Getting credibility on the web
Filed under: Community, Conversation, New Web Creations, Thirdsector Systems, Web services
We really liked the Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility, which we came across recently.
They are pretty straightforward guidelines – pointers to how you should look to have your web pages configured to establish maximum effect with your visitors.
They are here…
1. Make it easy to verify the accuracy of the information on your site.
2. Show that there’s a real organisation behind your site.
3. Highlight the expertise in your organisation and in the content and services you provide.
4. Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site.
5. Make it easy to contact you.
6. Design your site so it looks professional (or is appropriate for your purpose).
7. Make your site easy to use…and useful.
8. Update your site’s content often (at least show it’s been reviewed recently).
9. Use restraint with any promotional content.
10. Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem.
We build all of these elements into our practice sites, so that you can see who we are, where we are and how what we do is interlinked with our professional and pro-bono work.
It is useful to see something that we have strived to develop intuitively placed in print – although in the past either at our client’s behest, or by making our own mistakes, as human web developers we have veered from the golden path occasionally.
Still, with the plethora of social networks, platforms and web services on offer – keeping to the core, simple effective truths is no bad thing.
You can see the original research results form the Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility here at… http://credibility.stanford.edu/guidelines/index.html
Small Basic – big concept
Filed under: Community, Conversation, Microsoft, New technology, Web services
Microsoft’s Small Basic has reached version 0.9.
Microsoft say that many bugs have been fixed and the system now works faster than ever. To see the updates in this version you can visit the Small Basic archive here.
What’s it for? One thing is as a great entry level for young people into the world of coding and software creation.
Lynn Langit and Llewellyn Franco have put together a great web site for children and teachers – www.teachingkidsprogramming.org
You can find a great way, as a tutor, into the world of code here and for young people the site offers the tools to get to grips with programming too.
We have written about Small Basic a long time ago, but the latest version and the Langit/Franco concept makes it a great way to get started for young people to create their own programmes.
The Third Sector Web home page is here.
Networked Nation Manifesto
Filed under: Community, Conversation, New Web Creations, New technology, Web services
Martha Lane Fox, the UK Digital Champion, today launches the Manifesto for a Networked Nation.
This is a rallying cry for the use of existing technology and networks, both technical and community, to be used to get people online.
Depending on the source, it it estimated that there are between six and ten million people in the UK who have never used, or do not have access to, the internet.
The Manifesto has two overarching and simple aims.
1. By the end of this Parliament, everyone of working age should be online.
2. No-one from now on should retire from work without web skills.
Lane Fox argues in the Manifesto that there is, in the current climate, no money available. However, the existing infrastructure in schools, libraries and JobCentres could and should be exploited further.
The Manifesto also argues that informal social networks and support groups have a strong role to play in getting everyone online to exploit the possibilities of e-communication for employment, citizenship, health and leisure.
In summary, the disadvantages of being offline are becoming so great, and growing at such a pace, that for reasons of social justice and economic necessity we must act now…
A loud cheer will go up throughout the Third Sector – and we can only hope that all the good work done in the sector to promote digital inclusion already is built upon.
You can find a copy of the Manifesto for A Networked Nation here.
Third Sector Web home page - find it here.
Real time underground
Filed under: Community, Conversation, New Web Creations, New technology, Web services
Matthew Somerville has, with support, created a real time, live London Underground map.
See the trains, on their lines, move around the system. Matthew has not created a perfect image of the Transport for London system, but as an example of what can be achieved by a bright coder in a few hours – we think it’s great.
Matthew has used the TfL API to capture train departure data and present the continually updated information on a Google map underlay.
Brilliant! The work was done as part of Science Hackday, over the weekend of the 19th/20th June 2010, courtesy of The Guardian newspaper.
You can see HackDay details and winners of the coding marathon here.
Check out the live underground map here.
You can find the Third Sector Web home page here.
Vote for the Information Pioneers
The Chartered Institute for IT has created a web site where you can read about and vote for your Information Pioneers.
The current top five include Alan Turing, Sir Clive Sinclair, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Hedy Lamarr and Ada Lovelace.
This latter entry on the chart might be surprising. How could a person who was introduced to Charles Babbage at a party in the 1830′s be part of a list of IT pioneeers?
