code-u-like

I've lived in Lambeth for 11 of the last 15 years, but I've never spent that much time thinking about Lambeth Council. I appreciated it when they started collecting cardboard for recycling. I was vaguely impressed when I could pay my council tax online rather than by post. I enjoyed Myatts Fields and Brockwell Park. And I was wary of the councillor pamphlets, which only ever seemed to arrive when they needed me to vote. I understood the benefits of local government, but the reality of trying to engage with it meant reading highly partisan election leaflets that highlighted the negatives and blamed the other parties for them. So, I was not particularly engaged. Still, I understood that local councils were potentially a force for good, so when Good For Nothing announced that they were doing an event with Lambeth Council I signed up. I'm glad I did; it was a great event, and very ... well ... engaging . Briefly, the idea behind the event was this: Lambeth Council are ai

Hackathons are all the rage at the moment, and are great events for lots of reasons . I'm aiming to go to hackathons that have charitable objectives, and hence I was excited to see that a bunch of organisations (the Goverment Digital Service , Go On UK , Westminster City Council , The Connection at St Martins , SHP and Homeless Link ) had worked together to organise a Homeless Hack Day on 16th June 2012. Its easy to imagine ways that modern technology can help charities and agencies that work with the homeless. To the uninitiated (i.e, me before the event) its less obvious how modern technology can help the homeless community directly. But during talks from SHP, Homeless Link and The Connection at St Martins we learned that homeless people have increasing opportunities to get online (hostels have internet stations that are among the busiest parts of the centres) and often have access to standard (ie. non-smart) phones. SHP and St Martins both had very successful projects invo