John Popham's Alternative Blog

BlueLightCamp Hackathon 2013 #ukblc13 #bluelighthack

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:54:15 +0100

All the videos from BlueLightCamp Hackathon 2013 #ukblc13 #bluelighthack

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BlueLightCamp 2013

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 20:42:42 +0100

Here are the archived live videos from BlueLightCamp 2013 #ukblc13

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It seems my video interview with Nic and Jo of LS14 Trust has...

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 13:31:00 +0100

It seems my video interview with Nic and Jo of LS14 Trust has resulted in some action in high places locally to find funding to help them continue and extend their services.

UPDATE

LS14 Trust has now received a visit from the Cabinet Office and is working with a housing association on a funding application. Keeping everything crossed for them.

UPDATE 2

16th May 2013

I have today been informed that LS14 Trust has secured 3 years’ funding for the Digital Lounge. Congratulations to them!

Feature on BBC Radio 4’s “Woman’s Hour”...

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 11:18:03 +0000

Feature on BBC Radio 4’s “Woman’s Hour” on Bollywood, featuring Irna Qureshi

Archived Live Stream from #1000Flowers 2013

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 19:39:00 +0000

The archived live streams from 1000 Flowers event held by Addiply in Newcastle on 5th March 2013.

Session 1

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Session 2

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Session 3

Session 4 Part 1

Session 4 Part 2

I Hope I Never Stop Learning

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 11:24:40 +0000

Just been listening back to the CommsCamp 13 sessions on Empowering All Staff to Use Social Media. There was an interesting story in there from John King of Shropshire Council about trying to get someone to accept social media who clearly wanted nothing to do with it.

I come across these kinds of people, and I actually think there is a much wider issue here. It is about the attitude and mentality of people who want to go through their lives learning as much as possible and opening themselves up to new experiences, and those who are actively resistant to change and learning. I think the former category are receptive to social media, both because it is something new and exciting to learn about, and because it provides the channels to enable new learning to take place.

I sometimes despair of the closed-minded people. I think their lives must be very limited. I hope I never stop learning.

Archived Live Streams from CommsCamp 13

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 09:39:32 +0000

I am sure Dan, Ann and the organisers of CommsCamp 13 will do something snazzy with this on their blog when the dust has cleared, but, in the interim, I thought I would post an easy access means of getting the CommsCamp 13 videos in the right order.

Here goes:

Introductions and Session Pitches

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Session on Empowering All Staff to Use Social Media

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“Horsemeat Communications” Session

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Session on How to be a 21st Century Head of Communications

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“Sharing Your Pain” Session

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How to Do Your Own Unconference Session

Part 1

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Part 2

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Why I hate X-Factor - slightly longer version

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 11:33:52 +0000

Why I hate X-Factor:

It is a key element in the cultural hegemony which maintains that the mass of people are consumers not producers;
It’s exploitative - exposing vulnerable people to public ridicule;
It offers an unrealistic picture of the music business, suggesting the only chance of making a living is to risk all on becoming a superstar, and everything else is failure. There are lots of people who make livings out of being involved in music, and 99.9% of them are not superstars;
It is karaoke. Apparently the only way to succeed is to sing other people’s (safe) songs. How dare you try to write your own material or play an instrument? It suggests music is a mechanical process with little room for creativity;
Even the people who win it are, in my experience, poor singers. People who watch it all the time are lulled into thinking the improvements they witness are a journey to perfection. This is far from the case;
It suggests only certain kinds of music have a right to be popular;
It empahasises some of the worst aspects of human nature (e.g. bickering judges).

BBC Radio Sheffield feature on computer gaming, featuring Emma...

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 14:22:18 +0000

BBC Radio Sheffield feature on computer gaming, featuring Emma Cooper of Team Cooper (http://teamcooper.co.uk/)

What would be in your county's pasty?

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 10:53:23 +0000

I was thinking about the great Cornish Pasty debate, and the European ruling that to deserve the name, they have to be made in Cornwall.

Well, surely the solution to this would be for every county to have its own, indigenous, pasty. What would be in your county’s pasty?

BBC Radio Lancashire feature on the story of B4RN, DIY Rural...

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 14:46:00 +0000

BBC Radio Lancashire feature on the story of B4RN, DIY Rural Broadband community-led initiative. Featuring Chris Conder and Rory Cellan-Jones

Sea Front Takeaway, Social Media and Free Wifi

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 05:06:00 +0000

Today I’ve been working with a business which runs a sea front takeaway food kiosk to help them use technology and social media to bring in business. This was an interesting challenge, as it doesn’t necessarily fit the business profile of somewhere you might think would naturally use technology for these purposes. But we found a way forward which will focus on using Facebook to create and engage a community around the business, and it will explore offering free wifi as a way to attract custom and capture customer details.

