Tag: Snnprofit

Anti-Social Networking.

Online it’s harder to judge integrity. You lack those face to face indicators which have evolved over millions of years. Despite that this add on lie-detector for Skype is a worrying development. I know such technology is already used by insurance companies to detect potential fraud. But I think the solution to bridging the online trust-gap is simpler: spend more time getting to know people.

The Path to Perfect Play – a new podcast on the Grassroots Channel

“Play is a every child’s human right”

After a decade or more working with after school clubs and play schemes Laura Watts established a new organisation in Birmingham called Dens of Equality. She wanted to help the families who found their children effectively barred from the pleasure of full blown play because they had some form of disability.

Dens of Equality is a central hub which helps groups of parents create their own autonomous organisations. With these the families can apply for funds and also approach play workers directly, encouraging them to find new ways to include all children in their play schemes. They create tight new relationships which work for professionals, parents and children, all using a system which hands power to the people closest to each child.

Please leave comments on this blog.

Links – mentioned in this episode:

Written version (pdf) of this story with more information (dead link)

Dens of Equality

Birmingham Early Years and Childcare (dead link)

Todd Hannula (dead link)

Pete Ashton

Soweto Kinch Podcast– direct link to mp3

Roger Telphia Podcast – direct link to mp3

Kings Norton Farmers Market Podcast – direct link to mp3

It works. Good luck Michele

Last month I wrote a little something about how technology is defined by the simple truth that it is somehting which doesn’t yet work properly.

Today I got another point of view. Writing on the Bamboo Project blog (another frequent user of the nptech tag) Michele Roy Martin describes how her daughter and ex-husband found themselves intimately involved in a shooting at a school in the US. The news spread fast. Michele’s take, though, was:

What struck me about all this was not only how quickly news spread through the use of technology, but also how the kids and families were able to use this media to begin connecting, processing, discussing and mourning what had happened. I thought about how as a parent, if it had been my child, I would have been so grateful to go to a site and see this outpouring of love and connection coming from other people, people who didn’t even know my child. As the mother of a child who saw what happened, I’m also grateful that she has the ability to process her own trauma and grief by connecting to so many people. It’s astonishing to me to see what technology can accomplish in creating human bonds.

I read a lot of stories about how people are worried that online community interferes with “real” community. That may be true in some cases. But this is one time when I believe that technology may actually help in healing “real life.”

I hope things settle quickly for you and your family. Take care.