The first is a game, created by Little Loud for Channel 4, to highlight sweatshops in the fashion industry. It was developed in conjuncture with Labour Behind the Label, and aimed to engage young people with the issues in a fun and enlightening way.

Their video is great too. I think there are lots of really awful animations around at the moment, but this one shows how they should be done (show don’t tell!).

The game received lots of award nominations, and gets the (more important) Esther Freeman seal of approval. Just a shame Apple deemed fit to ban it from their app store. The digital giant said it was because of moral issues concerning the role of the player as a sweatshop owner…and has absolutely nothing to do with Apple being involved with sweatshops. Nothing.

The other great bit of tech I’ve seen this week is Amnesty NZ Trial By Timeline.

A really ingenious way of linking people’s own lives with the human rights abuses that take place around the world. Using data from personal Facebook pages, the app can tell you how you would have been punished for various activities in countries around the world. For example, having identified myself as atheist would have lead to me being punished in around five different countries.

Did you know that people with digital skills can earn up to 10% more than those with out?

The digital skills gap is becoming an increasing issue in today’s society. Those without proper access to ICT education, equipment and opportunity are going to become more and more marginalised.

A new project launching in East London aims to readdress that balance, by teaching teenagers to design and build their own computer games using a programme called Scratch. Scratch software has been specially designed to get young people interested in computer coding. The programme will be taught at hackjam.it, a free two-day workshop during the May half-term.

The event takes place in Walthamstow, which has one of the highest rates of child poverty in the country. One in five young people live in a family where neither parent works, and a third of 16-24 year olds are unemployed.

So we need to find these young people job opportunities. But they don’t just deserve jobs, they deserve good jobs where they can make a positive contribution to our growing digital economy.

Nobody is making things easy for them though. Education Secretary, Michael Gove has stopped all ICT education in schools for two years while they reassess the quality of teaching. That’s fine if you’re 8 years old. By the time you get to secondary school there will be a nice new programme in place. But what if you’re 14, and you’re from a low income family? There’s no Macbook for you to play on when you get home. The only access to IT may be in your school – and now it’s gone.

hackjam.it is attempting to fill that gap. Working in one of Walthamstow’s poorest wards the aim is to give young people the opportunity to play and experiment with technology in a fun and safe environment.

The event takes place at the Priory Court Community Centre on 28th and 29th May 2013. If you are interested in booking a place please get in touch.

Priority is being give to young people in Walthamstow, particularly those in the William Morris ward. However the overall aim is to support young people who currently find themselves excluded from the digital industry, so applications from young people outside the area, who fit the criteria, will also be considered.

The criteria includes…

• Girls aged between 14-18
• Young offenders/those at risk of offending
• Young people in care/recent care leavers

For more information visit hackjam.it

It took no time at all for me to answer the question, for the person who inspires me has been in my mind since I first heard about her six months ago. Her name is Malala Yousafzai, and at age 9 she started blogging for the BBC protesting the prohibition of female education under Taliban ruled Pakistan.

Not only did a child take on one of the most brutal forces in the world right now, she did it at the risk of her own life. She’s so utterly brave and determined that I find it hard to write about her without getting a lump in my throat.

Ever since I heard about her I’ve felt that I can’t possibly stop what I’m doing. Because if a 15 year old (as she is now) can take a bullet in the head for what she believes in, I can do my bit too. Whatever it takes.

Read more about Malala.

Campaigning and social issues has always been at my heart and it just didn’t really seem to fit in.

But then You Tube happened and the world of campaigning changed. I started messing around in video and before I knew it I was making short campaigning films on a range of subjects.

Over the past year I’ve also started working more with my husband, who is a TV editor. Together we’ve been taking on more and more ambitious projects (our latest in production is for Shelter, which I’m sure I’ll be sharing more about later). By the end of the year we had a growing portfolio of work, but not a proper way of showing it off properly.

So now we have a proper company, with a proper website. So I’d like to introduce to you Script Shoot Cut, which tells the whole story of our funny little journey.

That’s not to say I’m circumventing all the other digital work I do. Working on just one thing would be WAY too boring! Instead it’s just a way of us saying we’re doing this properly now, and we’d like you to come and take a look at what we do.

What I hadn’t known before was the huge contribution Polish allies made to code breaking efforts. Being of Polish heritage myself, and living in an area with a big Polish population, I felt warmed by this. It’s inspired me to take a closer look into the other contributions Polish people have made to our communities.

So this summer I’m working with a group of local researchers, web developers and community experts, to build a digital heritage project. It will document the pattern of Polish migration in to Waltham Forest, and look at the various ways they have contributed to our society since the war.

The project will focus on oral histories, but being the 21st Century, we’ll be collecting these stories online, in a specially created website that will feature user generated content.

A special open evening is being held on Thursday 10th January at The Mill, E17. Anyone interested in getting involved, finding out more, or simply wants to share a few ideas to help shape the project is welcome to drop in at anytime between 6pm – 9pm.

