Digital Fife news

What is a Blockchain?

The ability to distribute digital information through the revolutionary new technology known as blockchain is stirring up conversation across the nation. Although blockchain is an extremely expansive and complicated topic, a knowledgeable expert successfully summed it up in 500 words so you can stay engaged in the conversation.

While the technology is most well-known for its application within the world of cryptocurrency, there are many practical uses for this digital ledger. Some experts are considering its potential to reinvent digital marketing through its decentralized advertising system; an approach that will allow marketers to focus on directly targeting the consumer, launch cross-promotional B2B contracts, provide transparency with consumers, improve privacy and security, and allow crowdsourcing data collection.

Others see blockchain’s grander purpose and propose its ability to boost global productivity based on its potential to eradicate distrust among parties, introduce failproof robustness, and ease trade between people and companies. Because of this, many see blockchain as a tool to improve efficiency and standards within industries. 

click here for blockchain summed up in 500 words

SCVO One Digital is offering free Digital Champion training

The training is designed for frontline members of staff and volunteers within the Scottish Third Sector. The individuals who will undertake the training will likely range in age, role, knowledge, and circumstances.  The course will focus on techniques and resources that Digital Champions can use to support their clients/users to get online as part of their existing role.

click here to find out more about the course

click here to find out more about the SCVO - One Digital

BT - Community Fibre Partnership

Grants for superfast broadband connections serving schools and charities

Grants are provided for communities in the final 5% of the UK not covered by fibre broadband rollout plans. BT provide match-funded grants of up to £30,000 toward the cost of new fibre infrastructure if that could also serve their local school or registered charity. 

Click here to find out more

Traveling This Summer? Tips to Protect Your Private Data While Using Public Wi-Fi

It’s important for everyone to remember that the free public Wi-Fi in hotels, stores, coffee shops, and other shopping establishments is open to bad guys and gals as well.

to find out more click here

Developing a Community Website through Digital Fife

Digital Fife promotes the use of digital technology through work with community groups and a network of volunteer Digital Champions. We offer websites to constituted community groups to promote their work, online learning and be part of a like minded community.

Throughout Fife there are over 300 community groups involved. Fife Council supports Digital Fife as part of its wider work to get more people online, so there is an expectation that the group will promote the Digital Fife website and the online learning section.

www.digitalfife.com

Free Advanced Funding Search Facility Launched for Charities, Community Groups and Social Enterprises in Fife

Fife Council’s Community Investment Team have teamed up with Scottish Council Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) to provide this free advanced funding search facility for charities, community groups and social enterprises in Fife. It includes information on over 1000 funds and can help organisations to find funding tailored to their own needs - everything from small grants to funding for big capital projects. 

To access this suite of support and guidance available (including Fife Council grants) visit 

Fife Direct/Community Group Support and Funding

For further information please contact:  Nicola.Buchanan@fife.gov.uk

Facebook Privacy Settings

Check out these Facebook settings that keep you as hidden as possible from strangers and advertisers (and strange advertisers)

Re-Hashed: 5 Ways to Determine if a Website is Fake, Fraudulent, or a Scam

The internet is full of websites that are either fake, fraudulent or a scam. It’s a sad fact of life. You see, the evolution of the internet has brought with it a number of extremely convenient advances in the way we shop, bank, and interact with the world around us. At the same time, that evolution has also given way to new risks—new avenues for criminals to rip off the unsuspecting. 

Click here to find out how to tell if a website is fake or not

The Scottish Charity Regulator - Cybercrime Factsheet

The Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) has published a new factsheet about fraud and cybercrime. Developed with Police Scotland’s Cybercrime Unit, the factsheet provides Scottish charities with top tips and highlights sources of further support and advice.

Although the number of fraud and cybercrime notifications OSCR receives is low, with more organisations using digital methods of operating, it is essential that charities protect themselves against any potential attacks.

You can view the full factsheet here.

Writing Readable Website Content for your Visitors

It has been two years since Government Digital Service issued guidelines for writing online content, although the guidelines are aimed at Government websites, including local authorities, they are still well worth having a look at.