Working with Babbage on the creation of the Difference Engine , Lovelace arguably combined her love of mathematics and poetry in helping to create the machine. Lovelace saw that numbers could be transcribed or used to deliver information as image, music or symbol.
The intuitive leap from mechanical to digital, from calculation to computation.
Previously consigned by history to the role of note taker, we now know her contribution to be much more significant. Lovelace arguably played a significant role in developing the philosophy and processes that now underpin your own laptop or iPad.
You can watch Ortis Deley tell her story here. You can also see the other short films and vote for your pioneer too on the Chartered Institute for IT web pages.
Microsoft Web Office – now live
Filed under: Community, Microsoft, New Web Creations, New technology, Web services
Microsoft have gone live with their new free online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.
You can access them thorugh your Windows Live desktop after signing in. The files are stored on your linked SkyDrive account and enable you to recall, share or edit files just as if they were on your laptop or PC.
The suite available offers a reduced set of functions from the full set of facilities available in Office 2010, but still includes enough to make creating documents a useful online experience.
We were pleased to see OneNote included. This is a powerful information management and note taking, action list driven tool and is a useful compliment to the other online services available.
Microsoft with Windows Live accounts, the revamped Hotmail and this new suite now offers a useful and intuitive package.
We think the road-warriors on our team will definitely be using it.
You can find our Third Sector Web home page here.
Google Docs extended and improved
Filed under: Community, Conversation, New Web Creations, New technology, Web services, google
Google have recently updated the features in Google Docs. Making collaboration easier and more effective, as well as adding a number of individual features in response to user requests.
Docs now has margin rulers and much easier image placement properties. In spreadsheets you can now drag and drop whole columns of data.
This movie gives you more detail into the new Google Docs functionality.
You can find more details of Google Docs development on the Google Docs blog. You can now collaborate with up to 50 people at once on one document and see the changes in the document in real time.
Google have added the latest java script developments into their product, offering faster and more effective ‘cloud’ documents.
You can find the home page of Third Sector Web here.
Technology changes – but access improves
Filed under: Community, New Web Creations, Web services
Creative Commons images are always a good source of pictures for illustrating our presentations or for enlivening school projects.
The U.K. National Archives have recently posted a substantial amount of images onto Flickr.
Many have no known copyright issues, or are submitted under Crown Copyright, where they are legitimately available for non-commercial, illustrative or education use.
History and insight in the same keystroke.
See the Flickr National Archive entry page here. You can read more about Commons licensing here, if you are unfamiliar with the concept.
You can visit the home page of Third Sector Web here.
This image: Catalogue Reference: MUN 5/383/1650/1
The Internet of Things
Filed under: Community, Conversation, Microsoft, New Web Creations, New technology, Web services
We looked recently on this blog at where Microsoft thought the direction the technological world was going.
Below, this short film The Internet of Things is a vision of the same future from IBM.
Sensors will be linked to hardware and information generated will be filtered, analysed and used to make wise choices about our lives and activities.
IBM see the internet as the nerve backbone of the globe, which will generate a new concept of the Earth. A giant information generation system.
Welcome to the e-world. Whichever vision you cleave to, we are in for an interesting ride in the next twenty years.
Crocodoc – share and save
Filed under: Community, Conversation, Microsoft, New Web Creations, New technology, Web services
Simple collaboration – with Crocodoc you can upload documents in Word, PowerPoint or pdf, as well as open web page snapshots, in order to mark them up, annotate and draw on them and save them again as a pdf download.
Each item you open in Crocodoc is allocated a unique web address, which you can share with colleagues, clients or friends – so that you can work together on the material.
The ability to store you document on the Crocodoc server means that you can return to your archived work in progress if you wish.
The killer element for us though, is the ability to download a pdf version of the completed revised document.
This is simple, elegant collaboration – for free.
You do need to sign up for a free account to save your document. An enterprise version of Crocodoc is available.
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About our business
Very mobile friendly
Tech news from CNN
- Google Instant feeds real-time addiction
Google this week released its Instant Search feature, which displays live search results as soon as you begin typing. - Video game piracy: Is it good for business?
Although as old as gaming itself, software piracy has been making headlines lately, seen by many as a growing danger to a business just coming to grips with the transition to digital.
- Google Instant feeds real-time addiction
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