Category Archives: Media Coverage

Raspberry Pi

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Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi is hot gossip. 

A credit card sized device that can be plugged into a TV or touchscreen to create a PC, it may not sound revolutionary, but at £22, it has all the makings of a real game changer.

Within hours of going on sale, the whole stock of 10,000 units had sold out, and the company website had crashed under the weight of traffic.

Maybe you’d expect techie circles to be salivating, but the Raspberry Pi has effortlessly moved into the heady realms of the general public interest, even, albeit momentarily, surpassing Google searches for Lady Gaga.  So just what is it about this circuit board that’s got the crowd agog?

Well for starters, its price.  For £22 you’d do well to get the box that most new laptops are packaged in. With the Raspberry Pi you have the platform to create entirely new computer programs for a very modest price. Clearly an appealing prospect.

Secondly, while there are already lots of sub £100 PCs on the market, this one’s tipped to revolutionise the way that children learn IT.

Designed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, it’s mission statement is to help ‘promote the study of computer science’. With the recent furore about a dearth of programming skills among computer users, its launch is a timely one.

Want one?  We do too, and are toe tinglingly excited by the prospect of a  host of other interesting applications and rivals that are bound to follow.

While the focus may be on schools right now, this one’s got the legs to make sweeping changes to the way people of all ages use and access the web.  Now that’s got us salivating.

The Guardian – almost half the offline population lives in social housing

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If only 3.5% of those in social housing who are both offline and unemployed got online and found work, the net economic benefit would be more than £200m. Inspiring and encouraging those in work online would deliver a further £750m.

In today’s Guardian, Martha calls on housing professionals to consider the economic, social and moral imperative for a digital social housing sector.  Read the article.

Martha speaks to The Telegraph

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New research from Race Online 2012, produced in association with Housing Technology magazine and 15 housing associations, suggests that more than 4 million of the 8.4 million adults offline in the UK live in social housing.

Digital by Default highlights the economic, social and moral imperative for a digital social housing sector.  Order your copy here.

To coincide with the report’s publication Martha spoke to The Telegraph’s Martin Beckford about the inordinate benefits that the net can have for older people and those living in social housing.

MLF discusses accessibility on You & Yours

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Yesterday, the Office for National Statistics released its third quarterly update on internet access, which showed that of the 8.43 million adults in the UK who have never used the internet, 4.25 million are disabled.

At lunchtime, Martha and Nigel Lewis, CEO of AbilityNet, of which Martha recently became a patron, discussed the issue on Radio 4’s You & Yours programme.

“Firstly it’s very important to recognise that there’s an enormous benefit for disabled people to be online”, she said.  “Therefore we should work hard to create technologies that are easier to use and to bring the price points down of the technologies that are out there already.”

According to Nigel Lewis, those with disabilities are often prevented or discouraged from going online because of inaccessible technology.  “Either they can’t engage with and use the standard computer out of the box, and so it needs adapting in some way, or the online services, the websites, are not accessible with their adaptive technology”, he said.

Listen to the interview on BBC iPlayer (available for a limited time only)

The Mirror says Give an Hour

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Today, The Mirror is inspiring hundreds of thousands of  readers to change someone’s life.

How?  By asking them to go to www.go-on.co.uk/giveanhour and pledging an hour of their time to help someone get online.

Supported by Sky, Three Mobile, Post Office and Age UK, under the headline ‘could you be a digital champion’, in an eight page spread, readers are given ideas on easy ways to help someone online, tips on choosing hardware and broadband, how to volunteer, and stories from a host of digital champs and internet beginners.

Alongside June Whitfield, mobile mums Tammi and Claire, Post Office champs including Win and Richard Morgan in Wales, Liverpool cabbie Eddie and Sky staff Liz and Karen, Age UK’s Margaret Goodwin even shares how she showed Prince Charles how to Skype!

Off-line readers are also given the number to call to find a local, low-cost internet course – 0800 77 1234.

If you know a potential champ who hasn’t yet pledged their hour, please pick up a copy and share it, or tell them to find out how at www.go-on.co.uk/giveanhour.

