RuthEllison.com

Just a gentle reminder that the next Canberra Web Standards Group meeting is happening this Thursday (31 May 2007). We got two great speakers coming in to speak to us - John Allsopp who’s speaking about Microformats and Brian Hardy who is speaking about accessibility and PDFs.

Please RSVP via the website!

I’ve always been passionate about accessibility and in particular, the social aspects and implications of living with disabilities. One of the blogs I follow on a regular basis is Glenda Hyatt’s Do It Myself Blog. Glenda shares her experiences about living with cerebral palsy and it’s just fascinating having the opportunity to get an insight into her life and the interesting challenges that she and her husband face. Glenda recently posted about the Blog For a Year competition.

Blog For a Year is a social sponsorship experiment by Charles Jolley that awards one winner a year-long contract to blog full time on a blog of his or her own choosing. The award is funded by donations from the community and sponsors. The competition ends when the Blogger Fund reaches $160,000 or on January 1, 2008, whichever comes first.

It’s an interesting concept. Glenda writes:

Blogging is fulfilling my childhood dream of having a regular column in which to share personal experiences of living with a disability so that readers may come to know me, the person, and to realize that I am more than my cerebral palsy. My goal is to alleviate people’s fears of those with disabilities in a non-confrontational and humorous way. Unlike writing a column in a local newspaper, blogging has allowed me to touch people from around the world. My dream would be even sweeter if I could find a way to be paid for blogging.

You can vote once a day for a blogger of your choice. I’m showing my support for Glenda by voting for her. You can support her too!

It was the RSPCA Million Paws Walk on Sunday. The Million Paws Walk is an annual event held around Australia. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, with lots of very cute doggies running around in excitement. I soaked up enough doggy cuteness to last until I can get back to Perth to see Zoe!

The above photo is of Camry the beagle. He is a member of Dog Rock! - the dog orchestra that my acapella group accompanied. Isn’t he cute? What makes him even cuter in real life is that he’s one of the best behaved dogs I’ve ever seen.

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Calling all Aussies - If you can only make it to one conference this year, make sure that it’s Web Directions South. The website has just launched, and there’s a great line up of international and local speakers. The venue has moved to the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre as well as the Powerhouse Museum. Very cool! Make sure you get in early for the early bird pricing. Tickets do tend to sell out fast.

Dumping computers willy-nilly without any thought on the impact on the environment is one issue that has been bothering me for a few years. So I was really excited when I discovered that DELL Computers and ANUgreen are running a computer recycling event on Saturday 26th May 2007.
Details are:

The ACT community is being invited to drop off their old computers for recycling at a carpark on the ANU - FREE of CHARGE!

What: DELL Recycling event
When: Saturday May 26th 2007, 9.00am until 3.00pm
Where: Lennox Crossing, carpark opposite University House

They are also looking for volunteers. If you want to help out, or just want further information, contact Millie Rooney (millie.rooney@anu.edu.au) or John Sullivan (john.sullivan@anu.edu.au). I suggest getting in contact with them to confirm the details of the event.

Edit: post updated with corrected times.