The
UK Internetwork Group aims to publicise and promote the role of the
Internet for Lifelong Learning for third-age learners throughout the
world
 |
Click on the button on the right to learn more. |
Signpost is edited and issued by Tom Holloway This archive is maintained by Isaac Khabaza
|
You can use this
archive to find resources, such as images and research papers, for
your subjects. For example: if you are looking for slides to illustrate
a visit to Egypt, you can hit Control-F for find - type 'egypt'
and <ENTER> - then click on the link for that month, underscored
in blue on the left, to find further detailed guidance, also underscored
in blue. 
|
December
2004 -- International project; BBC learning; Spanish; grants;
International U3As; History; listing folder contents; open-source
browser |
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| 50 |
- December 2004
U3A UK's Internetwork group are delighted to present the
results of our first international project - carried out with and
for a school in Denmark. For details please go-to or click-on
http://worldu3a.org/cooperation - if you would like to be kept
informed of future projects, please subscribe (free) to our list
cooperation@worldu3a.org
http://timewitnesses.org/english/stories.html
The BBC continues to supply high quality materials easily adapted
for local group presentations and discussions. For a wide range of
examples click-on http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/index.shtml
http://timewitnesses.org/english/stories.html
Groups learning Spanish will find lots of information and background
history in English at http://www.sispain.org/english/history/ There
are other sites but they are only in Spanish. (Thank you Amparo Montero
of U3A Milton-Ulladulla).
http://timewitnesses.org/english/stories.html
New notices and recently added guidance on applications for grants
from Awards for All can be found on the Third Age Trust website
at http://www.u3a.org.uk/ (Thanks Len Street, U3A UK).
http://timewitnesses.org/english/stories.html
Reports from the AIUTA (U3A's International body) Congress held
in Shanghai can be found at http://worldu3a.org/aiutacongress/
http://timewitnesses.org/english/stories.html
History Groups wondering what to research next will find plenty to
discuss at http://www.1421.tv -- the year in which Europe and
America were discovered by China - 71 years before the Italian Columbus.
http://timewitnesses.org/english/stories.html
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
A new version of NVU, an 'open-source' program - adapted from
the Mozilla software - behaves like a word processor but produces
its output as a web page; very compact in size and ideal if you have
to send documents to others. It's free and it can be downloaded
from http://nvu.com/download.html (Thanks again Peter Anderson)
http://timewitnesses.org/english/stories.html
|
| 49 |
- November 2004
Ideas for language classes. There are two new entries in the
Timewitnesses website, a tri-lingual website with many
contributions by U3A members. See Heidi (U3A Australia)
and the Russian Tanks, and Marion (ILR/U3A New Jersey)
and the German Uboats. For these and many others click-on
http://timewitnesses.org/english/stories.html
Internetwork's Jean Thompson is now back from the AIUTA
Congress and will be moderating a new International discussion
list - cooperation@worldu3a.org - which aims to coordinate
and promote U3A projects worldwide. Go to our website
http://worldu3a.org/resources/cooperation.htm
Arts and Letters Daily - a daily roundup of Articles, Reviews
and Essays from around the world http://www.aldaily.com/
(Thank you Ralph Blumenau - U3A London UK).
www.cheapestcalls.co.uk is definitely worth a serious look,
and you don't have to register to use it. At a time when
www.call18866.co.uk have recently increased their charge
to Australia from 1p/min to 2p/m cheapestcalls are1p/min
(Thank you Mike Williams - U3A Hastings and Rother).
BBC Education go to some lengths to make it easy to print off
their articles (of which there are many hundreds). A quick look
at some of the items listed at http://www.bbc.co.uk/history reveals
a wealth of material that U3A Groups can print and hand out as
lesson plans.
Philosophy Groups will find the latest 'Philosophy Pathways' email
journal at http://www.shef.ac.uk/~ptpdlp/newsletter/current.html
(Thank you Peter Anderson - U3A Bateman's Bay, Australia).
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Two interesting websites for webwizards. Cascading Style Sheets
at www.tinyurl.com/5wzwb Improving your GOOGLE ranking at
www.tinyurl.com/2jf2j (Thank you Jeffrey Screeton - U3A UK)
|
| 48 |
- October 2004 Membership secretaries
-- are you missing postcodes for some< of your members? You can
find them if you register (free) at http://www.afd.co.uk/tryit/
Investment groups,
Geology groups, Environment groups will all find plenty to learn
and discuss in the implications of a recent independent report on
the future of Saudi/Middle East oil. See http://www.simmonsco-intl.com/files/Hudson%20Institute%20September.pdf
(Also available as a Powerpoint slideshow from tom@worldu3a.org)
An amazingly
cheap international telephone tariff can be found at http://www.call18866.co.uk/index2.php
- offering calls to USA, Australia, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, Portugal,
Spain for 1p per minute. Many U3A members already use this and confirm
that there is no catch! (Thank you Peter Sinclair of U3A Harrow,
UK). Exeter University
offer access to a 'Dictionary of Units' with conversions from anything
to anything, plus clear explanations of many units of measurement.
