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AlisonW

search for tag 'Camps' requested

EMF Camp 2020

2020-02-19 19:05:51 - by alisonw Events Camps Making Hackspaces

This evening was the first of the three ticket scrambles for this year's EMF camp.

I had three browsers open and refreshed each of them on the tick of 7pm … and the site fell over with an https fault. Thankfully a refresh brought them back to life after a few moments and I managed to complete one of the ticket forms before they all sold out. So, yay, going to try getting to camp again, and this time I intend to succeed. Last time I booked but had to cancel for transport reasons, but this time I know all I need to do is put a new roof on my squaredrop and I'll be ready to roll.

Now to think about whether - and what - to present about. Raspberry Pi's, espresso coffee, and indieweb blogging come to mind.

What's really in a name

2012-02-04 12:00:00 - by alisonw Events Camps

Yesterday I attended BenefitsCamp ], which was considering various ideas and creating option around the issues related to the UK benefits system.

I'll write elsewhere on my main topic of interest, as it has rather 'grown wings' and deserves a discussion site of its own to be better reviewed and taken forward, but one of the points I made during the event was about the name given to the field.

Often seen on job advertisements – or a part of an interview process – is that matter of salary. And alongside 'salary' comes 'benefits', which might be a subsidised canteen, service discounts, pension contributions, or regular bonus payments. And the bankers have made 'bonus' a very bad word indeed.

Benefits are too often perceived as just another name for 'extras'.

So what happens when that same word is applied to payments made to those unemployed, or disabled, or injured and temporarily unable to work? Parts of the media name these payments – which provide a roof over someone's head and allow them to eat, are pretty minimal in the first place – 'benefit' in a way which makes them sound both undeserved by the recipient, and some sort of penalty to the tax-payers who provide the funding to the government.

So the next question, clearly, is what such life-sustaining payments should be called instead.