Agewell Computer Club.

Agewell in Hackney logo.

Agewell in Hackney logo.

The notes that follow here apply only to the Agewell Computer Club on Monday afternoon — not to anything else that happens at The Lawns on other days.

Sections on this page …

About the Agewell Computer Club (ACC).

Photo of senior man.

Photo of senior man.

The Agewell Computer Club is a project of Agewell in Hackney, which is funded to provide services to Hackney residents in the ‘mid-life’ (50-65) age range. We focus on people who have little or no experience of computers or the Internet, but want to find out more. We also welcome mid-lifers who have had a little experience, but who have been too busy to do much with it.

Our methods are informal – no classroom teaching, no exams, no pressure – you can learn what you want to learn in your own way at your own pace. You will be with others like yourself the whole time. Most people who attend are absolute beginners when they start, and surprise themselves by how quickly they learn. It’s all free of course.

Where and when.

We meet at Hackney Silver Surfers every Monday afternoon, 2.30 - 5 pm. The address and other details are in the sidebar of every page of this web site, and there is a map on the ‘Contact us’ page.

What we do.

Photo of a senior woman.

Photo of a senior woman.

We have a constantly varying program, usually centred around the Internet — though we are also interested in other uses of computers, mobile phones and digital cameras. Typically we have a ‘theme’ which lasts a couple of months (previous themes include ‘Food, recipes and nutrition’, ‘Social networking’, ‘Cultural diversity and the Internet’). We also like to help researchers and media organisations interested in Hackney. There is always a strong emphasis on developing and strengthening basic computer skills. Please look at the ‘Agewell Computer Club’ category of this website for recent and current activities.

The front section of The Lawns is reserved for ACC ‘drop-in’ — here you can do your own thing without being disturbed by the activities in the main area.

Although we share the computer facilities at The Lawns with Hackney Silver Surfers, our activities and some of our objectives are distinct — not better, just different.

How to join in.

Senior woman with laptop computer.

Senior woman with laptop computer.

Easy! If you are a mid-life Hackney resident, just come along on Monday afternoon. You do not have to book a place or phone in advance. If you are not already a member of Agewell in Hackney, we will register you when we meet you. As a member of Agewell in Hackney, you will be entitled to many other (optional) services aimed at enhancing your health and well-being.

How to stay in touch with us.

If you are registered with Agewell in Hackney, you should receive a monthly postal update of all Agewell activities. If you want to be told about all the computing-related opportunities open to you, you should make sure we have your email address! Don’t assume that we know it. It’s more likely that we do not know it.

Above all — make sure you are on the Hackney Silver Surfers ‘Email Noticeboard’ list!

Our current program: February to March 2010.

To start off, we want to help new members settle in and begin learning how to use the World Wide Web and email (we make sure everyone has an email address they know how to use).

Later, we will have special workshop sessions on topics requested by you and other members. Already lined up, Monday afternoon workshops on:

  • 8 February: Handling digital images (completed).
  • 15 February: Email and email attachments (completed).
  • 22 February: Digitising old vinyl records (completed).
  • 1 March: Managing digital photographs (completed).
  • 8 March: Music online & downloads » more about this workshop.
  • 15 March: Video online (postponed until April).
  • 22 March: BBC iPlayer & TV online.
  • 29 March: Making your own web site or blog (postponed until April).

ACC members can reserve places on these workshops by sending an email to acc@lawns.org.uk (if you don’t trust your email skills, please ask a helper to show you how to do it.)

See also:

Using the computers at The Lawns.

Senior woman working on a computer.

Senior woman working on a computer.

Logging in.

All the computers at The Lawns have an ‘agewell’ login. When your computer starts up, look for the ‘agewell’ name and logo, then click on it. The password is age — just three letters (this is not a secret).

The agewell login on all the machines should be identical, with the same software set up in the same way.

Saving your work.

Please save all your files on a flash drive. If you do not own a flash drive, a helper might be able to find you a spare diskette instead. If you own a flash drive, but do not know how to use it, we will show you how — it’s one of the basic skills we want you to learn.

If you are logged in as ‘agewell’, you do not have access to the ’student’ or ’startit’ documents folders used by Hackney Silver Surfers on other days.

The Lawns machines.

The Dell Optiplex computers at The Lawns are good and well maintained, but are a few years old and don’t have quite enough memory to cope with the demands of recent software. That is why they seem to be slow sometimes. Hackney Silver Surfers have begun upgrading some of the machines, and might replace some others, so things are looking up.

Headsets and sound.

If you want to listen to music, talk, or do anything that makes a noise — please use a headset. We have some that you can borrow.

Scanning photographs and other images.

We have four scanners that you can use to capture digitised images of almost anything flat. If you would like to do this, but don’t know how — please ask a helper.

Software we use.

Senior man with laptop, looking very confused.

Senior man with laptop, looking very confused.

Where possible — in line with our principle of helping you to be as independent as possible — we like to use free software that you can download, install and use on your computer at home if you want to. If you have a laptop computer, you can bring it with you, and we will help you install the programs you need. Many of the programs can be installed on your flash drive, which allows you to use them almost anywhere.

Portable software you can put on your flash drive.

This is not a full list — just a few example of programs that ACC people are using successfully on their flash drives …

  • Abiword (word-processor).
  • Irfanview (image viewer and editor).
  • Notepad++ (text editor).
  • Opera (web browser).
  • Skype (Internet telephony).
  • Thunderbird (email program).
  • VLC Media Player (video and audio player).
  • Winamp (Shoutcast Internet radio player).

Current links.