See http://www.ex.ac.uk/trol/dictunit/
(Thank you Miall James - U3A UK). Two sites which
may be of interest to French language groups: www.polarfle.com
and www.cortland.edu/flteach/civ
- this has many sound files to aid pronunciation. (Thank you Harry
Gort of Reigate U3A. Book groups,
History Groups, and those who follow the fortunes of that sleazy
Roman detective Marcus Didius Falco will be educated and entertained
by http://www.falcophiles.co.uk/
Life in the
future. A marvellous interactive site that allows you to see what
the future will be like in 2024 for food, transport, house or work
http://www.abc.net.au/science/2024dreaming/flash.htm
TECHNICAL
SUPPORT Dozens of U3As
now have their own website - and http://www.intelinfo.com/free_dreamweaver_training.html
offers exactly what it says - ignore the prompt to 'register' -
it will still give you access.
|
| 47 |
- September 2004 Book circle
leaders and Jane Austen fans will discover "a Haven for All
Things Austen" at http://www.pemberley.com/
; but it is far more than that. Current 'Group Read' is Galsworthy's
"Forsyte Saga". A witty website with a strong sense of
community. The Travel Network
of U3A UK list of tours, right through to October 2005 is available
at http://db.u3a.org.uk/travel/
Please make sure your members are aware of this network. U3A New South
Wales announce The Courses Clearing House - an Internet web site
where courses can be made available to all U3A organisations. Courses
are not taken on-line but the course notes are made available for
presentation in the normal manner. For details see http://www.u3answ.org.au/courses/courses.html Philosophy and
Current Affairs groups will find lectures, reading guides, course
notes, essays at McQuarie University, Australia. Clickon http://www.humanities.mq.edu.au/Ockham/polth.html
(Thanks again, Peter Anderson). What sort of
a world are we handing on to our second-agers and first-agers? The
website at http://www.optimumpopulation.org/
merits some discussion. The section on 'Aging populations and unemployment'
by Rosamund McDougall is relevant to us now. The Department
of Health has commissioned the Institute of Psychiatry to conduct
research into services for older adults with dementia and memory
problems. They ask all older adults, with and without memory problems,
to give their views on possible improvements to health services.
Please send an email to k.samsi@iop.kcl.ac.uk,
to arrange an interview. Natural History
groups and those concerned with issues of biodiversity will welcome
the National Biodiversity Network and its massive database project
at http://www.nbn.org.uk/ (Thank
you Michael Cross of Guardian Online). TECHNICAL
SUPPORT: The most up-to-date
news on Broadband developments can generally be found on http://www.adslguide.org.uk/
(Thank you Peter Sinclair of U3A Harrow, UK). |
| 46 |
- August 2004 Openwriting
Web magazine at http://www.openwriting.com/
is a 'blog' which features a feast of words from U3A writers, regular
columnists and other authors. There are fine photographs, poetry,
advice on how to get the best from the Net...and much more besides.
For contributions and further information write to Peter Hinchliffe
- peter@openwriting.com
Webquests are
a set of really good lesson plans or curriculum units on many subjects
that use resources from the Internet. Clickon or goto http://www.iwebquest.com/
The Web Gallery
of Art is maintained by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences at http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/
It is a virtual museum and searchable database of European painting
and sculpture of the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods (1150-1800),
currently containing over 12,100 reproductions. Juli Davis of
U3A UK says "While trying to make sense of some words in my
new(ish) PaintShop, I stumbled across a website which you all may
find useful: www.webopedia.com How
else would I now know what "raster" meant? The Bruderhof
Generation Project is set up to encourage more intergenerational
interaction. Their website shares stories, experiences and suggestions
for action, and will connect old people with young people. http://www.generationconnection.org
TECHNICAL
SUPPORT Try http://www.bt.com/premiumrates/
for a useful set of pages on Premium Rate and International Dial-up
scams which may be useful. (Thank you Alan Bannister, U3A South-West
Herts) |
| 45 |
- July 2004 U3A Online Australia
announce two new interactive online courses. Please go to http://www.u3aonline.org/courses/
and click-on the courses button. Serious students
of Ancient Egypt will find 'Digital Egypt for Universities' - www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/Welcome.html
very useful - especially its comprehensive 'Timeline' charts. Also
the Cambridge History Festival returns this September - for the
programme offered please see http://histfest.com/
The UK's Learning
and Skills Council funds the National Community Learning Network,
which provides a wide range of resources for Adult Learners. See
http://www.aclearn.net/ for
more information. Scrabble enthusiasts
will find plenty of tips, word checks and some scrabble history
at http://www.mattelscrabble.com/en/adults/
Those groups
researching the 1940s might like to know that the National Archives
at Kew have grown considerably in the last few months. See http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/news/stories/28.htm
(Thank you Peter Sinclair - U3A Harrow UK) The University
of Victoria, Canada, has a set of resources that local groups might
find useful. Have a look at the Hot Potatoes software at http://www.halfbakedsoftware.com/hot_pot.php
and also their clipart library for language teachers at http://web.uvic.ca/hcmc/clipart/
Science groups
might devote one or more sessions to 'Movie physics' A website devoted
to insultingly stupid movie effects (requires some understanding
of physics) See http://www.intuitor.com/moviephysics/
TECHNICAL
SUPPORT
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| 44 |
- June 2004 The U3A Travel
Network's list of planned tours is constantly updated. It is available
by email from u3atravel@btinternet.com and can also be found at
http://db.u3a.org.uk/travel/
Broadband users
- there are 426 TV stations around the world online at http://mediahopper.com/portal.htm
Quality tends to be variable, but some stations are very good indeed.
