Category Archives: ICT

Our Town Centre Online?

RETAIL EXPERT Mary Portas recently produced a report – well publicised in the media – about the future of our High Streets and Town Centres. The Portas Review comments about the change in the retail landscape – particularly the development of online shopping – that has led to many town centres struggling to survive. It talks about re-invigorating and re-imagining our high street:

Portas states her aim is: “… to put the heart back into the centre of our High Streets, re-imagined as destinations for socialising, culture, health, wellbeing, creativity and learning. Places that will develop and sustain new and existing markets and businesses. The new High Streets won’t just be about selling goods. The mix will include shops but could also include housing, offices, sport, schools or other social, commercial and cultural enterprises and meeting places. They should become places where we go to engage with other people in our communities, where shopping is just one small part of a rich mix of activities.”

The Portas Report has many recommendations and ideas for “re-imagining” our town centres. Some of which have been commented upon by the Hedon Blog’s colleagues at Talk About Local – Six ways hyperlocal could help your High Street. One of these ideas is about creating an Online Town Centre.

An Online Town Centre would be a place where local people and visitors can go to find out about the latest offers, initiatives and news about the town centre. There might be a graphical representation of each of the shops and businesses, with links to websites and an opportunity to really develop and highlight the Buy Local message i.e. a pound spent locally has much more local impact than a pound spent elsewhere.

An Online Town Centre could help generate renewed interest and even enthusiasm about the place. It could help foster new relationships between local people and their local traders and entrepreneurs. Buy Local could turn into Love Local? It could prompt the formation of a ‘town team’ or forum dedicated to re-invigorating a town centre. It could also become the eMarketPlace for the town?

So how about it? Hedon Town Centre Online – can we – should we make it happen?

Hedon Blog joins international protest today

THE US SENATE is to have a vote on its PROTECT IP / STOP ONLINE PIRACY ACT on Tuesday 24th January.

Campaigners fear that this legislation will stifle free speech and innovation, and even threaten popular web services like Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.

In response the largest ever web protest in history is being organised today 18th January 2012.

The Act intends to deal with the online piracy that threatens the US entertainment industry i.e. the illegal download of films and music. However, the means to do this could involve entire US-based websites being shut down because some of their users have links to or use pirated material.

Why should this concern us in Hedon? A few infringing links could result in a website full of otherwise legal material being closed down. Website owners would become liable for the content that their users post. YouTube, Twitter, Facebook – and web hosting firms like WordPress (which hosts the Hedon Blog) – would have to actively censor their users!

The Hedon Blog does not support web piracy, however, in response to the threat to the free internet posed by this US action – the Hedon Blog will be wearing its Stop Censorship ribbon from now until the 24th January 2012 – the day the vote takes place.

This Video explains what the protest is all about:

200,000 visitors to Hedon Blog

THE STATS from WordPress.Com show that the Hedon Blog had its 200,000th visitor this morning Saturday 7th January 2012!

The image opposite was captured this afternoon to record the event.It took 2 years to clock up our first 100,000 and only a year to reach the latest figure.

Go On – Give an hour on Sunday 30th October 2011!

WHO CAN YOU GIVE AN HOUR TO….? 

Can you give an hour to help someone get online on “Give an Hour Day” on Sunday 30th October? Can the Hedon Blog help someone you know use the internet for the first time?

Find out more on HU12 Online…

Opportunities to add to local debates on HU12 Online

SINCE HU12 ONLINE went officially live on 4th October 2011, it has become the local web-place to discuss the more ‘controversial’ issues affecting the local area and the surrounding villages.

An article about the teachers suspended from South Holderness for allegedly making inappropriate Facebook comments, and the social media campaign waged in their defence, has received much attention and has been picked up by other media organisations. See: Supporters wage social media campaign.

The publication of allowances  paid to East Riding Councillors’ has sparked renewed interest on that subject both in terms of visits to the website, but also debate on our Facebook Page. See: Should Councillors get paid?

And today we summarise the debate on the Boundary Changes as a ‘taster’ to some of the issues that may be discussed at the Public Hearings taking place next week. See: Should SW Holderness be included in the East Hull constituency?

In addition, visits to the What’s On? page has increased as readers discover that the page is for the wider area and not just Hedon. This vindicates the decision to host that page on HU12 Online.

Visit: www.hu12.net

Tell us about YOUR Local Events!

THE WHAT’S ON PAGE lists local events and deadlines and remains one of the Hedon Blog’s (and HU12 Online’s) most popular pages.

If you have a public event, entertainment, activity or fundraising event taking place in the town that you want to advertise, then we can do an article or notice about it and list it on the WHAT’S ON page. This is a FREE service.

Use this opportunity to tell us about your Halloween and Bonfire Night events. Complete the quick and easy online form on the page.

Visit: www.hu12.net/whats-on

NOTE: We will soon be launching a new PROMOTIONS SERVICE which for a small charge (approx £10) will see your event being specially promoted across the internet and social networks. More on this soon. For details of the new service prior to launch, contact hu12@gmx.com.

HU12 Letters Page

THE HEDON BLOG is always encouraging its readers to get in touch with their latest news, information and opinions on local stories. However, up until now, if you wanted to ‘Have Your Say’ directly on the website, then you had to do it as a Comment in response to a previously published article. That has changed from today.

The HU12 Letters Page will allow readers to raise the issues of the day and initiate the discussion and debate. You can easily register and start writing comments on the Letters Page within minutes. You can opt to do a ‘Status Update’ like on Facebook, or a more substantial ‘Blog Post’.

You can upload images and documents to share and generally comment as you like. But we hope that readers will use the new facility as intended – much like in the ‘olden days’ you used to write a letter to the newspaper.

Please try the out the letters page – let us know if you have any problems. And please use the service with respect and courtesy.

Find HU12 Letters Page at the top menu of Hedon Blog or HU12 Online.

Study for qualification on using computers

ECDL ESSENTIALS – Level 1 Fast Track is a course being run for those who already know a little bit about using computers but want to gain more confidence whilst studying for an industry standard qualification.

The course, which starts on Tuesday 25th October 2011, 9:30am – 3:00pm at South Holderness Adult Education Centre, will take a week to complete but will lead to you gaining part 1 of the internationally recognised European Computer Driving Licence. If successful in your tests you will obtain a certificate awarded by the British Computing Society.

To find out more about the course then contact the South Holderness Adult Education Centre in Preston at: email south.holderness.adult.ed@eastriding.gov.uk or call 01482 897 534.