- I missed the Tuesday Push this week but I've covered the precocious pixel prestidigitators of Pixenate before and no doubt will again as they continue to push out fun hacks like Twixenate and Twitter Mosaic - the cool new way of printing a photo montage of your Twitter clan on to mugs, t-shirts, mouse mats and other, you know, physical objects.
- It looks like the National Centre for Technology in Education aren't even aware of the large price drops in Interactive Whiteboards in recent years and so won't cover them in the latest €2.2 million scheme for primary schools.
- OpenCoffee is great but I think we should also have more speed networking events.
- Bernie Goldbach links to the Newshour segment on the economic situations in Ireland and Poland, part of which was filmed at OpenCoffee Limerick recently.
I'm still on a high after yesterday's OpenCoffee Club Limerick - not just because of the record turnout but because of the uplifting buzz of positivity, the perfect antidote to all the negative news on the economic front lately.
Now Evert Bopp is proposing to host an OpenCoffee of a different kind - on a train travelling between Limerick and Dublin! That's thanks to the generous offer from Irish Rail to provide the use of a carriage free of charge for the day. With 345 members of the OpenCoffee Ireland group online and 18 new signees per week it would be great to gather some of that momentum and connect it offline.... along the rail-line
During the course of doing some research for Vizitant recently I came across the Senior Care directory and connected with the founders through Twitter. It's been a long time since I ran an EirePreneurZ article and I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn more about their business model by asking Senior Care Marketing Manager Conor Ebbs to guest post here. Follows below --
"The inspiration for the development of
SeniorCare.ie was derived from personal family experience. Frustrated
by the lack of online information on support and care services available
to older people in Ireland, we began planning in the summer of 2006
and launched our website in April 2007. We have been growing strongly
since.
Our original goal was to set up a comprehensive
directory of support services. Although that still remains our priority,
we have several new features in development which should encourage greater
interaction among our visitors and provide more essential information:
The SeniorCare Jobs Board
is currently in development. It will be targeted to jobs in the area
of senior care (Home Care, Nursing Homes etc.) in Ireland
The SeniorCare Discussion
Forum is also being developed. This will allow our visitors to interact,
ask questions, find answers and connect with one another
Resource
Pages with a variety of pertinent information on Home Care Packages,
Nursing Home Subvention and other relevant information regarding entitlements
for older people
We provide relevant Articles, Events
and News Features to keep our visitors updated on developments in the
area of elderly care in Ireland. Our monthly E-Newsletter launched in
November 2008 and has been very well received. You can sign up for this
on our homepage.
Our marketing efforts are primarily focused
on Online Marketing. This includes Google Adwords campaigns, Search
Engine Optimisation and several other non-interruptive forms of advertising.
So far, this approach has paid off. We rank in the Top 10 on Google.ie
for all of our categories and receive between 2,500 and 3,000 highly
targeted visitors per month.
We are looking forward to our busiest
year yet in 2009. Feedback on our website is very important to us, so
please don’t hesitate to get in touch. The needs of older people in
Ireland are growing year on year, and we will grow with them.
On Sunday I wrote a little about the fantastic year I've been having as a level 1 awardee of Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, and about the amazing people I've been meeting through the network. The organization has been supporting my project - Vizitant - since last June and the advice I've been given and contacts I've made have been nothing short of priceless.
And now it's your chance to join the network (and receive some funding) as the 2009 call for applications is now open and will remain so until March 20th. So, if you're a budding social entrepreneur put on that thinking hat and make your application here. This year there will be 20 Level 1 Awards and 8 Level 2 Awards. If you need any advice in the submission of your application drop a comment below and I'll try my best to help.
Disclosure: There's a bounty scheme in operation this year where I can earn €250 for a successful network referral, but I'd be promoting the hell out of the program regardless. So here's what I'll do with any referrals I might earn - I'll use them to buy video-calling terminals (probably the Asus AiGuru SV1) for deserving elderly clients of Vizitant.
I've been involved in the Barcamp 'scene' for three years now in Ireland and can honestly say each one has been among the best conferences I've ever attended. 'Barcamp' has nothing to do with bars, rather it's a phenomenon which begun in California and is defined as "an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants."
What makes Barcamps special is the way in which they differ from 'normal' conferences - there are are no paid speaking slots, attendees are actively encouraged to participate, ask questions and propose talks and everything is kept very informal and friendly.
And now Bizcamp is coming to Dublin on March 7th, billing itself as the event for everyone interested in entrepreneruship and business startups. This is a terrific opportunity to network with and learn from like-minded individual and, who knows, potential future business partners. So what are you waiting for -register to attend here (it's FREE!)
Bizcamp Limerick is also in the planning stages and takes place at UL on March 21st.
[Bizcamp Dublin organizer Keith Bohanna explains it better than I ever could]
The people I've met through the Social Entrepreneurs Ireland network over the last 8 months are among the most determined and inspiring I've ever had the honour to converse with. But Tara Cunningham of Release is simply in a league of her own, truly a force of nature. Take 5 minutes out of your day to watch a short documentary about her and her project in the video below and I'll think you'll be inspired for life (and you'll understand the meaning behind the title of this post).
Release is a not for profit therapy model, incorporating speech and language therapy with occupational exercises, early Intervention, social communication and oral motor therapy helping children combat
communication difficulties.
Release intervention methods teach caregivers,
teachers, special needs assistants and children techniques from speech
and language therapy and occupational exercises, to early intervention
and oral motor therapy.
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