Bought a digital
camera and not sure where to start? Agfa offer hints and tips plus
a free online digital photography course at http://www.agfanet.com/en/cafe/photocourse/digicourse/
and Kodak's Digital Learning Centre has a similar offer at http://www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/dlc/book3/index.shtml
http://vlmp.museophile.com/
is a directory of online museums. Either for amusement
or for a source of vigorous group discussion, the Skeptic's Dictionary
at http://skepdic.com/ (from abracadabra
to zombies) is recommended. Science Groups:
A wonderful digital orrery or astroclock can be found at http://order.ph.utexas.edu/clock/
Recommended setting is 'Display orbits' and 'advance by week'. (Thank
you Graham Ellet, Tawa-Linden U3A, New Zealand).
|
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- May 2004 Previously published,
but continuing to grow. The free MIT (Massachusetts Institute of
Technology) OpenCourseWare website at http://ocw.mit.edu
is a free and open educational resource for students and self-learners
around the world. The Countryside
Agency - http://www.countryside.gov.uk/
- was set up by the Government to make the quality of the countryside
better for everyone. It contains advice on such matters as taxi
and bus services for access, recreation, and grants to rural communities.
The U3A Travel
Network is organising a tour to China, (Yunnan and the Shanghai
International U3A Congress) Oct 1-16, 2004. Information from Margaret
Ward on 01386 550042 From the Domesday
Book of 1085 to the recently released (April 6th 2004) revelations
of Britain's Chicken-powered Nuclear Capability -- the National
Archives at Kew continues to astonish. See http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/news/ Online books
(downloadable) are available from http://www.literature.org/authors.
The site presents each book chapter by chapter. (Thank you Anne
Shaw - U3A The Third Age
Trust has set up a small working group to explore the possibility
of developing a Virtual U3A as a means of helping existing U3A members,
wherever they may be, who are isolated (for whatever reason) but
who wish to participate in U3A activities, in particular membership
of Study Groups. Please clickon or goto http://db.u3a.org.uk/survey/vu3asurvey.asp
for more information.
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|
| 42 |
- April 2004 Trailers for
more than 100 forthcoming and current films can be found at http://www.apple.com/trailers/
Broadband recommended (but not essential if you have time to spare).
U3A Dacorum
have a very healthy and active Food and Nutrition Group and are
keen to make contact with similar groups. Please email Alan Osborn
at aosborn@ntlworld.com
for more details. A major new
source of information starts up this month. It's the 'ingenious'
project of NMSI, the National Museum of Science and Industry. It
promises to be a major source of learning and you can read more
at http://www.nmsi.ac.uk/nmsipages/nofdigitise.asp
(Thank you Ken Bates - UK Sci/Tech groups co-ordinator). Dartmouth College
(a Liberal Arts College) provide online teaching facilities at http://www.dartmouth.edu/~cc/projects/course.html
Especially recommended to Ancient History groups is the course found
at http://projectsx.dartmouth.edu/history/bronze_age/
Do you have
a 'scrapbooking' group or want to start one? You can get complimentary
issues of a newsletter and learn more about Scrapbook Craft and
scrapbooking if you visit HYPERLINK http://www.scrapbookcraft.co.uk
or call them on 0800 083 2798. http://www.audiobooksforfree.com
offers a very wide range of downloadable audiobooks - free if low-quality
sound, but you can pay for high quality.(From Guardian Online article
by Jim McClellan). Mary Sullivan
of Bluffton (a Mennonite College) offers more than 10,000 digital
images of Art Historical objects, from pre-historic to post-modern
at http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/index/
An excellent
website for low-vision computer users can be found at Walkers will
want to support the Ramblers Association 'Green Lanes' - misuse
of England's Rights of Way network. http://www.ramblers.org.uk/campaigns/campaigns.html
TECHNICAL
SUPPORT Have you received
an email saying you've just won a lottery? Before ordering your
Rolls-Royce, you should goto http://www.fraudaid.com/ScamSpam/Lottery/
|
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- March 2004 Bought a book
and finished it? Don't know what to do with it? If you've read it,
swap it! Go to http://www.readitswapit.co.uk
(Thank you Anna Soderblom, Guardian Online 19th February)
http://db.u3a.org.uk/travel.
gives information about the holidays that are arranged for U3A members
by the U3A Travel Network as well as the organisation of the Travel
Network. (Thank you Tom Warren, U3A Travel Network webmaster).
