The BT Internet Ranger of the Year Award

BT is looking for young people, up to the age of 16, who have used their ICT skills to help other people get online. If you know a young person who has done this, you can either nominate them or encourage them to nominate themselves.

BT are looking to have Internet Ranger award winners in each of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Each winner will receive an HP laptop plus £250 worth of IT vouchers, together with a certificate. A best of the national winners will receive an additional £250 worth of IT vouchers.

Key dates:  The closing date for applications is Friday 15th January 2010 and winners will be notified by Friday 12th February 2010.

The online application form is available at http://www.btinternetrangers.co.uk/Awards/BTInternetRangeroftheYear/index.htm

Talk Talk announce Digital Heroes 2009

A Derbyshire woman has been crowned Britain’s Digital Hero and awarded a £10,000 prize for a community initiative that encourages schoolchildren to teach their elders how to use the internet.

Gill Farrington from the 50+ Forum in Swadlincote, Derbyshire was announced as overall winner of the TalkTalk Digital Heroes Awards 2009 held at the House of Lords.

TalkTalk Digital Heroes Awards 2009, in conjunction with digital inclusion charity Citizens Online, have been designed to celebrate the outstanding people who are using digital technology to bring about positive social change.

Regional Winners

o East Anglia: Amanda Smith, Cambridge Housing Society
o London: Bernard Wighton, Richard House Children’s Hospice
o York & Humberside: Dave Wooldridge, New Life
o East Midlands: Gill Farrington, Swadlincote & District 50+ Forum
o Northern Ireland: Sean Og Mac Braoin, Media Ireland
o North East: Paul Atkinson, Apostleship of the Sea
o North West: Paul McCann, Twin Vision
o West Midlands: Susan Smith, Guy’s Gift
o Wales: Helen Iles, Undercurrents Foundation
o Scotland: Wallace Blake, Soar
o South East: Teresa Nissen, The Access Corporation
o South West: Tony Walker, Wolf + Water Arts Company

The full press release is available on the Citizens Online Press Releases

MP launches UN petition to establish children’s rights online.

Labour MP Derek Wyatt has launched a petition calling on the United Nations to clarify its position on the rights of children on the Internet.

The petition was launched to coincide with the 20^th anniversary of the publication of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on 20 November 1989. The Convention provides a framework of rights that children around the world should be entitled to, such as the right to life, identity and protection from exploitation.

The full press release is available at www.citizensonline.org.uk

Push to get all UK kids online

More than 1.5 million kids live in homes without internet access, something a government-backed group wants to change.

Newsround story with video clip.

Not suprisingly, none of the children featured said they would use the internet for research or homework!

Why isn’t the government closing the digital divide?

Because it is failing to match high-level policy with funding where it’s needed.

Michael Cross at the Guardian has exposed the reality of watching good projects go into liquidation through the governments’ inability to fund practice that delivers on its policies and aspirations.

The Lighthouse Project had a proven track record of making a difference to the most vulnerable and hardest to reach in society. In fact the project was held in such high regard that the founder was invited to, and became part of, the Digital Inclusion Task Force.

Members of the public commented on the Guardian’s website regarding the lack of substance from government. Mike Bloggs stated that “there is no meaningful plan to transform the delivery of key government services” , whilst John Fisher noted that in the “current economic climate it is very very difficult to raise commercial sponsorship or fundraise from other sources – and the sums of money required are relatively small compared to other activities that government indulge in. “

A can of worms has been opened and until the government back their ‘blue sky thinking’ with appropriate funds, their aspirations will remain pie in the sky.