@ThisIsZakia on BBC Radio Leeds 10th February 2012

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 21:53:33 +0000

@ThisIsZakia on BBC Radio Leeds 10th February 2012

Touch Screens and Digital Inclusion

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 18:04:00 +0000

Working on projects like Our Digital Planet, I have become convinced that the computer keyboard is a barrier, for many people, to Digital Inclusion. I’ve seen quite a few people who will happily pick up a tablet device and start using it, but who struggle with a keyboard and mouse. This is why I was fascinated on a train earlier today when the young woman sat next to me got out her Windows 8 laptop and started using the on-screen keyboard, rather than the laptop’s physical keyboard. I asked her why she did this, and she said it felt a lot easier to use the on-screen version, and, in particular, it was at a “nice angle” for typing. The laptop she was using was all in one piece, it wasn’t one of those which detaches to form a tablet, but she still preferred to use the touchscreen. She also said she could type faster on a touchscreen rather than a physical keyboard.

I found this intriguing. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

Digital Fluency Log

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 08:44:00 +0000

I sort of inhabit this strange world, flitting all the time between being surrounded by people whose use of technology is in the vanguard, and those who hardly use it at all. Sometimes I feel the need to explain to one of these sets of people how the other operates.

I decided to start this digital fluency log, which I will update and maintain when time allows and I remember.

This is about Digital Fluency, rather than digital inclusion. It is about the factors which prevent people becoming fluent in the use of technology. I believe Digital Fluency is an overlooked factor. A lot of effort goes into getting reluctant people online, but their use often doesn’t progress or even benefit them because they don’t do it regularly.

The log

Leaders who don’t get digital because their secretaries / PAs do all that for them.
Leaders who don’t get mobile tech because their experience of it is confined to their BlackBerry which gives them a restricted view of it.
People who use IT regularly, but their use is confined to a fixed desktop computer with no webcam or speakers. I come across this type of person a lot.
The person who thinks their 8 year-old computer is state-of-the-art, because it was when they bought it.
The person who brought a laptop to a training session and couldn’t connect it to the internet. The reason being the laptop had no wireless card

"I don't understand why UK hospitals seem to charge so much for communications"

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 18:04:00 +0000

A few years ago I was in Albany Hospital in Upstate New York with my terminally ill cousin who was in intensive care (the other side of the Atlantic to most of his friends & family). I set up a Skype account with an answerphone & asked people to ring in with messages that I played back to him when he had the strength to hear them. It was the best ever tonic! Had I not been able to use the internet in the hospital I could never have spent the time away from my business at his bedside & I really recommend hearing stories and wishes from loved ones far away when visits are impossible (& the patient hasn’t the strength to see people). I don’t understand why UK hospitals seem to charge so much for communications (they view telephone & internet a profit centre).

Penelope Bossom - Worcestershire

How internet use in hospital has benefitted you, your loved ones, or your patients

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 13:53:00 +0000

I’ve set up this group blog as part of the campaign for free wifi for hospital patients.

The main home for the campaign is on Facebook here http://www.facebook.com/groups/269721299101/. There is a document collecting information on wifi availbabilty for hospital patients here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1s6KWeZQ8moUUTKk3E8rSmPV2E5EYoCc9uvcrSGJyU… and there is a crowdfunding site raising funds for a pilot of a cheap form of installation of free wifi here http://www.sponsume.com/project/free-wifi-hospital-patients

This space is here to collect evidence of how use of the internet has benefitted yourself, your loved ones, or, if you are a healthcare professional, your patients. You can post here by email, but you need to be an approved poster first.

Either email me at john.popham@johnpopham.com so I can approve you to post directly to the blog, or email your story to me and I will post it.

Why I Hate X-Factor - the brief version

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 21:03:27 +0000

Why I hate X-Factor:

It’s exploitative - exposing vulnerable people to public ridicule;
It offers an unrealistic picture of the music business, suggesting the only chance of making a living is to risk all on becoming a superstar, and everything else is failure. There are lots of people who make livings out of being involved in music, and 99.9% of them are not superstars;
It is karaoke. Apparently the only way to succeed is to sing other people’s (safe) songs. How dare you try to write your own material or play an instrument? It suggests music is a mechanical process with little room for creativity;
Even the people who win it are, in my experience, poor singers. People who watch it all the time are lulled into thinking the improvements they witness are a journey to perfection. This is far from the case.

Liv Garfield of BT Openreach says that each BT Infinity Fibre...

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 08:47:46 +0000

Liv Garfield of BT Openreach says that each BT Infinity Fibre Cabinet costs £100,000

Hacking the Pub

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 12:47:09 +0000

Last night, in a crowded pub after HealthCampWM, we discussed Hacking the Pub. The pub was heaving and it was very difficult to get to the bar.

So, surely it shouldn’t be too difficult to order drinks online or via an app, pay for them via Paypal, and then have Argos-type screens around the pub which announce when your order is ready to be collected.

Anyone up for this (or has it been done?)?