Poetry: see
http://www.usedbooksearch.co.uk/links/poetry.html
for links to more poetry websites than you could shake a sonnet
at, and for complete works of Kipling, Poe, Stevenson and a huge
collection of the best clickon http://www.poetrykit.org If you're travelling
abroad this year, leave the car at home and travel in comfort and
style. For all European destinations (and even non-European travel,
e.g. UK) plan your journey at http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
(in English) The newly-formed
Senior Citizens Party website can be found at http://www.seniors-international.net/
The Party Leader is Grahame Leon-Smith, who is a member of U3A Internetwork's
Committee. (We offer this information "without prejudice").
TECHNICAL
SUPPORT If you are thinking
of broadband, you may find the following useful: www.broadband-help.com
(Thank you Juli Davis) Techie types
struggling to fight their way through the Microsoft Windows jungle
may find answers at http://annoyances.org
It is the most complete collection of information assembled for
and by actual users of Windows. (Thank you Norman Lambert, Swindon)
|
| 40 |
- February 2004 The idf50 website,
founded in 1997 is described by Internet Advisor mag as "The
first site in the UK for silver surfers and still the best."
To see it clickon http://www.idf50.co.uk/home.htm
Worth a good look are the 'Learning' links and 'Barry Beelzebub'.
The Verbalist
is for philologues and logophiles. For English goto http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jshubow/words.html
and also http://www.orbilat.com/Modern_Romance/Gallo-Romance/French/Vocabulary/French-International.html
is a list of some 420 French phrases used in modern English. http://www.edie.net/
is a news service for environment professionals (but it also makes
interesting reading for concerned amateurs). For timers,
clocks, calendars and time-related information look no further than
http://www.timeanddate.com/
(Thank you Mike Williams, U3A Hastings UK.) A comprehensive
bibliography with some links to sources of information about sustainable
transportation can be found at http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/sbe/planbiblios/bibs/sustrav/refs/
The Third Age
Trust web at http://u3a.org.uk has new items: - http://db.u3a.org.uk/networks/sci-tech/stnewsindex.htm
for the recent Sci-tech group newsletter - http://www.u3a.org.uk/natoffice/notice.htm
for notices about diabetes, and films from a U3A film-maker TECHNICAL
SUPPORT Recommended
free sofware: BelArc Advisor. Go to: www.belarc.com
This program does an 'audit' of everything your PC consists of,
software and hardware. (Thank you Donald, of U3A Banstead UK) |
| 39 |
- January 2004 Cutoff date
for submitting details for Direct Mailing of U3A News is 31st January.
If you aren't already taking part please click on http://worldu3a.org/u3anews
Medieval Banquets?
Ancient Greek or Roman dishes? Wartime recipes for using up that
stale bread? Please see The BBC have
their own training facilities for Broadcast Technology. Now available
- free - for local U3A groups to use at http://www.bbctraining.co.uk/onlineCourses.asp
We are all aware
of 999 as an emergency number, but when travelling are we aware
that a more widely-used number is 112, and that other countries
use different emergency numbers? See http://www.web-police.org/law_enforcement_information/general_information/emergency_phones.html You can visit
Rick Sheridan's comprehensive Healthcare online course at http://ComputerAccessible.com
(Thank you Ivor Manley - U3A Farnborough) If you were
in London during the blitz and would like to feature in a TV programme
now being made, please call or email gemma.allen@granadamedia.com
020 7633 2503 The Henry George
School of Social Science offers an interesting series of economics
lessons (complete with teachers notes and discussion papers) at
Congratulations
to Henry Cosh and Alan Daniels of Christchurch U3A for their exemplary
website.at http://christchurchu3a.org.uk
|
| 38 |
- December 2003 Arts and Letters
Daily, a Washington-based website, provides
regular reports of news and reviews of a serious nature. See
http://www.aldaily.com/ for
more. (Thank you Amanda Dickerson
of U3A Norwich). The BBC is constantly
expanding and updating its range of
language courses and resources on television (BBC2 night-time)
and online - clickon www.bbc.co.uk/languages
(Thank you
Gloria Blackburne - U3A UK languages coordinator) The UK's Academic
Resource Discovery Network provides a
set of free online tutorials (the Virtual Training Suite) to help
students, lecturers and researchers to improve their information
literacy and IT skills. Goto http://www.vts.rdn.ac.uk/
(Thank
you Mike Williams - U3A UK 'Sources' Editor). This 'Signpost'
subscription list is one of several run by the
U3A Internetwork Group. Why not try our discussion list
and/or our support list? You can unsubscribe at any time if
you feel it doesn't suit. See http://worldu3a.org/resources
for more information. TECHNICAL
SUPPORT Comprehensive
reviews of digital cameras, plus many informative
articles, can be found at http://www.steves-digicams.com/
(thanks
Paul Baron - U3A UK webmaster). |
| 37 |
- November 2003 The BBC have
greatly increased the range of websites that can be used for lessons,
either online or offline. For many of them you need only print the
page you are looking at to have a perfectly usable 'lesson plan'.
