Fancy a free ticket to Update in Brighton on 5 September?

Update 25 August 2011: *Please note* All free tickets have now been allocated. You can still buy tickets at http://updateconf.com/. See some of you there!

Yes, that's right. We have some free tickets for Update up for grabs on a first-come, first-served basis courtesy of BrandPerfect http://brandperfect-tour.com/. The Brighton-based Update Conference is aimed at designers and developers working on or about to be working on mobile projects. Find out more about the conference here http://updateconf.com/

To request a free ticket, please email brandperfect@monotypeimaging.co.uk with MoMoLo Free Ticket in the subject header. If there are still free places left, you'll then be given a unique code and URL to use to claim your free ticket straight away. At the last count, there were 20 tickets available to the Mobile Monday London community...

Accessibility workshops in September 2011 - Register your interest

Interested in attending one of our accessibility workshops in London, Manchester, Belfast or Edinburgh? If so, please register your interest here so that we can confirm details of location and dates where we don't have them yet and confirm your place where we do.

You can fill in the form by clicking this link to a google form https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFpweVhJX2Z6OWtRbldQczUyX2ZPUWc6MQ

Or it is embedded below for you as well.

Accessibility Workshops ahoy! Speakers and contributors wanted!

As you may already be aware, the lovely people at Vodafone Foundation have set up the Smart Accessibility Awards http://developer.vodafone.com/smartaccess2011/ which Mobile Monday London is actively supporting. To remind you quickly, these awards are to celebrate apps that help people in four key areas: Social participation, independent living, mobility and well-being.

As part of this initiative, we've teamed up with the ICT KTN http://www.ictktn.org.uk and Vodafone Foundation Smart Accessibility Awards to bring you 4 half-day workshops looking at this area specifically which will run in September. We'll be running workshops with our sister Mobile Monday chapters in London (date tbc), Manchester (w/c 19 September), Edinburgh (16 September) and Belfast (26 September). There will also be workshops in Amsterdam, Madrid and Berlin in September. And we need your help please.

The goal of the workshops is to inspire and enable application developers to create useful tools for people who have visual, aural, cognitive or other impairments by helping them understand and empathize what life is like for people in this situation. This empathy and understanding is created by bringing together developers and accessibility advocates and people with impairments to exchange information, and allowing developers to experience simulations of being impaired.

App developers who have had the opportunity to experience as directly as possible, first or second-hand, what it means to live with specific impairments, and have been put in touch with the larger community around accessibility, create more effective apps to better the quality of life for everyone. The result not only helps people with major disabilities, but also people with minor or temporary impairments, for example due to ageing or illness.

The format of the workshops will be discussion based and there will be technical people on hand to answer specific questions related to Android, but there will be different speakers and contributors to reflect the local scene. That means we're on the hunt for speakers and contributors who have something to share in this topic area. Perhaps you have an impairment yourself and can tell us what the implications are for your mobile and digital life? Or maybe you've done research in this area? Perhaps you have a mobile product or service and you can share that case study? Perhaps you understand the commercial opportunity that this represents? Or perhaps you work in a relevant third sector organisation and can bring some insight? Or maybe you're an Android expert who really understands this accessibility question?

If you'd like to contribute, or can recommend someone you think would be a great contributor, please get in touch with Helen Keegan.

Thanks in advance

Vodafone Foundation Smart Accessibility Awards–now open for entries until midday 15 October 2011

Mobile Monday London is very pleased to be supporting the very first Vodafone Foundation Smart Accessibility Awards. This is a new global contest to promote the development of IT applications designed to improve the lives of those with disabilities and people that are older, to help them get more actively involved in society.

The programme is supported and co-organized by AGE Platform Europe, the European network of around 160 organisations of and for people aged 50+, and the European Disability Forum (EDF), the NGO that represents the interests of 80 million Europeans with disabilities.

Launched in Brussels, the competition will award the best smartphone application in four areas:

• Social participation: refers to applications which help users to become more involved in today's society and help them benefit from using new technologies, whatever their age and/or capacity.   The aim is to help everyone to access the web and social media through smartphones.
• Independent living: refers to applications which help users with everyday tasks such as washing or opening a door easily and safely so that they can live more independently
• Mobility: refers to applications which enable users to travel freely and safely whatever kind of transport system they would like to use. It also refers to the use of GPS and locations apps which can help guide people in unfamiliar places.
• Wellbeing: refers to applications which improve the users' health and overall feeling of wellbeing.

Entrants can compete for a share of the €200k prize fund until 15 October 2011 by submitting your entries on the site http://developer.vodafone.com/smartaccess2011/submit/

Entries will be judged on four things within each category –

1. Effectiveness
2. Availability and affordability
3. User-friendliness, usability and accessibility
4. Design for all

More about the selection criteria and process is here http://developer.vodafone.com/smartaccess2011/selection-process/ 

It is also worth noting that Vodafone recognises that confidentiality plays a huge part in any organisation. This is why Vodafone will ensure your entry is kept confidential and will not seek to own any IP (intellectual property) from your entry – which means that’s a no-strings cash prize.

• All entries are confidential and will not be distributed outside of this competition.
• Vodafone does not seek to own any  intellectual property in relation to entries for the Vodafone Foundation Smart Accessibility Awards.
• Any applications submitted as part of the competition can be used by Vodafone for distribution, advertising and promotion in relation to the Vodafone Foundation Smart Accessibility Awards.
• A working Android 2.2+ APK application file must be submitted.

Please do check the terms and conditions too http://developer.vodafone.com/smartaccess2011/legal/

So get those thinking caps on. Dust off your apps and get your entries in. All finalists will benefit from positive publicity as well as having a shot at the main prizes.

Also watch this space for some workshops and talks coming in August and September covering accessibility and design for mobile with impairment and disability in mind. We’ll also be adding more resources to the awards website over time and will be sharing things on twitter and Facebook too. A few likes on our Facebook page would be lovely too. 

And if you would like someone from Vodafone or one of the awards partners to come and speak on this topic at an event you’re running in the UK, Spain, The Netherlands or Germany, please get in touch.  

Good luck!