As part of our Digital Do Tank programme we were approached by Chalk Farm Hotel Learning Disabilities Centre about a project they were about to start.

Chalk Farm work with people who have learning disabilities.  They have 40 students working at the hotel and they want to reclaim some of the grounds to make them accessible and enjoyable for students, staff and hotel guests alike. They asked for a little help making a digital journal so we discussed options.

Our friends at Zoonou had recently donated some laptops. Chalk Farm were the ideal recipients for one of the machines so that staff and students could use it to record their progress.  We have also loaned a rugged camera which can be used for still and video footage – it can be used by anyone without worrying about it getting damaged if dropped.  We think it’s really important that as many different people as possible can enjoy using equipment which is often seen as “too precious”.

Today we delivered the laptop with new software installed: 

• Slack, to keep in touch with us and ask for help
• Google’s blogging platform, Blogger which they can use to add pictures and text to document their progress
• iNaturalist which they can use to identify and record the wildlife they find

We’ve also installed NextCloud which, like DropBox, will allow the project team to share photographs with us so we can process them to use in their social media, and perhaps even print for students and their families to see.

Today the project manager, Maria, showed us around and we’re really looking forward to visiting again as the work continues.  It’s a brilliant project and we’re delighted to be a very small part of it.