Accessibility A A
Search Help
Search Site
Suggest a resource
Get Panui delivered each month to your mail-box! Subscribe online here.
The CommunityNet Aotearoa monthly newsletter.
"News and views on community networking throughout Aotearoa."
The Ministry of Health has commenced a project that will develop guidance to inform how district health boards (DHBs) provide services for people with dementia and people aged over 65 who are affected by mental health and addiction problems. The guidance will also inform how DHBs provide services to meet the needs of people who age with disabilities and other conditions who develop symptoms of dementia or mental health or addiction problems. The guidance is expected to be completed by the end of June 2009.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/olderpeopleproject.htm
Ten organisations running projects for people with an intellectual disability or a psychological condition have received funding totalling $291,125 from the Frozen Funds Charitable Trust's first grants round. The purpose of the Frozen Funds Charitable Trust is to provide grants for projects run by and for people who use mental health or intellectual disability services.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/frozenfunds.htm
COSPRO Child Obesity Support Programme is a new non-profit support programme for children aged 5 to 16 who are experiencing social or physical challenges as a result of obesity. The programme aims to help overweight children develop self-confidence and physical fitness by gradually involving them in community activities which they are comfortable doing and can confidently perform.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/cospro.htm
Behind the scenes, the National Library of New Zealand will be undergoing some significant changes over the next month as the National Digital Heritage Archive (NDHA) is launched. The NDHA is our business and technical approach to managing the collection and preservation of digital heritage and ongoing access to digital collections.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/ndha.htm
Although a sizeable amount of research has been carried out on leadership, volunteering and governance in tangata whenua, community and voluntary sector organisations, studies of staff wellbeing and motivation are very few, even internationally. Staff in our sector - paid or voluntary - are in many cases the primary or only resource through which the organisation can fulfil its mission, and it is very important that we understand what factors most influence the ability of staff to do their best work in a sustainable way. We hope that through this survey, sector employers will better understand what staff need to do their best work and get results whilst sustaining occupational health, wellbeing and job satisfaction.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/staffsurvey.htm
Latest community news, events, jobs and ads are online at:www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news.
The SuperGold Card is a free discounts and concessions card available to all New Zealanders who are aged 65 years or over, and those under 65 years receiving New Zealand Superannuation or the Veteran's Pension. The website contains information on the SuperGold Card, its uses, benefits, business discounts and concessions.
www.supergold.govt.nz
The NZMuseums site features New Zealand museums, their collections, and is also a directory of museum locations, opening hours, and Ôwhat's onÕ. This is a growing site - over time museums will add more information about their collections, and additional functions will be added to the website such as Google maps and virtual exhibitions.
www.nzmuseums.co.nz
The New Zealand Resilience Trust (NZRT) is a non-profit organisation that supports local community resilience trusts. Overall the NZRT aims to create environments whereby communities can develop resilience. This is done through identifying attributes of resilience, and assisting local community groups to develop those attributes.
www.nzrt.org.nz
Hokonui Horizons is a collaboration of over 50 diverse groups and organisations who are working together to promote, protect and improve the health and well-being of our communities in Eastern Southland and surrounding districts.
www.hokonuihorizons.co.nz
A database that puts people together. Odd jobs can be advertised and workers can advertise their skills. Browse through the odd jobs available in your area or list your odd job skill to find extra work. Free. No membership required; no log-in or passwords.
www.oddjob.org.nz
As you get older you may need some support from time to time and a reminder of just how much life you have left in you! Enliven's positive ageing services ensure older New Zealanders have a community-based option to assist them to stay as independent as they want to be in their own homes, and to feel great about it.
www.enliven.org.nz
We have been introducing computing skills to Wellington seniors since 1992. Our blog site features information, publications and workshop notes about many facets of computing and ICT.
http://seniornetwgtn.blogspot.com
Holistic Living is an online community of people brought together by a common bond: a shared interest in health, wellness, organics, sustainability, spirituality, personal and planetary growth. Holistic Living is a place to ask questions, a place to find answers, a place to share and a place to care.
www.holisticliving.co.nz
A non-profit organisation for people over 55 who want to use computer technology to enhance their lives and share their knowledge and wisdom.
www.rotoruaseniornet.gen.nz
The Auckland Regional Migrant Services Charitable Trust (ARMS) is a non-profit organisation which supports migrants and refugees to settle successfully in the Auckland Region. Our services are free.
www.arms-mrc.org.nz
You'll find these and more links at:www.community.net.nz/links.
