We provide free training and access to almost anything that has ‘digital’ in its name. So it’s really not just about computers — it’s also about Smartphones, digital photography, digital radio, digital TV, digital video, the World Wide Web, email and much more — but mainly it’s about how you can use the virtual world of digital technology and media to enhance the real world you already know so well.
By the way, this is the home page of the Agewell Computer Club. If you are new to this sort of thing, you might want to begin by looking at some of these pages first …
The Agewell Computer Club has obtained funding to work with Talk About Local to create two new community blogs for Hackney and neighbouring areas. A blog is a website which can be edited by many people, and a community blog is a blog that focuses on local issues and events.
The idea is that the new websites will be for everybody in this area and the projects will be led and managed by the people who have lived here longest and witnessed all the changes. That’s you by the way!
We just got the news today (2 September 2010), so we can’t give you any details yet. But we can tell you now that …
This is something that all local people can help with.
People with no computer skills at all will be able to participate.
The new websites will probably have a common theme: experiencing change — because that is what researchers and media people come here for now — to try to see through our eyes and listen with our ears.
Meanwhile, here are three videos showing what Talk About Local has done elsewhere.
Talk About Local, Kington.
Click on the triangular ‘play’ button to start the video.
Talk About Local, Bristol.
Click on the triangular ‘play’ button to start the video.
Talk About Local, Birmingham.
Click on the triangular ‘play’ button to start the video.
Our regular sessions are now on Tuesday mornings, starting at 10 am — so our next session will be Tuesday 7 September.
We have almost decided that our Tuesday sessions will have two activities — probably something like this …
10 am to 11.30 am.
Class for Agewell absolute beginners — including basic computer skills, email, using a web browser, understanding social media.
11.30 am to 1.30 pm.
Completion of the interrupted course Computer images for beginners (two or three more sessions), followed by a planned short course on using social media.
We are not quite sure yet. That’s because we are still discussing it, and because we are waiting to hear the outcome of an application for funding to do something else. However — we will know before we start. If you don’t hear from us, please just come along at 10 am on Tuesday 7 September.
The front area, of course, will always be reserved for Agewell drop-in.
Other activities at The Lawns.
For information about what happens at The Lawns on other days, see the Hackney Silver Surfers post ‘Autumn Restart’.
Don’t miss your opportunity to enrol on George’s next StartIT course: World Wide Web and Email. Every Friday and Saturday (10.30 am to 2.30 pm), starts Friday 17 September and ends Saturday 23 October. Enrolment date and time: Friday 10 September (10.30 to 11.30 am).
The BBC is co-ordinating a campaign around ‘Get Online Week’ which is 18 to 22 October 2010. We are keen to generate stories at a national level, as well as at a local level and to this end, we are seeking case studies for each of the different regions around the UK. This is where we are asking for your help, as we are trying to find around 6 case studies for each of our local radio stations.
Some examples of the kind of ‘case studies’ we are looking for:
Individuals who have only just finished a beginners’ computer course so we can talk to them about what were their fears and concerns before completing the course.
Any special success stories.
Individuals who have been coming along to course for a while and are now very competent. They are really happy on the internet and would recommend other people to learn how.
Best wishes, Claire.
So … please consider getting involved in this if you are willing to be interviewed by a local BBC radio station during September or October. The BBC are not expecting spectacular stories — they just want to hear from older people who are new to the Internet, or whose lives have been changed for the better by using it.
Unfortunately, their deadline is close — Friday 4 September!
If you can help, please email Rick at acc@lawns.org.uk (or phone 020 7254 2183) with your name, postal address and phone number to be passed to Claire at the BBC. If you prefer, you can contact Claire directly — her phone number is 0208 008 1105, and her email address is claire.dunn1@bbc.co.uk .
You have probably noticed that some of our old computers have been very slow when loading a web browser — even our preferred browsers, Mozilla Firefox and Opera. So we have been testing some alternatives.
The result is indisputable. On our memory-deficient PCs, Google’s Chrome browser is by far the fastest to load, and the fastest in operation. As it is excellent in all other respects, Chrome is now the default browser in the ‘agewell’ login on our computers.
Agewell members and people involved in the What’s Your Story project who want to edit their video will have priority access to the computer and the software.
For more information about reserving computer time or using the software, please contact Rick on 020 7254 2183 or email to acc@lawns.org.uk .
The Agewell Computer Club has a new computer for advanced media work. It’s not astoundingly powerful, but it is the fastest computer at The Lawns by a wide margin — and has a superior graphics card and enough memory to run software that none of the other computers can handle.
So far, we have installed and tested Adobe Premiere (video editing), Audacity (audio editing), Gimp (photo editing), Second Life (virtual world), Skype (Internet telephony) , and software for vinyl-to-MP3 digitisation.
Priority for access to the Agewell Media Machine …
Agewell members who want to do advanced work with video, images or sound.
Other Agewell people.
Everybody else.
For more information about reserving computer time or using the software, please contact Rick on 020 7254 2183 or email to acc@lawns.org.uk .
Website of the week, 5 July 2010 : NHS MidLifeCheck.
NHS MidLifeCheck.
In their own words:
NHS (National Health Service) MidLifeCheck is a free service to help you find out how you are doing. All your answers are private and no-one else can see your results.
Did you know that some of our people here have their own personal websites? A personal website is a place of your own on the World Wide Web. You can see some examples on our ‘Lawns members’ page http://members.lawns.org.uk/.
There are many ways to make a web site. You could do it too! Ask one of our helpers how.
The Agewell Computer Club has obtained funding to work with 
You have probably noticed that some of our old computers have been very slow when loading a web browser — even our preferred browsers, Mozilla Firefox and Opera. So we have been testing some alternatives.
Did you know that some of our people here have their own personal websites? A personal website is a place of your own on the World Wide Web. You can see some examples on our ‘Lawns members’ page 