Google interactivism-#thinkkids

This week I had the privilege of being a judge at google campus with NSPCC, coadec and futuregov. Having been involved in the short listing for the past few weeks which included conference calls and web-chats on NSPCCs custom made social network platform named n-spire. It was a fantastic experience to finally choose the winner.

The short listers were as follows:

Twoten- Filtering service that grows with the child, ensuring age appropriate content. @TwoTen_is

Digital disruption- Campaign to teach kids to think critically about their online experience using gaming and educational tools @digidisrupt

2ndfriend- Providing a counselling service to young people who need to talk anything cyberspace. @Second_Friend

The thought process tapped into a lot of experienced mindsets ranging from parents, industry leaders and a leading children's charity to one of the country's leading psychologists.

Judging Panel:

Jon Brown – NSPCC, Head of Strategy and Development

Dominic Campbell-Future Gov

Jeff Lynn - Co-founder and CEO at Seedrs

Dr Linda Papadopoulos – One of the most well-known and respected
psychologists working in the UK today.

Ciarán Weir- NSPCC young ambassador

Hamza Latif- NSPCC young ambassador


Young people from the NSPCCs influential participation unit played an instrumental part in the event. Having worked directly with the home office, foreign office and Microsoft on cyber space issues. They brought their skills, experience and expertise. They grilled the short listers offering their feedback which in true P-Unit style was both constructive and positive.

There were a few continuous themes throughout the event which was held at google campus in London. One being how industry should consider and consult young people when developing software to protect them.

The other which was how crucial it is that we find the balance of protecting children and young people online without infringing on their right to privacy.

Moving forward, I feel like the message was heard loud and clear.

The winner was twoten which was praised for it's respect for young people's privacy and the empowerment for parents to safely filter web activity without directly interfering. They will be awarded a space at google campus to further develop their software, with a space to pick some google minds.

Ciarán Weir

For more info on the event you can follow @SimplCo

Being 20 in 2012

Can you remember being 20?

When I first started to write this article my title was being 20 in 2012. My usual turn around for an article is one week; this article has taken me a staggering two months. My thoughts constantly changed which lead to a lot of editing. I write for a lot for various different publications and when writing I write about things that make me feel both inspired and passionate.

When I sat down I knew I wanted to give a young person’s perspective on the world. The truth is, I didn’t feel equipped to paint an accurate and representative picture of the world. I knew what it was like to be 20 but I felt like I could have known more about what that means in 2012.
My creative process for this article took me on a rather wild Journey, Something I was not expecting. I wanted to write about being 20 in 2012 but instead I began a journey of  research and self discovery. I delved deeper into myself and the world surrounding me challenging my deepest ingrained beliefs.
I have always had a very real understanding of the world around me. I consider us as a collective entity, as planet not as a country or nation.

The world is a lot of things, and I always knew the world was corrupt. That money makes the world go around and that it’s every man and woman for themselves. I’ve known that the colour of your skin can determine your opportunities in life, that your gender identity can determine how much respect you are shown. Or your sexual orientation can determine if you have the right to life in some extreme cases.
I think at the present moment in time the world is undergoing a shift in consciousness, people are waking up and realising it’s time to change. It’s easy to forget that in every single era of history things were different. We as people have never been so tuned in but so unwilling to do anything about it. Are we missing the bigger picture? The bigger picture is that things can change. In every era in history change had to happen for us to get to now. How is it that we live in a democratic society but our governments’ do what’s in the interest of the few at the peril of the many?

Flowing through every issue either directly or indirectly is money. How would we cope without money?  Why has it become the lifeblood of today’s society? Are we being held at knifepoint by an invisible force that essentially was created by us in the first place? Sadly we have been conditioned into a rat race where everyone is trying to get ahead of everyone else regardless of morals. 

Society tells us that we have made it when we have a penthouse apartment and all the material possessions we want at our disposal. What society should tell us is that we have made it if we make history in trying to change the world, that we leave behind a legacy in helping others who are less fortunate that ourselves. Ironically those less fortunate than ourselves probably wouldn’t be if money wasn’t the driver behind the wheel of this crazy train we call life.

Why should I work hard and do something that I don’t care about just so I can be happy. For me happiness is a journey it is not a destination. I want to work with an NGO and naturally I want to help people. I have no bloodthirsty desire to worship the corporate world. I will not Bow to the Dow so to speak.  
What if I told you 3 billion people are living in absolute poverty?  Does it make sense that some people are allowed to have more than others? Could you live on £1 per day? Why should those 3 billion people? At what point do we stop ignoring this? We have been tackling global poverty for years and the gap between the rich and the poor is only widening.

It’s okay to admit that we may have it wrong. It’s okay for us to try something new. What’s not ok is, to simply sit back and say that scientist will come up with more energy or governments will solve the world economic crisis.

Don’t be a bystander in the revolution, don’t leave it up to politicians. Get up, stand up and speak up.

Ciarán Weir

@CiaranWeir
Ciaranweir91@gmail.com