Monday, May 07, 2007

Social Media Experiment

Ronni Bennett writes over at Time Goes By, about elderblogging and how to use the Internet to counteract ageism in America. Ronni had an impressive career in television broadcasting in New York and is now blogging her way into very active retirement. I contacted Ronni to broadcast a personal request for help to an audience that is most likely to be able to provide it, and Ronni ran with the ball.

However, my dear readers, in case you're not (yet) in the habit of reading Ronni's blog, please pop over there to see how a professional presents a challenge and an opportunity for Web 2.0 to make a difference across the digital divide: finding a suitable computer coach for an 81-year-old WWII vet (my brother, shown in the photo) who lives in a wheelchair in Santa Monica, 8,000 miles away from Tel Aviv and me.

Perhaps you even know someone who wants to help? Put a comment at Ronni's, here, or email me at savtadotty {at} gmail {dot} com.

4 comments:

Mortart said...

I'm an 82-year old WWII vet and regret that I'm too far away from Santa Monica to be of help to your brother. (I'm in NJ and Fla.) But I'm delighted to have found your wonderful blog via Ronni Bennett. Were it not for my wife, I probably would have emulated what you did in making aliyah. But I have lots of links to Israel--cousins in Herzliya and elsewhere, a grandfather and 2 uncles buried there, and even a street bearing my family name in Nahariya, spelled the Polish way(Rajczyk), named after a second cousin and Holocaust survivor who owned the Carleton Hotel there.
www.octogenarian.blogspot.com

SavtaDotty said...

Mortart - Welcome anyhow! I hope you visit us here soon. The Carleton Hotel was where I spent my first night in Israel, in 1985. I have friends who live in your town in NJ, so I'll email you to see whether you know them. Social networking, otherwise known as "Jewish geography."

Anonymous said...

My brother helped set up my mother on a macintosh.. they are much more easy to use.

It is such a huge leap, though.. Any encouragement to take classes should be something that is important. Change will happen and connectivity is very helpful.

SavtaDotty said...

Motherpie - You're right about the Macintosh being easier, but classes are not practical in this case: he cannot go anywhere without an attendant.