Tag: community

Stuff I've seen October 26th through to October 31st

These are my links for October 26th through October 31st:

  • mySociety » Blog Archive » Harassment problem leads to FOI strangeness – Interesting story about how government departments are making quite subjective judgements about which information to release through FOI: "Today we have a strange story about a department that appears to think that it has a duty not to release information under FOI if it makes people angry."
  • We Share Stuff – Accredited course in Social Media – A triumph for wesharestuff: "We’re really pleased to announce what we think is the first officially accredited course in understanding and using social media for those with no previous experience. We Share Stuff has developed the course and it’s now part of the OCN framework (WSS are an OCN Centre), as three units of 10 learning hours each."
  • Data is what we want – but why? – Birmingham Post – Business Blog – Paul Bradshaw explains in simple terms: "The best analogy I can think of is polymers. When the technology behind polymers was developed in the last century, it created a whole new market – innovative producers could create new products, and cheaper ways of producing old products. Similar opportunities are available with the release of data – release postcodes for businesses to use cheaply or for free, and you have the opportunity for new businesses creating applications based on location. Release transport data and others can tell you which direction to head in for the next bus."
  • Blog | Birmingham Conservation Trust – Really interesting film about The highline – a community campaign to save an old elevated railways line in New York as a green park. Fascinating ideas about how to galvanise community.
  • Green shoots of recovery – Birmingham Post – Lifestyle Blog – Kate Copper: "The accidental empires of the 20th century weren't forged in workshops (not even facilitated ones), but in back bedrooms, unused garages and fusty university research labs. At the forefront of this revolution were pizza-fed, caffeine-fuelled nerdy boys who couldn't get a date. These brainy T-shirted lads did weird math, challenged their mates to do even weirder stuff — not in order to make money or lead a revolution, but simply to explore what it was that they could do."

Stuff I've seen September 13th through to September 14th

These are my links for September 13th through September 14th:

  • Free Wireless Broadband – Community – Our offer to communities throughout the UK is simple…… let us know why your community needs WiFi and we will come and install a totally free service in a public place, for 3 years (or longer if we find sponsors to pay for it). We currently have enough in the fund to pay for 50 communities in the UK.

    Freerunner have also partnered with JustGiving.com to put free WiFi Internet access where its really needed – charities. If you charity has a broadband connection we will come and install the Freerunner service for free in your location. Its perfect for charity shops as it gives people another reason to visit. It also gives you the chance to help bridge the digital divide. JustGiving.com and Freerunner have committed to provide this service to 500 charities, totally free of charge, forever.

  • Patry’s MORAL PANICS AND THE COPYRIGHT WARS: elegant, calm, reasonable history of the copyfight – Boing Boing – Cory Doctorow reviewing: "Patry's Moral Panics stands out for the sheer, unadorned calm of his approach. Patry doesn't have a lot of rhetorical flourish or prose fireworks. Instead, he tells the story of copyright in plain, thoughtful words, with much rigor and grace. Reading Moral Panics is like watching a master brick layer gracefully and effortlessly build a solid wall: no wasted motion, no sweat, no missteps. Patry knows this subject better than anyone and can really explain it."
  • The Barcelona Update Blog » Free Wifi in Barcelona – a new council sponsored scheme – This Barcelona blogger says: "All in all, we applaud the Council for their forward looking attitude – particularly as they are restricted by law in what they can do. However, it’s not quite the free for all it seems and a bit more clarity on the access at each point would make it a whole lot easier."
  • Should the Public Decide What the House of Commons Debates? – Birmingham Post – News Blog – A Commons committee chaired by Staffordshire MP Tony Wright (Lab Cannock) is to consider whether the public should be able to initiate a debate in the House of Commons.
  • 10 People You Won’t See on Twitter Anymore [Make it personal stoopid] – This new rules may cause problems for some local authorities and even newspapers: "Robotic Twitter accounts should live in fear of death by the powers that be at Twitter. If you’re not human and you’re configured to automatically tweet, reply, and retweet based on Twitter content or RSS feeds then you could be in danger. The rules express a clear preference for the human touch when it comes to Twitter updates, stating that you could be in violation of the TOS and subject to termination, “if your updates consist mainly of links, and not personal updates.”

Stuff I've seen September 3rd through to September 4th

These are my links for September 3rd through September 4th:

  • In Development » Draft Open Access and Licensing Framework released – as copyright works are concerned, NZGOAL proposes that agencies apply the most liberal of the New Zealand Creative Commons law licences to those of their copyright works that are appropriate for release, unless there is a restriction which would prevent this. The most liberal Creative Commons licence is the Attribution (BY) licence.
  • Inaccuracies in newspaper coverage of Cabinet Office job advert – Blunt rebuttal: "This morning several newspapers ran a story about the Cabinet Office advertising for a Deputy Director of Digital Engagement who will be paid around £120,000 a year."

    Unfortunately, every single story contained inaccuracies, from basic facts about the vacancy to fundamental details of what the job is all about.

  • How to stop being embarrassed by your website commissioning :: interactivecultures – "let’s call him Harold" Jon Hickman on form and inspired by the Help me Investigate investigation into the city council's website. (missed this when on holiday).
  • Membership has its meaning « BuzzMachine – "the membership bar has moved up. It’s not enough to let people give you money and promote you. Now you have to invite them to have a real and meaningful role in what you do, even a sense – if not a stake – of ownership and, consequently, control."
  • NTI Birmingham : Gamer Camp – Free: "Gamer Camp offers would-be game makers in the West Midlands the chance to learn how to develop and produce games for Apple's phenomenally popular iPhone/iPod Touch, as part of a four-week training course taking place at NTI Birmingham and Birmingham School of Visual Communication." via d:log

Stuff I've seen August 28th through to August 31st

These are my links for August 28th through August 31st:

  • 15 Unconventional Uses of WordPress – "In this article we will highlight some of the most unconventional uses of WordPress and show you how you can use WordPress in these unconventional way as well." via @problogger
  • Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text | Wired Science | Wired.com – Neat way forward to what we think we can rely on, colur coding the wikpedia stiff that is form people we trust and survives: “They’ve hit on the fundamentally Darwinian nature of Wikipedia,” said Wikipedia software developer and neuroscientist Virgil Griffith of the California Institute of Technology, who was not involved in the project. “Everyone’s injecting random crap into Wikipedia, and what people agree with more often sticks around. Crap that people don’t like goes away.”
  • Clive Thompson on the New Literacy – "technology isn't killing our ability to write. It's reviving it—and pushing our literacy in bold new directions."
  • BBC – Peston’s Picks: What future for media and journalism? – Robert Peston: "the blog is at the core of everything I do, it is the bedrock of my output. The discipline of doing it shapes my thoughts."
  • Access Space Overview & Site Map – Sheffield – "Access Space is the UK’s first free media lab: an open-access learning community where participants learn, create and communicate online. Participation empowers individuals and develops skills, community, creativity and resourcefulness."
  • New feature: custom locations / The EveryBlock Blog – Draw your own neighbourhood: "As a neighborhood news site, we try to maintain accurate lists of neighborhoods and their boundaries, but we're inevitably incomplete. Neighborhoods change, areas get renamed and redeveloped, and even the most well-established districts can have ambiguous boundaries. (In fact, some argue that neighborhoods have no true boundaries, only centers, but a computer needs to be able to draw the line somewhere.)" Via @dominiccampbell