Have a look at their main index at http://www.bbc.co.uk/a-z/ and
also worth reading are their very impressive plans for future education
services at http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/policies/digital_curriculum.shtml
Groups travelling
to or studying Japan will find an English-language guide to japan
related news, books and regional resources at http://www.iaqi.com/japan/
The latest book
published by Third Age Press will have a wide appeal to anyone who
likes good literature. It's a combination of 'lit crit', plot 'cribs'
and social and literary history. For more information see www.thirdagepress.co.uk
Fitness classes
will find excellent animated examples and sound advice from the
National Institute on Aging at the website http://weboflife.ksc.nasa.gov/exerciseandaging/toc.html
A guide to grammar
and writing - try the quizzes on your local creating writing agroup
- http://ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/ Definitely the
most thought-provoking website one has seen for months, and also
the most scintillating. You thought philosophy was dry and dull?
Clickon http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com (Thank you Derek Stevens
of Pembrokeshire U3A. Derek says "My Eglwyswrw Flat Earth Society
is still open for membership. TECHNICAL
SUPPORT For the technically-minded,
this issue comes to you from a cybercafe in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh,
where I am enjoying a wonderful holiday, but keeping in touch with
my UK computer with a program called GoToMyPC. TomH.
|
| 36 |
- October 2003 The Massachusetts
Institute of Technology announce the full
public launch of their totally free 'OpenCourseWare' Project.
For more information clickon http://ocw.mit.edu/
Yet more free
learning resources from UK Higher and Further
Education, plus enthusiasts with various axes to grind... - Geography/Environment
- a new directory from the Resource
Discovery Network http://www.gesource.ac.uk/home.html
- Arts and
Creative Industries http://www.artifact.ac.uk
leads
to rather too many commercial sites, but there are links to
some excellent libraries and a good search facility. - The Picasso
Project - www.tamu.edu/mocl/picasso/
- has
over 6,800 images works by Picasso, catalogued by year - http://the-philosophers-stone.com
says it's "the Thinking
Person's Pagan Website". Interesting talking-points. - http://www.dispatchesfromthevanishingworld.com
-- is
dedicated to preserving species and culture, with a fair
amount of political polemic thrown in. Just for fun
you can download and playback popular songs
from long ago. http://www.pianoladynancy.com/wavs.htm Absolute Shakespeare,
the essential resource for William
Shakespeare's works plus the legendary Globe Theatre.
http://www.absoluteshakespeare.com/
(Thank you Dorothy
Braxton - U3A ACT Australia) TECHNICAL
SUPPORT
|
| 35 |
- September 2003 NEWS FROM
THE UK CONFERENCE: U3AOnline is
pleased to announce its international portal to online courses devised
by the Third Age Trust and the original U3AOnline Australia group.
See http://www.u3aonline.org/
for choices. A welcome sign
of increased interest in the web as a publishing medium is found
at http://www.victorianart.btinternet.co.uk
- set up and run by Ann Dean of U3A Brighton and Hove. She says
"It has a lot of images including close up details of stained
glass from my own photos and it covers the Pre-Raphaelites, William
Morris, Aubrey Beardsley and recently I started adding the Gothic
Revival, Pugin, Burges and Kempe. It also has Quizzes; Places to
Visit; Exhibitions and Book Lists". Do you have
rare books you would like to keep for posterity? Or would you like
CD copies of rare and valuable source-books? See the 'Archive CD
Books Project' at http://www.rod-neep.co.uk/
(Thanks to Margaret Wilson - Shrewsbury U3A) http://catharton.com/
is "A guide to Artists, Authors, Directors & Musicians"
- and a very good one at that. Links to many artwork sites, source-books
and full-text manuscripts. http://www.gwybodiadur.co.uk
for Welsh teachers and learners. Age Concern
England announce the availability of grants for older people at
http://www.ace.org.uk/AgeConcern/products_187.htm
There are two levels -- £2,000 for new initiatives and a 'Small
Club Grant' of £120 for new equipment and activities. Putting your
postcode into the 2001-census Government website at http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk
gives you access to huge amounts of information about your locality.
Even more local information (some of it of a truly surprising nature)
can be found at http://upmystreet.co.uk/
(Thanks John Wariner, U3A Guildford) TECHNICAL
SUPPORT http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/tools.list.html
is a repository of Symantec virus removal tools you can download.
