52 The Lawns, Home of Hackney Silver Surfers.

Cover of the 'Which' publication: Make the most of the internet.

Free ‘Which’ download.

Race Online 2012 have provided a free download of the Which publication ‘Make the most of the Internet’ in PDF format. The document file size is not small (nearly 2 Mb) — so the download may be slow, but is worth waiting for.

Here is the download link: Make the most of the Internet.

Contents include: Getting Connected, Surfing the web, Communication, Shopping, Online banking, Media.

It looks most useful for people at home using a computer with the MS Vista operating system.

Shoutcast Radio logo.

Several people have asked how to find and play the Internet Radio stations we played at our end-of-year party (15 Dec 2009).

They are all ‘Shoutcast’ stations. Shoutcast is a very wonderful Internet project that helps to restore flagging faith in humanity — free software enabling almost anyone to set up an Internet Radio station without expensive equipment. There is more info on the Wikipedia Shoutcast page.

The stations we played were …

• Soukous Radio — Soukous Radio Shoutcast stream .
• Radio Africa Online — Radio Africa Online Shoutcast stream .
• Radio WBR / Central African — WBR Shoutcast stream ;
  (this is the one we play at the Agewell Computer Club sessions when we think it is time for you to go home).

The easiest way to play Shoutcast stations is to use a web browser to open http://www.shoutcast.com/ (search for ‘Soukous’ to find the first two stations, or on ‘WBR’ to find the third).

A better way is to download and install ‘Winamp’ (a media player designed for Shoutcast) from http://www.winamp.com/. Winamp is very ugly to look at, but works well.

Before you try to install Winamp on your own computer, please read the notes on our Internet Radio page .

Small photo of Farzaneh with baby Elisa.

Farzaneh has given us some photos of her new baby.

We have put two of them in the post ‘Farzaneh and baby Elisa’.

Farzaneh has gone off to do something else.

There are more photos in the post ‘Farzaneh’s final farewell’.

Chat room clip art.

You asked us for links to online chat rooms for older people, so we started looking.

We have included an old favourite (Baby Boomer Bistro), a more advanced chat site with a wider age range and geographical scope (Senior Chatroom), and our own Hackney Silver Surfers Chat.

The chat links are on page http://lawns.org.uk/resources/chat/ .

'No bicycles' road sign.

Our policy on bicycles inside our centre at The Lawns has always been rather vague.

But now it is very clear!

• We have no internal storage space for bicyles.
• Bicycles are a potential danger to some of our learners.
• Bicycles block access for wheelchair users, and block exit routes for everybody.
• Everybody is happier when there are no bikes in the way.

Effective from 3 August 2009 — we cannot allow any bicycle (even folding bikes) inside our centre at The Lawns.

Skype logo.

We have created a new Skype page for notes and suggestions on how to use it.

The page web address is http://lawns.org.uk/resources/skype/ .

Skype on a flash drive.

Although there is no official portable version of Skype, it is very easy to install it on a flash drive — if you know what you are doing. If you bring your flash drive to The Lawns, Rick can put Skype on it in less than one minute.

Using Skype at Hackney Silver Surfers.

Skype is not installed on our machines — but you are welcome to call your friends with Skype on your flash drive. Our headphone sets do not have good microphones, so you should bring your own (we recommend you get a USB headset).

Calling The Lawns with Skype.

Our ‘Smartboard’ PC has Skype in it. Our Skype name is lawns.now.

You are welcome to call us during Agewell Computer Club sessions on Monday afternoons, from 2 pm until 4.15 pm. You should be able to hear what is going on, and even join in!

Screen shot of the 'Lawns members' home page.

Did you know that some Hackney Silver Surfers 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.

'Applying for a job' clip art.

Our Employment resources page is a list of links to websites offering help, advice, information — and even jobs — to unemployed older people.

It’s a follow-up to the pilot employment workshop on 22 June 2009.

Satellite map of West Africa.

Do you know anyone in West Africa — especially Nigeria or Ghana — who has reasonably reliable access to the Internet during the day?

We have set up a Hackney Silver Surfers chat room, and we would like to use it to chat to people who are in other countries. The chat room is easy to use, and does not require a username or password, so anyone can be invited to join.

Most of West Africa is in the same timezone as us (or is very close) — so that is the most obvious region to start looking for contacts. And, of course, many Hackney Silver Surfers have family there.

If you think you can help, please tell Rick at hss@lawns.org.uk .

ALISON logo.

Hackney Silver Surfers management group for online learning.

ALISON (Advance Learning Interactive Systems Online) was our Website of the Week 7 March 2009. Several people have mentioned their interest in these free online courses, so we have picked out what seems to be the most appropriate ALISON course to kick off our online support program.

‘ABC IT’ is a free online course which we think is suitable for older people who have already mastered basic computer skills, and now wish to take their learning to a higher level by working independently at home, or anywhere else they have access to the Internet. It seems to be particularly suitable for people who are still in the job market – either working now, or hoping to get back to work soon.

The ALISON home page URL is http://alison.com and the URL for the ABC-IT course is http://alison.com/full/resource/view.php?id=528 . Read that page carefully, including the sections ‘What is it?’ and ‘Who is it for?’

You don’t need us to do ABC-IT — but if you want to try it, we think we can help you. So we have created an ALISON management group for that course. If you join our management group, we can assist you right through to the end.

The name of this management group is ‘Hackney Silver Surfers’ and the ‘enrolment key’  is hackney123 . Note that …

• The management group is for our benefit as well as yours. It will help us track your progress, and analyse our own effectiveness.
• Anybody may join this group. It is not exclusive.

It is important to understand that Hackney Silver Surfers and Age Concern Hackney have no formal relationship with ALISON. If you register as an ALISON user, you will become an ALISON learner. Our role will be to support people who join our management group.

Most ABC-IT online learners will work independently, perhaps at The Lawns (which has all the software you need). We will not offer classes of our own, though we hope to run occasional workshops if there is enough interest.

If you are interested in taking this further, your next step would be to read our online document  HSS and ALISON Basic Computing.pdf , which contains the ABC-IT course outline and an explanation of how to register using our enrolment key.

By the way — ABC-IT is not suitable for absolute beginners! You should first become confident with using email and web browsers. As a guide to the minimum level required, you should be able to use email on your own (eg: at home) without help from anyone else.

Hackney 50+ age structure 2001 - bar chart reduced.

Sometimes we are asked this question. Sometimes we need to know the answers without being asked.

The answers — with a couple of bar charts — are on our 50+ statistics in Hackney page.

seniors.org.uk logo.

What is it and how do I get it?

seniors.org.uk email is a ‘Google App’ — our own branded version of Gmail.

Farzaneh, Michael or Rick can set it up for you. If you are in a different place, send an email to hss@lawns.org.uk .

Where do I log in?

At mail.seniors.org.uk .

Will it disappear if I don’t use it?

Not for at least 12 months.

I have forgotten my password!

Everybody forgets all their passwords all the time. Farzaneh, Michael or Rick can restore it for you, or create a new one. If you are in a different place, use another email system to send a message to hss@lawns.org.uk .

How can I change my password?

On the Password Change page.

Should I make my password simpler?

It’s not a good idea to make it too simple. Avoid dictionary words. Include numbers and other keyboard characters as well as letters. Minimum length is 6 characters.

What are the ‘settings’?

They help you do things with your email that you never imagined possible. Come to our next email workshop!

Where can I get help?

Next time you login, look for the link labelled ‘Help’ near the top right corner of the page. Click on it!

One of the best starting points for help with a Google Apps mail system is this video overview — but to hear it you should be using a computer with sound enabled.