What an incredibly strange few weeks it\u2019s been . . . not least on the digital front.<\/p>\n
My mischievous cat Uhtred became an internet sensation. Apparently his standard trick of jumping into a cardboard box<\/a> warrants almost a million views on LADbible – strange times.<\/p>\n My youngest daughter recorded that footage and posted it on social media, catching the eye of the Daily Mail and it went viral from there. Another virus then sabotaged her 21st birthday party. A FaceTime call just wasn\u2019t the same but we will celebrate in style when all this has passed.<\/p>\n Last week I was delighted to be given the job of leading Dorset Council\u2019s work to improve and exploit mobile connectivity. We\u2019ll be starting with the 5G RuralDorset project<\/a> but have other exciting ideas. Watch this space.<\/p>\n First job was recruiting a Project Manager. The virus meant we interviewed candidates by Skype, including one chap sitting in a shirt and tie in his camper van over a 4G phone connection.<\/p>\n Meanwhile my cats are wondering why we are spending so much time in their house. Two of the family head out to work each morning, one to support prisoners due for release and the other to teach the children of key workers. No Easter holidays for her this year.<\/p>\n My eldest daughter now attends university lectures online from home and I work in a corner of the kitchen. Thank goodness we invested in a decent internet connection.<\/p>\n I have been really impressed how Dorset Council has transformed itself into a digital organisation overnight. Its investment in mobile working and tools such as Microsoft Teams is really paying dividends.<\/p>\n We can\u2019t empty the bins online, but lots of other services are now completely online and digital tools are supporting key departments as they keep essential services going and support the must vulnerable. In our house we are doing our bit by picking up prescriptions and other essentials for neighbours who can\u2019t get out.<\/p>\n Two other digital firsts for me this week. I enjoyed an online gig when one of my favourite artists Frank Turner streamed a live performance<\/a> from his front room over Facebook. He was raising money for The Joiners, one of the independent venues so critical to nurturing young musical talent.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not young and I don\u2019t have much talent, but I also did my first guitar lesson by Skype this week. It went so well I think I might save myself the drive to Yeovil and back in future.<\/p>\n I wonder how many other aspects of our lives will remain digital when all this is over . . ?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What an incredibly strange few weeks it\u2019s been . . . not least on the digital front. My mischievous cat Uhtred became an internet sensation. Apparently his standard trick of jumping into a cardboard box warrants almost a million views on LADbible – strange times. My youngest daughter recorded that footage and posted it on… Read more Viral videos, online lessons and interviews via camper van<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/files\/2020\/04\/Uhtred3.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":571,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569\/revisions\/571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/digital-first\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}