With immediate effect we are making the following changes to the Internetwork discussion lists: - u3a@egroups.com
will move to discussion@worldu3a.org Subscriber
names will be copied across automatically, and the present list
names will continue to work until 1st October 2003.
|
|
34 |
- August 2003 Groups interested
in Ancient History will find a wealth of articles Moving Here
is an archive of digitised photographs, maps, Many U3A members
will consider buying a computer, cell phone,
digital camera or some other computer-related item. They might like
to look first at the minimal jargon "how to buy" advice
at U3A language
classes or individuals who love languages - have a look
at the free lessons or resources for nearly 200 different languages
and Music Group
members might like to teach themselve to read music
at http://datadragon.com/education/reading/
Philosophy groups
might find http://www3.telus.net/arktos/xsilent/ http://www.arkiveeducation.org
is a "digital Noah's Ark" and a free
resource for teachers and educators. It is aimed at Key Stage 2
Natural History, but has such a wide range of projects and papers
that it can be used in many different ways by U3A Science groups.
For older adults,
it really is better to give than to receive. A study
finds that older people who are helpful to others reduce their risk
of dying by nearly 60 percent compared to peers who provide
neither practical help nor emotional support. For more see
|
| 33 |
- July 2003 The Third Age
Trust invites you to take part in the next round
of our 'Direct Mailing of U3A News' project. Don't leave http://www.al-bab.com
is the 'Open Door to the Arab World'.
Organised by country and by subject, it contains a wealth of
background detail to the Art, Culture and Politics of all Arab
countries. Useful for Current Affairs study groups Frivolous, but
fun. Have a look at the history of musicals site.
Excellent biographies, and it includes words from many old
musicals. http://www.musicals101.com/
Those members
still caring for aged parents will find British History
Online is a digital library of British historical
sources for historians of Britain located worldwide seeking
access to, and cross-searching of, an interconnected range
of historical sources. Click-on http://british.history.ac.uk
You will find
a useful compendium of card games (rules, |
|
- June 2003 Local groups
looking for a domain name (u3abarset.org.uk or
witteringu3a.org.uk) plus a website can now get one cheaply.
U3A Internetwork in association with a Warwickshire-based
voluntary organisation MYGROUP offer this with 250 Mbytes
of web-space plus 25 email addresses. Go-to or click-on
http://mygroup.org.uk to check
for availability and details. History Groups
may find http://www.oldbaileyonline.org
useful
(22,000 proceedings from 1714 are now available) and A collection
of 32 papers by distinguished writers on the
theme of 'Science and Technology in Culture' can be found at
http://www.towson.edu/~sallen/311/311Reserve.html
and
http://www.vega.org.uk/first.html
is recommended for its
excellent Science videos. (Thanks Ken Bates, U3A Nottingham) "For some
time now I have used recordings for my French
group, made from the French broadcasting television : "TV5",
available in England either on satellite or on cable. The
MAIGRET stories by Georges Simenon are particularly good,
very clear speech, French speaking but nevertheless subtitled
in French. If you want to cheat, the plots in English are available
on www.trussel.com/maig/maiplots.htm .You can find TV5 on
http://www.tv5.org" (Thank
you. Omer Roucoux, U3A Luton) If you have,
or would like help with starting, the following groups
please get in touch with the following national co-ordinators:---- Digital photographers
will find lots of useful background advice at http://www.pctechguide.com/19digcam2.htm
and also at The Council
for National Parks has a panel of voluntary speakers who will talk
to any local community group anywhere in England and Wales. See
http://www.cnp.org.uk/speaker_service.htm
for |
|
| 31 |
- May 2003 With effect
from 12th May 2003, the address of the UK
National Office of the Third Age Trust, the University of the
Third Age, will be 19 East Street, Bromley, Kent, BR1 1QH.