Find the Governments Guidelines by clicking here

Also have a look at our Digital Fifes guidelines for Writing for Websites

Get Digital’s new heatmap highlights large areas of digital exclusion across the UK

"The Tech Partnership, in association with Lloyds Banking Group, published their Get Digital Heatmap this week. It shows the likelihood of digital exclusion across the UK at local authority level, using eight different digital and social metrics to calculate the overall likelihood of exclusion." 

view map here

Digital Inclusion & Social Housing Research Study

Fife Councils’ Digital Inclusion Strategy Group has commissioned a research project with the aim of determining how Fife could work with social housing landlords to improve digital inclusion.

Read the report here

Making Digital Real

Case Studies of How to Help the Final Fifth Get Online

Although the internet has great potential to help tackle social exclusion in the UK those who could benefit the most from being online are currently among the least likely to be connected.

These citizens in ‘the final fifth’ are likely to experience multiple, varied and complex barriers to getting online and sustaining their engagement with the internet.

How to help the 'Final Fifth' get online

Good Finance

is a new website to help charities and social enterprises navigate the complex world of social investment.

Good Finance also includes an interesting outcomes matrix, to help organisations to plan and measure their social impact.

http://www.goodfinance.org.uk/

The 10 Easiest Passwords to Hack

A new research paper has listed the top-ten least-secure passwords currently in use online. Researchers have warned that using any of these ten passwords could make it easy for online fraudsters to hack you.

Find what they are here

New Digital Resource for Charity Trustees Launched

The Charity Commission has created a new resource, 12 Questions about Digital for Trustees, aimed at helping trustees utilise digital for their charity.

The guide contains examples of key questions that every board should be considering when approaching digital. The questions cover 12 wider areas relating to charity activity, such as fundraising, governance, brand, and service delivery.

Access the guide here

What the Tech? 12 Tech Terms to Know Now

Do you know what these technical terms mean?

Autonomous Car,  Big Data,  A Cloud,  The Internet of Things,  Silicon Photonics,  Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning,  Deep Learning,  Augmented Reality,  Virtual Reality,  Mixed Reality and Merged Reality.

If not, or you want to learn more, click here

Stop nuisance calls to you mobile

Mobile phone users can send a simple, free text message to opt out of unsolicited sales and marketing calls from today.

The 'text-to-register' service, launched by the Telephone Preference Service (TPS)  and Ofcom, enables mobile phone users to add their number to the UK's official ‘do not call’ database by texting ‘TPS’ and their email address to 78070.

It is illegal for organisations to make unsolicited sales and marketing calls to numbers registered with the TPS, unless they have a person’s consent to do so.

Click here for the Telephone Preference Service

Scotland's Digital Participation Charter

The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) are inviting organisations across Scotland to join a national movement to promote digital participation and basic digital skills.

This charter establishes a framework for organisations in Scotland to support the Digital Participation Programme and to pursue our shared ambition.

Find out more information by following this link

http://digital.scvo.org.uk/charter/

Digital Participation in Kirkcaldy and Dumfries

Research by the Dumfermline-based Carnegie UK Trust and Ipsos MORI set out to examine digital exclusion in Kirkcaldy and Dumfries as a way to help identify ways to get non-internet users online.

The full report can be read here

Digital Skills Volunteers

Fife Community Learning and Development have a volunteering program to support job seekers into employment through volunteering. 

To read more about our volunteering program, follow this link

 Volunteering Program

Our volunteers continue to champion the Digital world as we have also recently joined social media, using Facebook as a platform to stay connected and keep involved with Volunteering activities.

Visit our Digital Skills Fife Volunteers page on Facebook and our website at

www.digitalskillsfife.org.uk

Net Safety

The internet is now part of everyday life. But many people are not confident about using the internet, and it’s important to know how to keep yourself safe, and protect your online identity and reputation. This guide provides some information on how to stay safe and secure, and provides links to further online information.

An easy read guide can be found here   ../webs/83/documents/SafetyNet Easy Read.pdf 

and the ordinary guide below.

Click here for normal Guide

[ download ]