University of the Third Age, Chester

Selected 'Signpost' links received during 2011 - computing, science and technology topics

• Alison ABC IT, a free, online, self-certifiable course which introduces the beginner and near beginner to IT literacy.
• Ask Bob Rankin for expert tech advice about computers or the internet - highly recommended!
• 20 things I learned about browsers and the web - free guide to the internet.
• GCFLearnFree.org provides online learning opportunities for those who want to improve their computing skills.
• Free tutorials for anyone learning, teaching or using OpenOffice.
• Gizmo's Freeware, a non-commercial community website, provides advice on the best freeware products.
• The demo version of Applian Technologies 'Replay Media Capture' is free and will convert a YouTube clip to a file.
• Free professionally produced training manuals for Office 2003 and 2007, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, FrontPage, Project and Access.
• Prey is free open source software that lets you keep track of your phone or laptop at all times, and will help you find it if it ever gets lost or stolen.
• Zooniverse, home to the internet's largest citizen science projects.
• The Science and Technology Facilities Council tackles some of the most significant challenges facing society. Part of Research Councils UK.

Selected 'Signpost' links received during 2011 - general topics

• The Crafty Writer's free online creative writing course gives an introduction to the basic elements of creative writing, from prose fiction to poetry.
• The Royal School of Needlework is the international centre for teaching, practicing and promoting hand embroidery across a wide range of techniques.
• BBC - essential phrases in 40 languages.
• TED - riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world.
• Use Blurb website to write and publish a book.
• Use the Premium Rate Regulatory Body's website to check any unusual number beginning 09 or 08.
• The Open Culture website brings together free, high-quality educational media, including audio books, online courses, language lessons and ebooks.
• UCL Lunch Hour Lectures, an opportunity for anyone to sample the research work taking place at UCL, in bite sized chunks.
• The Encyclopedia Mythica is an award-winning internet encyclopedia of mythology, folklore, and religion.
• U3A Online GEMs contain useful free resources and interesting research snippets on health and lifestyle.
• The Blackwork Embroidery Archives is a collection of 'Original Blackwork Patterns Inspired by Historical Sources'.
• Garden Banter, a web gateway to gardening newsgroups.
• The New Economics Foundation is an independent think-and-do tank that inspires and demonstrates real economic well-being.
• The National Archives is the UK government's official archive, containing over 1,000 years of history - from Domesday Book to the latest websites.
• PaleoBabble blog describes itself as 'Your antidote to cyber-twaddle and misguided research about the ancient world'.
• freedocumentaries.org is a website with more than 200 documentary films, or links to those films, many of them controversial.

Selected 'Signpost' links received during 2010

Here are a few useful websites from U3A Signpost issues over the last year.

• The Poetry Archive aims to make poetry accessible, relevant and enjoyable.
• A huge number of books and magazines are now available to read FREE at Google Books.
• The Institution of Engineering and Technology (formerly the IEE), one of the world's leading professional societies.
• A range of fun, interactive language games lets you practise your French and Spanish.
• Project Gutenberg lets you download over 30,000 free ebooks to read on your PC, iPhone, Kindle etc.
• Musicarta, a collection of free piano lessons and tips and techniques for keyboard players.
• EurekAlert!, an online news service operated by AAAS, the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
• The Chess Website, said to be 'brand new and better than ever'.
• The Khan Academy provides lessons, as video clips, in Biology, Chemistry, History, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics etc.