Archive for the 'Reference' Category

Internet Safety in Schools

Published on 8 December 2009 in E-Safety, In the News, Links and Publications. 0 Comments

Internet Safety is to become a compulsory part of primary education in 2011 it has emerged today.

The campaign ‘Zip it, Block it, Flag it ’ intends to encourage children to not give out personal information on the web, block unwanted messages on social networks and report any inappropriate behaviour to the appropriate bodies. The campaign will used as an online ‘Green Cross Code’ which children and parents will follow to protects themselves online.

Zip it, Block it, Flag it!

By starting the education at a young age, there will hopefully be less and less incidents as the children grow older and internet safety will become common practice.

Google Doc’s

Published on 7 December 2009 in Information Management, Links, Projects and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments
As I have wrote about it an earlier blog, I have investigated setting up an email account for each Prince’s Trust student as part of the program. This is so they can use the e-mail account for applying for jobs , training or education as the accounts that some of the students are using now may not be suitable for professional use. I looked at Google Mail and decided it was the most suitable due to the ease of setting up an account and also so that the students can continue using the account after the course has finished.
Building upon this I have looked into the other applications that Google offers. One in particular is ‘Google Doc’s’. This offers users various software to create documents, spreadsheets and presentations free of charge as well as an online storage space.

 

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I want to start looking into utilising these applications so that when the young people need to ammend or send their CV’s to someone, the CV is easily accessible and editing it is simple, espeically from access points other than home, such as libraries.

Wiggly Wigglers: A Success Story

Published on 2 December 2009 in Emerging Technology, Facebook, Information Management, Knowledge Management, Reference, Social Inclusion, Social Media, Topics and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

 

Wiggly Wigglers is a company that cropped up more than once at the Digital Britain briefing. Heather Gorringe founded the sustainable gardening business in 1990. Based on a farm in rural Herefordshire, she started selling worms for compost bins and now has a turnover of £2.5m offering everything from goats’ hair socks to plants and bird food.

Using online technology, Heather made her business a success. Being based on a farm, she had no passing trade therefore relied on the internet. She states ‘To us, there’s no difference between DM, email, web, blogs, podcasts, videos and Facebook – they all bring us feedback and sales’.

Another key move in her path to success was letting customers being a part of the idea generation process. They built their catalogue within a private wiki web page where customers request what they want, for example one customer requested a push lawnmower which Heather had not thought of, but it ended up being an excellent addition to the range. Having communication and engagement with the customers allowed the business to grow, using simple online social networking. Keeping up interest with blogs and podcasts, Wiggly Wigglers is still growing.

The speakers at the briefing used this success story to highlight how big a part broadband played in this story, and without it rural areas, small business such as farms, are getting left behind and being put at a disadvantage.

Along with this I see this story as an excellent example of what can be achieved using social media. The use of blogs, podcasts and social networking on Facebook and Twitter creates interest, engagement and communities. By combining the use of all these resources one person can tell a message to a million people, the opportunities are endless and there isn’t a better time to get on board than now!

Website – http://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/

Blog – http://wigglywigglers.blogspot.com/

Podcast – http://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/podcasts/

Twitter – http://twitter.com/wiggled

Youth Tech Blog

Published on 6 June 2007 in Links, Publications, Social Media and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

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Youth Tech is a great blog I’ve been reading. It’s “a discussion about using technology in creative ways to enrich the lives of youth.” It’s an American site but has a lot of excellent resources in this area.

Community Fire Safety Strategy

Published on 31 May 2007 in Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service and Publications. 0 Comments

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The Community Fire Safety Strategy will be available for download via this blog.

“The Community Fire Safety Strategy is integral to our corporate planning
process. It provides a high level view of our approach and ambitions in
the area of community safety and is underpinned with a series of
individual strategies – arson, youth, violence at work, etc – that deal with
specific themes. This strategy is reflected in the Authority’s Integrated
Risk Management Plan, annual Service Plan and Financial Plan that
incorporate the individual targets and milestones for specific
actions and projects.”

Coming Soon.

Community & Neighborhood Engagement

Published on 28 May 2007 in Links and Social Inclusion. 0 Comments

As we’re researching a range of services that are of relevance to the Youth Engagement community, we’ll be linking to them via this blog, in the hope that you find our research useful. We have recently been looking at national government initiatives in neighborhood policing, and community engagement.



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Respect
http://www.respect.gov.uk/
The Government’s new Respect Initiative including “Youth Specific” information for communities and community workers. “Respect is about central government, local agencies, local communities and ultimately every citizen working together to build a society in which we can respect one another – where anti-social behaviour is rare and tackled effectively, and communities can live in peace together.”


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Neighbourhood Policing
 http://www.neighbourhoodpolicing.co.uk/
“Neighbourhood Policing is based on local priorities identified by local people as the issues that need to be dealt with in their area and Police and partners will work together to tackle them.”


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Neighbourhood Renewal Unit
http://www.neighbourhood.gov.uk
“The Neighbourhood Renewal Unit (NRU) is responsible for overseeing the Government’s comprehensive neighbourhood renewal strategy. A strategy that responds to local circumstances rather than directs everything from Whitehall.”


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Youth Justice Board
http://www.youth-justice-board.gov.uk/
“The Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (YJB) is an executive non-departmental public body. Our 12 board members are appointed by the Secretary of State for Justice. The YJB oversees the youth justice system in England and Wales. We work to prevent offending and reoffending by children and young people under the age of 18, and to ensure that custody for them is safe, secure, and addresses the causes of their offending behaviour.”


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Safer School Partnership
http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/ete/ssp/
“Safer School Partnerships, where police are based in schools, take a joined-up approach to crime prevention, school safety, behaviour improvement and educational achievement.”

If you have more links you’d like us to include please let us know.

Positive Futures: Sports based Social Inclusion

Published on 23 May 2007 in Links, Publications and Social Inclusion. 1 Comment

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Commissioned by the UK Home Office, the Positive Futures Case Study Research Project focused on Positive Futures, a national sports based social inclusion programme.

“Positive Futures is a national sports based social inclusion programme aimed at marginalized 10-19 year olds in the most deprived neighbourhoods. Managed within the Home Office Drug Strategy Directorate and delivered locally by a range of agencies, including local authorities, charities, sports clubs and crime reduction agencies.”

The research is a great starting point for anyone wanting to find out more about sports and Social Inclusion.

National Youth Agency

Published on 23 May 2007 in Publications and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

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Recently I have been using the National Youth Agency’s website to research some background into Government Policy in the area of Youth Engagement. The site is a really good place to start with links to a range of useful information.

Creating A Ruckus

Published on 11 May 2007 in Publications and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

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Our Youth Engagement research has recently lead us to “Ruckus“, an initiative by the National Youth Agency. Ruckus is a free online magazine for young people, who can read the latest issue on the site, or by subscribing via an email mailing list.

picture-3.pngRuckus brings a range of great editorial to, and by young people; the latest edition covers “Girls in Rock Bands”, “Being a peer educator” and takes a serious look at Graffiti Art. Young people can also submit their own articles or ideas via the Youth Information Site.