and the new telephone number will be 020 8466 6139. The
email address is unchanged -- national.office@u3a.org.uk
You are politely requested to give us time to settle in before
you get in touch. The website
http://www.how-to-study.com/
contains a wide range of study skills suitable for the adult learner
The Reith lectures,
2003 and as far back as 1999, are still available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2003/
for you to download for your U3A discussion group. The lectures
are also available as video/sound files but you must be online Everything you
ever wanted to know about Shakespeare can be found at http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/
A research project
on 'Dignity and Older Europeans' being conducted by the University
of Wales, Cardiff, can be found at http://www.uwcm.ac.uk/study/medicine/ Enthusiastic
photographers will find the English Heritage site of listed buildings
in the UK.very useful, and you can submit your own work http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/intro.asp
|
| 30 |
- April 2003 The shape of
things to come? The EU is asking for your opinion on vital issues
at http://evote.eu2003.gr/EVOTE/en/index.stm
Two first-class
sites for those group leaders learning to use MS Powerpoint for
their chosen subjects. "Education Using Powerpoint" is
at http://www.educationusingpowerpoint.org.uk
and Check the free
tutorials on the left of the screen at http://www.lvsonline.com/
and have a look at the freeware available at http://www.irfanview.com/
for reducing the size of images in different formats.(Thanks Maria
Brandl U3A Mallacoota, Australia) The free online
course at http://www.photocourse.com/
will give you a new approach to teaching and learning digital photography
on the Internet. A brilliant
website for History Groups at www.timelines.info
- also the New Opportunities Fund have launched a portal called
http://www.EnrichUK.net which
is a gateway to all the 150 or so on-line projects made possible
through Lottery Funding. Science Groups
- here is a self-contained course on cosmology, chemistry, geology,
oceanography, palaeontology, etc. Deriving from the question ' is
there life on Mars?' it gives just enough underpinning in each discipline
to understand the train of thought to the answer. Graphics and illustrations
are excellent. |
| 29 |
- March 2003 The UK Internetwork
group will be running study days on May 2nd and 3rd. Please click-on
http://worldu3a.org/ideas
for the programme and other details. Literature/Poetry
groups will find http://www.bookspot.com/
a useful resource. It contains links to many complete-text books
online. See http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/search.html
also for University of Pennsylvania's book Search facility. The BBC are
now drawing on archive media, and old newspapers to present news
items from the 1950s.. They would like to hear from you if you spot
yourself in the crowd in one of the videos or attended an event
featured in any of the news reports. An interesting
general-purpose website for Senior Citizens can be found at http://www.gopfert.freeserve.co.uk/
and there are useful links at http://www.gopfert.freeserve.co.uk/computing.htm
For those who
have an interest in lexicology or who simply delight in words, a
visit to http://www.worldwidewords.org/
will be a joy. (Thanks Howell Jones, Australia). The universal
currency converter at http://www.xe.com/ucc/
will assist U3A travel groups to work out the equivalent value of
foreign currencies. VIRUS ACTIVITY has increased recently, and they are now more dangerous than ever. Attached files should not be opened unless you are QUITE sure you know what they contain (not even from your best friend - it could easily be that their email address has been hijacked by the virus). IGNORE offers of huge amounts of money from total strangers, especially avoid the Nigerian Scam, usually WRITTEN IN CAPITAL LETTERS (for an explanation and a good laugh see http://www.savannahsays.com/kizombe.htm ) IGNORE
suggestions that you should delete files and "write to everyone
in your address book to do the same". Especially the well-known
'Budweiser Frog' and 'jdbgmgr.exe' hoaxes. IF IN DOUBT
go-to http://sarc.com (the Symantec
Anti-virus Research Center) and use the 'search' facility to check
on a keyword. Also - buy some reputable anti-virus software and
keep it up-to-date on a weekly basis. |
|
|
- February 2003 Age Exchange
are well-known for their reminiscence work with older people in
care, and the help they provide for people with senile dementia.
They are now breaking new ground with the stories of ethnic minorities
and their arrival in Britain in the 1950s. Direct Mailing of U3A News - increasing numbers of local groups are using this facility - there were 18,000 in November 2002 and more than 25,000 will receive it in February 2003. There will
be a discussion of pro's and con's on the WorldU3A Forum during
February, moderated by Tom Holloway. Click-on http://worldu3a.org
and then the Forum button to learn more. The daily jottings
of diarist Samuel Pepys are finding a new audience as each day's
musings are posted in turn on the Web - with historically helpful
sidebar notes. For a day to day glimpse you should go to http://www.pepysdiary.com
Fascinating! The Employers
Forum on Age is getting ready for 2006, when age discrimination
becomes illegal. Soon there will be a surge of 50-year-olds becoming
60-year-olds. See the figures on http://www.efa.org.uk/aboutefa/product.asp?cid=7&pid=53&num= The Government
has agreed to allow the BBC to spend £150m of licence money
on a new 'Digital Curriculum' which will be distributed to schools
free of charge. The BBC scheme will provide "a free online
learning environment covering the full range of the National Curriculum"
but there are several tough conditions built in. Independent/commercial
publishers have expressed deep unhappiness at the news. For more,
click-on http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/2643187.stm
Never dull --
usually polemical -- a must for those local groups discussing current
affairs, the electronic news magazine known as 'Spiked-online' comes
complete with 'printer-friendly' items that can be given out as
discussion papers. Click-on or go-to http://www.spiked-online.co.uk/
|
| 27 |
- January 2003 U3A Internetwork
group are very pleased to announce their new Do you remember
Pathe Pictorial? It's now online. Free. An astonishing 75 years
and 3,500 hours of video for you to download and browse at leisure.
If you have broadband there is an option to download at higher quality
for a reasonable fee - surely a wonderful resource that local groups
can use. http://www.britishpathe.com
Take a virtual
tour thanks to the resources of the 'Lonely Planet Destinations'
site. It's easy - just pick a region, then pick a country, and click
the 'Go' button. The amount of information is staggering! http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/
London University's
School of Advanced Study are now online at http://library.sas.ac.uk/
and seven major academic libraries now share one searchable catalogue.
