Let's make IT simple in the Bit Society

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Read more! Ah, another week hearing about, and seeing first hand, how few people get IT. So, let's encourage folks to catch up.....We have all these great IT and money-saving ideas out in the Big Society so let's share them.

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com



1. Stop printing business cards to hand out willynilly to all and sundry. Print a few only and put a QR code on the back.



That is the QR code for this website. Right click and save to promote the site!

Next time you meet me, I'll probably be wearing the QR code with my contact details. It may be on the bottom of my boots as I seem to be spending my life on either my knees or bum at the mo ;o)

(Want to make your own QR code?
Want to read a code on a smartphone? Use Scan on iphone or zxing on android - there are multiple others).

2. Stop printing out documents. Apparently some MPs have, to date, been able to get docs printed and couriered to them. Now, they have to read them online. Good. We all should read online where possible.

(However, the paperback version of Quakebook is now available on Amazon.co.uk and you *must* buy that!)

3. Much as we want to keep the Post Office afloat, do you really need to post that form/letter/document? Could you just email it instead? I spent an happy hour persuading my Council to email me all my Council Tax info instead of posting me it multiple times. The lovely IT man set to and it turned out the system could do precisely that. Hopefully, now, the potholes may move up a notch or two on the budget priority list with the spare money this could release if applied to every householder, before I fall off the Ducati.

4. Set up a website for your Parish Council, District Council etc that does not say ring this number on an expensive phone line to request a copy of xyz document. If we can use DropBox, so can our local government. This should be used in particular for planning applications where the amount of paper relating to a complex application could have been used to produce biomass for the buildings in the development for the coming year(s).

Further suggestions from you are welcome!!

Let's make IT simple in the BIT Society.








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QuakeBook

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Read more! Sometimes, we all have to put aside our own concerns to help others. The catastrophe in Japan has led to a group of people around the world coming together, via Twitter, to create Quakebook - an anthology of first hand experiences of the Tohoku earthquake.
This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com


I am extremely proud to have been one of those people (one of the editors, blog creator, and part of the Yammer promo community) and that Amazon, Sony, Apple and others have all come on board to help us get the book out to the widest audience possible. Yoko Ono, Barry Eisler and Jake Adelstein have all contributed pieces to the Quakebook, which should be on sale in a variety of formats over the next few days.

Please tweet about it, blog about it, talk about it, and then BUY it! All revenue will go directly to the Red Cross in Japan.


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Amazon #fail

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Read more! Amazon fail to support Japan #QuakeBook

As we reach 14 days today since the earthquake and tsunami, and the consequential nuclear dilemma, a global group of authors, photographers, journalists and bloggers have expressed their frustration at Amazon's non-support of the publication 2:46 QuakeBook


This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com


This book includes a multitude of first-hand accounts of the earthquake and its consequences, with all profits going directly to the Red Cross. Such accounts have been noticeably missing from the worldwide press as many journalists have been pulled from the story to report on Libya, or pulled from the region as nuclear fears rise.

As the deadline approaches at 2:46 Friday 25th March, it seems Amazon will not assist in making this book available worldwide.

For a global corporation to even presume that the many volunteers who have made this possible could be 'ambulance chasers' begs the question whether Amazon have their finger on the button at all with how social media, voluntary action and the severity of the disaster in Japan is affecting their customer base, worldwide.

Contact: @ourmainabiko #quakebook
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