By: richard.garside...On: 1st November 2012
It has long been known that where children are born and grow up affects the opportunities they have and what they do in their lives. A teenager living in a former industrial city with high levels of adult unemployment will often have different hopes and fears than one who has grown up in a prosperous town in the south east.
As part of its ongoing open consultation, Nominet Trust brought together a group of experts this past week to think about how technology might be used to realise new opportunities - and address the persistent challenges such as social isolation, access to adequate care and pensioner poverty – facing people in later life. We weren’t looking at how adding digital might make existing services more cost-effective or efficient; nor were we seeking specific solutions. Instead we were hoping to define some areas that would benefit from social innovation with technology.
We are currently reviewing this investment programme, so no new applications are being accepted while we finalise the details.
A new call for applications will soon be launched, which we are very excited about. Please check back here for details from mid-June onwards.
You don’t have to look far to find repeated stories of the problems facing people in later life, from access to adequate care, health and well-being and of course financial challenges.
There are now more people over the age of 65 than under the age of 16. With increased life expectancy, those we categorise as ‘older’ can span an age group that stretches from 55 years of age to 95 and above. ‘Old age’ though can describe people in good health or poor health, active, sedentary, lonely or the leaders of their communities.
With over 40 years of difference between the lower and upper ends of this age-span, this presents significant implications for not only the quality of life older people can and should expect, but for the economy at large.
By: AdminOn: 5th October 2012
With thanks to Laura Owen at YouthNet for this guest blog.
On Saturday 14th September we ran a workshop here at YouthNet to find out all about how young people use their mobile phones to access information and advice. Rachel is one of our volunteers who took part in the workshop. Here’s what she got up to on the day in her own words.