More free courses and tutorials online are available as follows: --
Languages - from Abenaki/Ainu to Wollof/Xhosa - http://www.word2word.com/course.html Computer techies
will have access to many favourite sources of help on the web. Richard
Lowe's http://www.internet-tips.net
has been a constant source of excellent advice and inspiration to
many, and as far as we can judge the advice is entirely disinterested. Computer started
to run slow? Strange programs keep popping up from nowhere? http://users.westelcom.com/rogersr/clean.htm
has some useful advice. |
| 26 |
- December 2002 Belong to a
U3A choir? The Choral Public Domain Library site has a large range
of music by various composers from Bach to those of more modern
times which can be downloaded and used free of charge. See http://cpdl.snaptel.com/
(Thank you Dorothy Braxton of U3A in Canberra). http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
- a new kind of encyclopedia. Not only are you encouraged to contribute
articles, you can even edit/correct the ones that are there. Contains
some controversial material. Clickon http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/
to look up meanings and origins of slang terms. It includes many
naughty words (you have been warned). http://www.fathom.com
- a consortium promoting free online learning. Amazingly comprehensive
and strongly recommended. (Thank you Ted Webber of U3A Buderim in
Queensland). Annie's Place
is a cornucopia of all those tunes from your mis-spent youth. http://www.buffnet.net/~ambrosia/home.htm
- Beach Boys, Elvis, Everley Brothers, Neil Sedaka, Beatles, download
the music and the words and sing along. The BBC are
still looking for people willing to take part in a series about
changes in food preferences and eating habits in the last 50 years.
http://www.u3a.org.uk/~natoffice/notice.htm
The Charity
Commission for England and Wales provide comprehensive advice on
all aspects of applying to become and running a charity at http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk
There is a special section for supporting charities with an annual
turnover of less than £10,000. A new twist
to the virus business. You are advised not to open 'electronic greetings
cards' until you've checked http://www.messagelabs.com/viewNewsPR.asp?id=108&cmd=PR
(Thank you Peter Sinclair of U3A Harrow). Not free, but
at US$15 for up to three classes, Virtual University is good value.
Their Winter 2003 Calendar of online classes will be announced on
Monday, December 9. Go to http://www.vu.org/
to learn more. (Interesting selection of computer courses).
|
| 25 |
- November 2002 Local history
groups will find a visit to the Whickham U3A Web Wanderers at http://www.thenortheast.com/archives/u3a/
very worthwhile.It's a wonderful example of what can be done with
enthusiasm-plus-technology. Would you like
to know more about the area you live in? Crime figures? Property
prices? Map? Public transport? Restaurants? Click on http://www.upmystreet.com
and enter your postcode. AIUTA 2002 Congress
in Geneva www.unige.ch/uta/
Self organised learning in later life. Six European countries using
technology to compare methods of self-help. www.solill.net
http://www.guardian.co.uk/online
is worth a weekly visit, and an article about advanced features
in the GOOGLE search engine by Jack Schofield especially so. See
http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,803029,00.html
Adobe will convert
documents from PDF to HTML for you - free of charge. The service
is online and easy to use. The resulting web-page may not look as
good as the original but if you get a PDF document and don't have
the Adobe Reader it's an alternative way to read it. See http://access.adobe.com/simple_form.html
|
| 24 |
- October 2002 Local U3A Science
groups are well served by New Scientist at http://www.newscientist.com/
and the American Association for the Advancement of Science at http://www.sciencemag.org/ Click on http://ukonline.gov.uk
for access to UK government services on the internet. It guides
you through more than 900 government websites to get the information
you need quickly. We have mentioned
the massive indexed knowledge-base known as BUBL Link - http://bubl.ac.uk/link/
- before, but it continues to grow and improve. Although aimed at
the UK higher education community, anyone anywhere in the world
can access the service, and all information on BUBL is provided
free. http://www.artcyclopedia.com
is a mixture of a great art search engine by artist or title, information
about galleries worldwide and now has a very comprehensive glossary
of art related terms. (Thanks Jillian Wallace). When you visit
http://www.coolquiz.com/puzzles/conundrums/
you'll see that its collection of conundrums have been divided up
into three types: visual puzzles; thinking puzzles; and math puzzles. Running out of disk space? A quick way to reduce space needed for correspondence and at the same time a convenient filing system goes like this:-- - For letters
to your bank (for example) access a previous letter The advantage
is that your WP document will take up far less space and will be
an archive of all your bank letters but in reverse chronological
order. You can use 'Control-F' to search for a keyword further down
the document. (Thanks, Roger Cloet). |
| 23 |
- September 2002 U3A UK's ICT
(Information and Communications Technology) sub-committee are pleased
to announce their first CD offering at the remarkably cheap price
of a fiver! It contains a special version of our national website
(now you can explore it offline at your leisure) plus dozens of
useful mini-manuals, start-up leaflets, guidance on insurance, plus
back issues of U3A Signpost. You can order it from national.office@u3a.org.uk
Local U3A groups looking for a grant to buy a combination laptop/projector may be missing out on the "Awards for All" offer. Use your History/Local History group to apply, and stress it's availability for wider use, |