How to inspire amateur gardeners

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Over at Race Online 2012 towers, keen gardener and Programme Director Carol has pledged her hour to help off-line plot-holders at her allotment.

If the person you’re helping is green fingered, why not use your hour to show them this film from gardening presenter Carol Klein?  “There are occasions when I’m doing something and I get so excited about it that I want to share it with somebody, or I want to find out where something comes from, and I want to talk to people about it.  And that’s where the internet comes in”, she says.  “Anything that increases your knowledge and expands your world as far as the garden and plants are concerned is bound to be a good thing.”  Carol’s also created a downloadable guide to help you help someone explore their passion for gardening online.

Also out this week – an exciting article in Amateur Gardening.

Mil Lusk

Stuffed with a get started guide, jargon buster, and info on low-cost hardware, it’s even showcasing an inspiring story from mother, grandmother and digital champion Mil Lusk, 45, who went from amateur gardener to entrepreneur and later revolutionised her not-for-profit organic gardening, composting and recycling business thanks to gaining online skills.

For Mil, “going somewhere local where they know you, and being shown the ropes from scratch, with all the benefits of being on the internet, I was encouraged to keep going.”  Now, every Wednesday afternoon, along with staff and volunteers, Mil’s giving a couple of hours to help others benefit too.

Digital champ speaks to Real People

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Emilyn

Emilyn

This week digital champ Emilyn Hutchinson, 22, talks to Real People magazine about how the internet became a lifeline after she was diagnosed with depression and became homeless at the age of 17.

She says: “sometimes I felt isolated and panicky about going out, but I stayed in touch with friends via Facebook and watched online videos. Using the internet was invaluable – it helped me feel less alone.”

""Emilyn’s pledged her hour and wants everyone to do the same.  Help someone you know get online; it could change their life.  Find out how and pledge an hour of your time at www.go-on.co.uk/giveanhour

Pick up Real People for Emilyn’s full story.

Go ON Leeds partners working together to get Leeds online

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This week, Race Online 2012 partners in Leeds are pulling together to get Leeds online!

Aiming to inspire 35,000 new Leeds on-liners and 4,000 digital champions by June 2012, Go ON Leeds is the first in a series of Go ON initiatives.

135,000 people in Leeds have never used the internet and big and small, national and local, partners are running Go ON Leeds activities and events in a fabulous example of digital champion and cross-sector collaboration.

Leeds City Council, O2, Mecca Bingo, ASDA, J. D. Wetherspoon, Post Office and UK online centres are only a few of the organisations working alongside local employers, learning providers, charities and digital champions to form sustainable partnerships to help deliver a fully networked community.

According to Cllr Peter Gruen from LCC: ‘our key aim is to become the best city in the UK ensuring all citizens are able to achieve their full potential and experience the economic and social benefits of being online. The Go ON Leeds campaign will highlight the great range of digital inclusion activities already taking place within all communities and increase skills and employment opportunities’.

Live in Leeds? – it’s not too late to get involved. Take a look at the list of events and join the buzz on the Go ON Leeds Facebook page – sharing’s caring so don’t forget to upload your films and pics.

Don’t live in Leeds? – Why not run your own Go ON event?  Take a look at our handy guide and ‘like’ the Go ON Leeds Facebook page for hints, tips and fabulous examples of what you could do.

Good luck to everyone involved – we can’t wait to see and hear about the results!

Inspirational digital champs share their stories to promote Go ON Leeds

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It’s Go ON Leeds next week and to inspire digital champions to get involved and off-liners to take advantage of the huge range of events and activities, the Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post have both published articles highlighting digital champ and internet beginner stories:

Be inspired by intrepid O2 digital champion Ed Kitchen in the Yorkshire Post

Read about how Mecca digital champion Sean has helped internet beginner Paula in the Yorkshire Evening Post.

We’re always on the hunt for inspiring digital champion and internet beginner stories and the most colourful will make it into national and local papers, radio and even TV. If you or your organisation has a great story to share, please email oli@raceonline2012.org.  If you want to get in touch with Race Online 2012 to discuss a media opportunity, click here.