Bristol Wireless has been using wikis for years to document and plan the development of the co-operative and its work, so we were delighted to accept an invitation to attend the Bristol Wiki Academy at the weekend (news passim). To the best of our knowledge, this was the first Wiki Academy to be organised in […]
It’s a busy day in the lab, with volunteers Michael, Jim, Rich, Acesabe and yours truly present and it’s a real hive of activity, the silence punctuated by the gentle tapping of keyboards. Acesabe is up to something to do with networking of which ordinary mortals like your ‘umble scribe is not meant to wot […]
Next Thursday March 24 our friends at Knowle West Media Centre will be organising My Friends Online – an opportunity for for people to learn basic computer skills and enjoy a free lunch at the centre too! The event runs from 11:00 am to 3:30 pm and is free of charge. Those attending are invited […]
When: Saturday 19 March 2011. Arrive at 9.40 a.m. for a 10.00 start, continuing until 4 p.m. Lunch will be provided. Where: Room 1.06, Merchant Venturers School of Engineering, Woodland Road, University of Bristol, BS8 1UB (map) What: A non-technical event for individuals and organisations interested in working with Wikipedia and its related projects. Explore […]
Following on from the recent visit to Bristol and talk by Jimmy Wales for Wikipedia’s 10th birthday, Sam Downie has now announced the release an edited 6 minute version of Jimmy’s public talk at the Victoria Rooms (news passim). The event hosted by, and with the co-operation of Wikimedia UK, the University of Bristol, Bristol […]
It’s a busy day in the lab today… Michael, our volunteer co-ordinator, and Rich have been having a meeting for the last hour or so with Volunteering Bristol to examine ways in which we can improve and enhance our use of our existing volunteers and new ones (we always welcome new blood. Ed. See news […]
One of the facts that came out of Jimmy Wales’ recent talk in Bristol (news passim) was that the majority of contributors to Wikipedia (aka ‘Wikipedians’) are male. Indeed, only 13% of current contributors are women. News now reaches the lab via Collective Action in Australia that a Women for Wikipedia campaign is running between […]
Arriving at the lab on Tuesday this week, your correspondent was pleasantly surprised to see that an additional batch of LTSP thin clients had been set up in the lab. He was even more surprised to observe that all 4 new machines were in use and a full-blown lesson on use of the Linux command […]
For a couple of hours earlier today, Bristol’s Victoria Rooms, a part of the University of Bristol, today became the Wikitoria Rooms, courtesy of the presence of Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, who was in Bristol as part of Wikipedia’s 10th anniversary celebrations (Wikipedia was actually launched on 15th January 2001. How the world has […]
A pleasant surprise awaited your scribe on his arrival at the Lab yesterday: one of the happy smiling faces lurking there was Mark, who had to bring a halt to his volunteering activities last year to find a job to pay the bills. Anyway, Mark now has some spare time on his hands again and […]
From today’s inbox. The Debian Women project is pleased to announce the forthcoming start of a series of training sessions which will be held on IRC by experienced community members. The main goal of this initiative is to encourage more people, and specifically women, to contribute to Debian while introducing them to different aspects of […]
Yer ‘umble scribe, wearing his company secretary’s hat, has just emailed the members the following notice: NOTICE OF AGM The Annual General Meeting of Bristol Wireless for 2009 will be held at 6.00 pm on Tuesday 1st June 2010 in the Lab, Hamilton House, Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3QY. It will be followed by our […]
From Friday 14th to Sunday 16th May 2010, Wikimedia UK will host Wikimedia delegates from around the world who will be meeting in Bristol. This meeting is a three-day summit to discuss technical and strategic issues that cover the work the global Wikimedia Foundation and its national chapters do in relation to the worldwide fundraising […]
News arrives from Knowle West Media Centre that a South Bristol Digital Mentors Assembly is to be hold on Thursday 21st January 2010 from 5:30-7:30pm at the Tobacco Factory, Raleigh Road, Southville, BS3 1TF (map). It’s being organised to share digital aspirations for South Bristol and to challenge Bristol’s Digital Leaders to deliver them. Participants […]
It’s before 10 am on a Saturday morning and there’s a dozen or so Bristol Wireless folks huddled together in Hamilton House. Besides amazement at our weekend early rising proclivities, readers are probably wondering if this gathering served some useful purpose; and of course it did – we’d all come together for a day’s networking […]
After more than 3 very happy and enjoyable years in St Werburghs Community Centre, the Bristol Wireless lab is on the move this month to Hamilton House on Stokes Croft. Of course, moving is one of life’s stresses – and this is also true of organisations; there’s lots of sorting out and packing to be […]
Via a very circuitous route, an email forwarded by Paul Webster arrived in your scribe’s inbox yesterday afternoon. Its text reads as follows: Hello there I need your help. I’m working with a Commonwealth Youth Exchange Council/British Council/VSO (soup) project which is trying to recruit four or so young adult volunteers to spend up to […]
Bristol Wireless volunteer Tony Stone has been experimenting with increasing the range of USB wifi dongles and has come up with a splendid bit of home-made kit. In Tony’s own words: I was having trouble picking up my local WiFi hotspot. I was using a USB dongle and added an extension cable to put it […]
When I saw that as the subject line in an email we’ve received, I thought it was a great way to open a testimonial to Linux. Last week we had a visitor in the lab who bought one of our splendid £30 computers. Normally, we don’t hear from our customers: the machines just keep running […]
At the start of the weekend Matt Toseland sent a message to our general list announcing he wouldn’t be able to make our monthly meeting in November. Apart from being a bit early, there’s nothing unusual in apologies from people unable to attend meetings. However, Matt has a good excuse: he’s moving to Scarborough (in […]