We hope the project will recognise the Polish community as more than just builders, and celebrate the huge amount they have contributed to our society.

For further information on the open evening please visit The Mill’s website. Alternatively email polishmemories@gmail.com

It was a real pleasure to be working with them on this, and I’d encourage you to get involved by signing the petition.

If you haven’t seen it yet then definitely check out the Revolution Will Be Televised. It’s activism cleverly dressed up as comedy, getting it a prime slot on BBC3. Yes, that’s right, in between the likes of Freaky Eaters and Snog, Marry or Avoid is some proper good old political campaigning. Who would have thought?!

And the comedy geniuses behind the Revolution Will Be Televised have also created short films for both ActionAid and Amnesty International.

Not quite as funny, but equally as daring is the UK Uncut black tie activists film. Although it doesn’t have the slick writing talent of Heydon Prowse and Jolyon Rubenstien, the set up is good enough to prompt some hilarious reactions from the targets. Favourite line being the Montgomery Burns style howl of : “I’ll set the dogs on you.”

I contacted a number of non-profit organisations asking them to donate photos for the exhibition. The response was generally positive with campaigners interested and engaged by the idea.

But then one organisation, who had originally agreed to help, got twitchy. The request had triggered a larger debate within their organisation about the ethics of photos, particularly those of children.

It wasn’t that they didn’t understand about consent or model release forms. Indeed they had a library of photos that they used regularly. The problem as they saw it was when photographing children experiencing abuse. These children were often too young to give  consent or even understand what it was they were consenting to. And often it was either not possible nor safe to get their parents to provide it.

In an attempt to help them I started to research photo consent policies. Interestingly, most  were aimed at photographers and were quite generic in their scope. If they did mention children they simply said consent from parents must be gained, but said nothing about what you should do if this is not possible. So instead I went to some of the larger non-profit organisations working in a similar field.

I found some good resources through this route, but when I returned to my charity partner they were still not convinced. They looked at the websites of the organisations in question and claimed they were not following their own rules. They insisted that it would have been impossible to get consent for a large number of the children featured on their websites.

Not being an expert in the field I can’t comment on whether this was true, but clearly there were some issues with certain children in certain situations. This may include child soldiers, child slaves or those kept as sex workers. Informed or parental consent for these young people is unlikely to be obtainable. Yet without the power of photography, in a busy multimedia environment, how do we share their stories and bring their issues to the attention of the world?

The experience has given me lots of food for thought, and I hope in the long term we’ll find a solution. In the short term however my exhibition took place without that stunning photo of the little boy with beautiful brown eyes, stuck behind a spinning wheel making clothes for our High Street. You’ll just have to take my word for it – it would have made you want to take action.

The exhibition, Fashion’s Dirty Secrets has now ended, but you can catch up online at www.mswandas.co.uk

I’ve remain doggedly optimistic about the Olympics even in the face of the, quite frankly, horrific sponsors. But I understand why people feel fed up with all the sponsorship.

Out of a total cost of £12 billion, corporate sponsors pay only £2billion, which mainly comes via LOCOG. Despite the small percentage they pay they have extraordinary rights. Not only do they get their own Games Lanes, but they’ve also claimed ownership over certain elements of the Games, for example the Torch Relay.

I enjoyed my local Olympic Torch ceremony as I had the honour of meeting some brilliantly inspiring torch bearers. However, after three hours of advertising dressed up as entertainment I started to feel like Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange.

But then I got an idea: I’ve always believed that digital is the democratisation of communication, and tools like smart phones and You Tube make sharing thoughts, views and information so easy. So why not use these tools to portray the Olympics through the eyes local people? But to do that I need your help.

This is my ask: I’m looking for citizen shot footage of the Olympic Torch Relay. Anything you’ve shot on your phone, camcorder or any other device. I’m specifically looking for footage from Saturday 21st July when the torch came to Waltham Forest in London. However if you have something else that you think is real gold then get in touch and let me know. I’m looking for both footage of the torch itself and also anything that expressed your thoughts and feelings on the day, so long as it was shot on the day on the Relay route.

For further details and information on how to share the footage please contact me

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Terms and conditions

You must own the footage yourself and be willing to give us permission to use it free of charge
Do not send us footage of anything you have filmed off a TV or local Big Screen
By sending us footage you are consenting to it being in a short film we’re making for Waltham Forest Council as part of the Artists Taking Part project

The next Eco Tweet Up will take place in September during Social Media Week. This social is to share ideas about what that event might look like…but also just to have a few drinks and chin wag with fellow social entrepreneurs, campaigns and other lovely people.

The social takes place from 6.30pm on Wednesday 18th July at St Chad’s Bar in Kings Cross (but it’s a relaxed come and go as you please). Although it’s just a social event, I’ve set up an Eventbrite page, and would encourage you to register if you want to come along, just so I have an idea of numbers and can reserve a suitable space.

Hope to see some of you there.