U3A Sample

This illustrates the kind of free website which you could create with Google Sites for your own U3A Group or for personal use.  To do so first you you need to set up a free Gmail or Google mail account. Here's how.

Below are some items we've jointly published on this Sample home page over recent months. Your site will feature your own interests - eg latest newsletter; course schedule; meeting dates; class photos etc. The most recent items are highlighted in red.

• As we age it's easy to overlook the dangers of back injuries caused by incorrect lifting of common heavy household items like pot plants. Newsletter editors may want to remind readers of sensible lifting advice like "Osteoporosis and lifting as you get older" and other informative research at  http://www.liftsmart.com.au/
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• Convert a pdf or other format to Word. Nothing to download and you can work from any Internet connected computer. The converted document is emailed to your computer within minutes with free Zamzar.
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• Is your printer stealing from you? The cost of ink cartridge replacement is a killer. With an Inkjet printer the average cost is 4-5 cents to print an A4 page in black text and 12-14 cents per page simple colour. This article describes the printer price pitfalls and names the worst brands.
  

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• The Australian New Zealand Breast Cancer Trials Group is seeking 2500 postmenopausal Australian and NZ women to help with this study. Here are the details. Please advise your newsletter editors; link to your websites; email lists etc.
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• There are some outstanding free computer tutorials available through the Internet. Tell your friends about these.   
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• The first Broadband for Seniors kiosk opened recently at Anglesea. Here's a photo of a typical BFS Kiosk. Want to know more?
  

• ATM skimmer advice. Pictures of commonly used devices placed on ATMs to capture your account details.
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•  I recently used my digital camera to photograph scratches on a rental car before I drove it.  Here are six other possible uses for your camera
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• 2009 U3A statistics for Australia and NZ
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• For Vista users - the difference between Sleep and Hibernate (Thank you About Seniors for permission to use)
  

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• A consortium comprising multinational corporation NEC, U3A Online, Adult Learning Australia and Australian Seniors Computer Clubs Association (ASCCA) has won the $15 million Broadband for Seniors tender. Most U3As are already providing Internet tuition for members and could qualify to become one of the 2000 kiosks for seniors to be set up around Australia. The attendant publicity will give considerable recognition of U3As throughout Australia. To see how your U3A can become involved see http://www.necseniors.net.au/
  
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• A useful and easy to manage program for enhancing your digital photographs lies within Microsoft Office. Reprinted with permission from the ASCCA newsletter.

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• The Australian and NZ U3A Research Project. Below are the covering letter and questionnaire which were surface mailed to your U3A. Click each link to open.
  
• Covering letter Covering letter to U3As
• Part A Information from your Committee
• Part B Monetary value on voluntarism
• Part C Possibilities for the Future
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• Here's the kind of outreach project which may interest U3A members. Please give this information to your newsletter editor and to your computer group coordinator.

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• Jing is a brilliant tool for making short educational videos. Here's a sample (you'll need your sound on). Imagine the potential for using Jing to share ideas with your U3A members by email.
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• The Brunswick Valley U3A wiki illustrates how an easily modifiable web site for its U3A members can be set up.
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• Signposts archive: Back issues of interesting ideas for classes or personal interest
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• New interactive wiki for classical music lovers. To join the DISCUSSION you will need the password "bach".
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• The Redlands U3A wiki shows how one U3A is sharing research done by the Famous Australians writers group. 
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• U3A wiki instructions: A 17 page illustrated guide for developing your own Free U3A wiki (see Redlands U3A wiki, Brunswick Valley U3A and classical music lovers wikis above for what some U3As are doing with wikis).
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• Chocolate mug cake 
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• Remember the old computer technology? Punch cards; flexible floppy disks; plastic floppy disks ...! How would you download data on those media now? This short article kindly provided by ASCCA offers a thought-provoking warning.

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• Timewitnesses: A living archive of World War ll stories. Why not preserve your own wartime memory? 
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• Sutherland and Pavarotti Rigoletto Quartet: Linking to You Tube videos could liven up your site. If you don't like this video merely type in the name of your favourite tune or artist, whatever the genre.
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• Valuable Hints
• We all forget passwords. Make a password protection/recovery disk so you can still log on
  
• For XP: Create a password reset disk for Windows XP.doc
• For Vista: Create a password reset disk for Vista.doc
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• Broadband speed increase for Australian readers
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• Wellness made easy
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etc - just keep adding more stories, links and pages to your newsletter or edit out the old ones.