Read the full story at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/08/google.email

"An altruistic Google employee has come up with a system that will block -or at least make you think twice about - the kind of message you will only regret the next day. Mail Goggles, which can be set to spring into action late at night and at weekends, asks emailers to answer a series of short mathematical posers before sending their message off. The idea, according to Gmail engineer Jon Perlow, is to help people who are a little too tired and emotional to foresee the consequences of their actions."

Read the full article at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/06/youtube.youngpeople


Armed with cheap video cameras and the internet, a generation of youngsters are growing up very publicly with online videos - and being failed by adults who are not paying proper attention to this new medium.

That claim is made in a research paper published today by the thinktank Demos. The study, Video Republic, examines the rise of the YouTube generation and considers how their enthusiasm and skills can be encouraged.

"It's now as normal for teenagers to write a blog as it is to write a diary - that's a massive shift," said Celia Hannon, a researcher with Demos and the lead author of the report.

"Youngsters are working out their relationship to the outside world and forging an identity."

Read the full article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/sep/30/students.facebook



Anthony Cugliari shouts to Aradhna Jaswar above the raging dance beat at Birmingham University's freshers' fair. "Hey, we're Facebook friends. It's Aradhna, right?" "Yeah. Hi," she says, eagerly extending the hand that's not clutching her new posters and freebies.

Cugliari, 33, from Canada, and Jaswar, 18, from Wolverhampton, arrived in Birmingham less than a week ago. But they've been Facebook friends for three months - first spotting each other on the social networking site's group for Birmingham University law freshers.

Both joined Facebook specifically to help themselves settle into university life. Cugliari had made 189 Facebook friends at Birmingham before he'd arrived. "I'm already going to the pub with 10 friends as a result," he says. Jaswar says it has calmed her nerves to have had a bit of banter with students on her course before lectures start.

Charlotte Wright, 20 and about to start a maths degree at the University of Leicester, has joined two Facebook groups, one for her course and another for her hall of residence.

"I'm not so worried about being completely alone in a new city any more," she says. "It's been really reassuring to find out that everyone else is also suffering from that awkward mixture of nerves and excitement. Befriending people who've already done the first year of my course has yielded lots of useful advice."

OTI are pleased to announce that our article "Writing therapy using new technologies - The art of blogging"has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Poetry Therapy.  The manuscript is tentatively scheduled for Vol 21 No.4 (December 2008) or No.5 (March 2009).

Watch this space for access to it upon publication!

Kate and DeeAnna

The Online Therapy Institute is official and the proof is in the number of recent new members! Kate and DeeAnna welcome all who have embraced OTI as another place to network, advertise and learn!  Remember to visit us in Second Life as well.  Soon we will integrate group forum discussions at our Second Life office on the Islands of Jokaydia.  

We have other plans as well.  2009 will bring new publications, online courses and more opportunities to network.  Stay tuned!

Kate and DeeAnna