campaign.
When the store closed, the former managers decided to turn the energy of that campaign into a new independent bookstore. They used a blog to chart their progress and called on their “facebook army” for help and support.
Not only has this been great publicity, but they’ve got to know their customers, they’ve captured the spirit of the campaign and made their mark in their community.
Most importantly, Wood Green has got a good independent bookshop.
By one standard, the “Don’t close Waterstones” petition failed. The shop closed. By another, perhaps more interesting standard, it was wildly successful. Now this can’t happen in every case, but it seems that there’s often an opportunity to harness this momentum and create something better than before.
Online petitioning is something that Bristol is well known for.
So my question is, how could you help to create more positive results and situations like the big green bookshop?
