All you need to know about Mobile Phones - Aberfan

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This post is for todays workshop with Aberfan and Merthyr Vale Darby and Joan Club.

We're setting up a SMS wall and hoping the participants will text in their thoughts around new tech....

Full post follows...

Here's the results of the text wall that we set up for the Mobile Phone workshop at Abervan & Merthyr Vale Darby & Joan Club.

The Darby and Joan club is a well-attended group. A good number of its members owned mobiles with varying degrees of familiarity with their handsets. Mog and I enjoyed this session a great deal - it's always rewarding to be able to answer questions, demonstrate new tricks and show people how to do things they're stuck on. However one member stumped the GEECS - we couldn't work out how to delete sent text messages from a Sagem handset! (We have since discovered that there isn't a way to do it - phew!)

Nina the group leader has invited us back to do some further sessions with the group, and one lady in particular had a huge amount of interest in our work as she had worked with the BBC's Capture Wales project previously and made her own Digital Story.

We'd also like to wish Betty a happy birthday, and say thanks ever so much for the birthday cake! We like cake :)

Wesleyan Chapel mobile phone workshop

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Mog and I delivered a fast and fun mobile phone session to the Wesleyan Chapel Coffee Morning group on 19th August.

The session took place in a beautiful 180 year old church in Nantyglo - check out some of the pictures we took of what has to be one of the most impressive training venues we've ever seen!
The session focused on using SMS or texting as a valuable and vital means of communication, drawing on research that has found the medium to be as important as the 'garden fence' for knowledge exchange and the maintenance of relationships and healthy social interaction. The group used their mobiles to text their thoughts on issues in Nantyglo to our blog - their submissions are here:




We really enjoyed the session and hope that the group will make more use of their phones to keep in touch with friends and family following the workshop.

Cardigan 50+ Forum Mobile Phone Workshop

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This post is designed in preparation for our visit to the Cardigan 50+ Forum on 27th April. Hopefully you should be able to see some of the SMS generated stories on the widget below...

UPDATE: The workshop was a great success and we've now closed the SMS service available from cardboard fish, but here's a sample of the final look of the SMS message board:


So, what we did was generate a few random words from one of our generators (available for you on our downloads page) and the participants picked up on the 2 words technology and family, with the resulting sms stories appearing live on the blog as they were text in.


One of the great things to come out of this day is the way in which this group viewed and interacted with technology; a great quote form the day - "I bet 100 years ago there were a group just like us saying that electricity was never going to catch on..."

There was definitely some good learning coming out of this for us, especially regarding how we deliver and adapt the workshop for the future.

We noticed a great difference in how and why new technologies were being utilised by the group and how much accessibility and relevance play a large part in the adoption of digital tools.

One participant took me to one side and said:

"Look, I don't want to appear as a geek in front of everyone else, but although I can sync my windows mobile device to my outlook, I can't get the pictures onto my laptop..."

I think that statement really sums up the day for me!

The participant then went on to tell me how her husband uses an iTouch to get online as he has suffered a stroke. This kind of experience for us really underlines the importance and relevance of accessible tools for all - especially when considering the wider community, and the tools and approaches we adopt should always reflect that diversity and need.

I think finally, I'd like to thank all the people who participated in this fun workshop - and to the gentleman who made a video on his phone and then wanted to directly SMS that to the blog, I send my apologies...but we're working on it!!!!

I love the fact that the Cardigan 50+ forum has got us thinking about utilising more interactive ways of using the blog...now I'm just off to learn some php...

Briton Ferry Health and Well Being Group Mobile Phone session

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The taster session in texting on mobile phones in Brtion Ferry was a great success.

Not only did the Briton Ferry Health and Well Being Group witness the mobile phone being used as a spirit-level, a musical instrument and a lightsaber amongst other things, all participants texted us a short story (maximum of 10 words) relating to a randomly generated word.

Below are some of the stories that came out of the event...

TECHNOLOGY:

1. This workshop should allay my fears about modern technology

2. I know nothing at all about it so help me

FEAR:

1. one of our worst fears is losing our personal identity

FAMILY:

1. We have very little family to speak of poor us

COMMUNITY:

1. The community in briton ferry is very good, and strong

MEMORY:

1. We dont have a memory, thats the problem

Texting can be a great tool to use between a community. Mobile phones can be used instead of a quick gossip over the garden fence. Why not send a text to spread the word of any news or events in the community? It's a great, quick way to give and receive a snap-shot of information, and to keep in touch.