A UK blog about youth and technology.
From: http://www.hemeltoday.co.uk/berkhamsted-news/Teens-stranded-in-Iceland-return.6240544.jp
The Icelandic volcano, Eyafjallajoekull, erupted on March 29 and the teenagers, who were on a geography field trip, had front row seats to all the action as they were based just 30km from the site.
Best bit of the article:
Matt added that he and his friends are now hoping volcano questions crop up in their A-level geography exams.
Fantashtic.
Herald Scotland reports that there are now more teens joining the Scouts than at any other time in the last 50 years.
Bear Grylls became Chief Scout last year, and a lot of this success is being attributed to him.
Scouting Commissioner for Greenock and District, David McCallum, said: “The important thing to remember about the Scouts is that the young people are always working towards something and gaining various awards. Its popularity also shows us that there is much more out there for young people, not just drugs, alcohol and violence.”
Quite right. Even though it’s not quite the binary choice of ‘Scout’ vs ‘Stabby-drunk-criminal’, a lot of teens are just a bit bored. And the Scouts definitely offer an antidote to that, with LOADS of flippin’ badges. So very many badges.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/first_time_voter/8627045.stm
“The fact is that more votes were cast in the X Factor final than the most popular party received in the 2005 General Election.”
Dermot will be interviewing all three main party leaders over the next few days, and you can submit your quesitons now. He’s also presenting a first time voter’s question time on BBC Three closer to the election.
In related news, the Beeb’s first time voter site is very good.
This is hot.
Yesterday, Jim Gamble, director of CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) met with Facebook to discuss concerns over child safety on the site. Facebook does seem to be budging from their initially resistant position, however they are still opposed to installing a “panic” button itself.
Responding to mounting pressure from the Government and parents to protect its 23 million British users, it has now redesigned its abuse reporting system so users can alert the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) to any unwanted or inappropriate contact.
Managers have also agreed to establish a new 24-hour police hotline, dedicated to helping with emergencies, investigations and prosecutions.
Read more @ The Independant. A similar Guardian article points out other sites such as MySpace include a “Report abuse” button.
So over the next couple of months AOL is doing its level best to get rid of the social networking albatross that is Bebo.
Beyond the obvious “but they only bought it in 2008″, and “it used to be really popular, aren’t teens fickle?”, there’s one pretty distressing impact of this. And it’s not unique to Bebo.
For those young people who’ve grown up using the site over the last five years, what happens to all their messages, photos and conversations when Bebo shuts? These are their memories, built up with their friends, over half a decade. Will the site stay online for people to log in, browse, but no longer update? Unlikely. Or just vanish from the net forever? Likely.
A lot of people have already started backing up, because they know that AOL won’t care how much time they’ve invested in their site. Sure social networks are a business trying to be as profitable as possible, but most people (esp teens) who use them don’t see them like this. It’s just where their mates and photos are.
And then, one day, they’re not.
With the 2010 Budget still ringing in our ears, it seems like a good moment to link to this fantastically helpful Teen Cash Guide from moneysavingexpert. It’s not new (from 2007), but is still massively relevant and is a fantastic grounding in how to get the most out of your money. Worth reading even if you’re not a teen.
Simple, clear and accessible. If you follow Martin Lewis’ advice there’s almost no chance of ending up in mountains of debt surrounded by stuff you don’t want. So that’s good.
Muchos thanks to Barry McGee for the tip off
Watch the panorama episode on BBC iPlayer
I’ve been really impressed by the latest Panorama – Are the net police coming for you?. The program covers a lot of sides of the great file-sharing debate, and the impending ‘Digital Britain’ laws aiming to tackle them (or at least one side of them);
A proposed new law is threatening to disconnect the millions of internet users who unlawfully download free music, films and TV. Jo Whiley looks at how your broadband use at home may never be the same, and could even be cut off.
We spotted the beginning of this road to censorship a couple of years ago when Virgin sent out 800 letters to heavily file-sharing customers to appease the music-industry gods.
Only 7 days to watch this, so don’t miss out!
It has begun! From here:
“I’m a Scientist is a science dialogue event where school students talk to real scientists online for two weeks. It’s in the form of an X Factor style competition between scientists, who compete for a prize of £500.
For two weeks students read about the scientists’ work, ask them questions, and engage in live text chats with them. The students vote for the scientist they want to get the money. The scientists with the fewest votes are evicted until only one is left to be crowned the winner. The event is supported by carefully developed and tested resources which develop students’ skills and deepen their understanding.”
I’ll definitely be checking back throughout the two weeks if for nothing else than to read the great questions and answers that are already filling the site.
It’s run by the team that also put on I’m a Councillor (disclosure: I worked as a moderator on that project a number of years ago and it was amazing), so they’ve got loads of experience engaging young people with a topic (politics) that historically hasn’t been massively interesting to them. And now it’s the turn of science.
Thousands of students participate in the BBC’s school report ‘09;
Update See highlights from the day.