These Events are coming up in the next few weeks. Find details at: www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/events.
These Training events are coming up in the next few weeks. Find details at: www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/training.
I recently almost deleted an email in my In Box sight unseen. It was lucky I opened it though as it was actually a genuine message I needed to see.
So, why did I almost delete it without reading? Because I thought it was spam. It *looked* spammy. The email address of the Sender looked like the garbage you see in spammer email addresses --- you know the type: rsythias@1pcx.net, or freobecayhwy@bluwale.com. Both of those are actual email addresses from spams I've received.
The problem with this legitimate email was that it used abbreviations that looked at first as though the address was just a jumble of random letters. I don't want to embarrass anyone so won't quote the real thing, but it was similar to this fictitious example: nzcgcfo@wlgnzcg.org.nz.
That stands for: New Zealand Community Group Chief Financial Officer @ Wellington NZ Community Group.
Luckily the subject of the message was fairly specific to some recent work I'd done, so I realised this message was one I should read.
Within an organisation people come and go. Over time the CEO, accounts person, admin assistant, volunteer co-ordinator or whoever is likely to change.
It's tricky to set up addresses such as jane@example.org.nz, or kimi@example.org.nz. An address that uses a person's name is 'tied' to that person and doesn't give anything away about their role.
For addresses that you advertise, or at least make public, it's better to set up addresses that reflect a role, such as info@, or admin@, or publications@.
That way the name of the person filling that role doesn't matter. If they leave or take a holiday the emails can easily be sent to whoever is taking their place.
Such addresses also let 'outsiders', such as the general public, know who they're dealing with.
Some positions, such as CEO, or CFO are known by their 'letters'. Info, admin and publications are pretty much words in their own right, even if some are 'short forms'.
CEO, CFO and the like are more complex though. Not everyone is entirely clear what the various letters stand for, and the letters aren't very much like words. They are easy to confuse, especially when added to letters that stand for an organisation name.
Put together a whole lot of abbreviations or acronyms and you may just closely resemble a spammer.
Most email software allows you to enter a Real Name to attach to an email address. Check under Settings, Options, Preferences, or Accounts.
If you don't attach a Real Name then the recipient of an email may see only the address, for example, nzcgcfo. It's hard work to turn that into New Zealand Community Group Chief Financial Officer. It also requires a lot of inside knowledge.
If you set the Real Name in your email software then the email will appear to come from Jo Bloggs (or whoever), which at least *looks* like a genuine person's name.
If Jo Bloggs later leaves the nzcgcfo position and is replaced by Sam Biggs the actual email address can remain the same, but the sender's name will change, and still look like a real name.
Spam represents between 75% and 95% of all email (www.marshal.com/trace) --- it's a plague. People who use email for business or personal reasons are sick of it and very quick to hit the Delete button.
If you want to be sure your message reaches its audience think carefully about the email addresses you use. Choose email addresses that look like recognisable words, rather than a jumble of letters. Make sure you enter a Real Name for each email address. And make sure you write careful Subject lines.
And watch out for capital letters. Names and messages that use ALL CAPS not only appear to be shouting at you, but add a little extra weight on the 'spammer' side of the balance.
Large pictures or photos take a long time to send and receive over the Internet. They make emails and web pages slow. Most people hate slow web pages and clogged up emails.
Optimise photos or other images to get your message across more easily. Read on...
The pixels that make up every image are 'heavy', so every pixel you remove reduces the 'weight' of the image.
This Tip gives you 3 techniques to trim the 'fat': 1] crop, 2] resize, 3] jpg. It also shares an 'insider's tip' on how to get someone else to do the work for you, and for free!
The instructions apply for images in both email and web pages.
If your images are precious, and maybe even if they are not, always edit a *copy* of the image and keep the original safe. When you optimise an image you change it forever.
Take a photo, suck it into your computer, and then examine it. Chances are it is *at least* 450Kb in file size. The dimensions may be around 2000 pixels wide by 1500 pixels high, or more.
Windows users: Right click and view Properties. Mac users: Control click and Get Info (look under both General and More Info).
A handy rule of thumb when you make a web page is to keep any individual image to no more than about 400 pixels on the longest side, and probably less than around 25Kb in file size. If you need a bigger picture then link to it from a smaller 'thumbnail' image. Your visitors will thank you.
Many photos can be improved by cropping out excess 'stuff' from around the edges. This also helps focus attention on the main subject. Whenever you crop an image you reduce both the file size and the number of pixels that make it up.
Straight out of your camera a photo may measure more than 1500 pixels on each side. That's way too big for most people to be able to see the whole picture at once.
800 pixels maximum is a good size for a large version of an image on the web. Inside a web page or an email 400 pixels, or even 200 pixels may be quite sufficient.
There's a bit of an art to choosing a size. The best way is to try a few different sizes and balance out what looks best but 'weighs' least.
The jpg format (pronounced jay peg) takes advantage of the power of optical illusion. It actually throws away some of the pixels --- ones you won't notice. This makes the file size smaller. The jpg format is also one of the few file types that all web browsers and most email programs can handle.
The above 3 steps can transform a huge 500Kb image into a 20Kb image, suitable for use in a web page or email message. But how do you do it?
There are several options involving high or low cost software, but here's a free trick: use Flickr.
For example, I snapped a photo with my cellphone. It 'weighed' 570Kb, and measured 2,000 * 1,500 pixels. I uploaded it to Flickr and clicked the Edit Photo link. I used the buttons Flickr provided to crop and resize my photo, as well as to improve the exposure, then I saved the image.
Finally I downloaded one version at 800 pixels by 696. That version was 171Kb. I also downloaded a version at 240 pixels * 209. That one was 35Kb.
While I could achieve much better results with Photoshop (at more than $1,000), using Flickr's tools was free, and the file sizes were acceptable. See and compare two photos of my bike at www.flickr.com/photos/tikouka/with/2900690103
In the next Tip I'll show you how to create the HTML code for an image.
Panui tips contributed by Miraz Jordan, http://knowit.co.nz
Past Website tips are all available on CommunityNet Aotearoa.
In October 2008 there were 44,247 visits (September: 50,918).
Last month, 56 new community items were published.
Send in your free community notice or advertisement at:
www.community.net.nz/about/submit.
There were 8039 files downloaded (September: 7,936). The most popular file download in October was the Employment section of the Community Resource Kit (459 Downloads). In September this was the MOU template section of the Digital Strategy Hot Topic (361 downloads).
Find CommunityNet statistics at: www.community.net.nz/about/website/statistics.htm.
Remember: please forward the complete Panui to others who'll find it useful.
Nick Stanley, Web Content Writer.
Subscribe or unsubscribe at www.community.net.nz/panui. Select one or more of:
Or email information@community.net.nz with the following details:
CommunityNet Aotearoa RSS Feed is available at: lists.community.net.nz/cna/wp-rdf.php.
Publish your news, jobs, events, training and adverts free at www.community.net.nz/about/submit.
Send Panui articles and ideas with Subject "Panui contribution" to: information@community.net.nz.
Please forward Panui to others, but all of it please.
You are welcome to reproduce material, provided you acknowledge the source, like this:
"Reproduced from CommunityNet Aotearoa Panui, November 2008, www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/panui".
Panui and CommunityNet Aotearoa are guided by an Advisory Group drawn from community organisations and are published by Department of Internal Affairs, PO Box 805, Wellington. Phone: 04 4957200. Email: information@community.net.nz.
While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information in this publication, the publishers accept no liability for any errors and omissions. Views and opinions expressed are those of the authors, not the publishers.