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Thursday Aug 06, 2009

Goodbye Olly, hello Lifetracks

Hello…again

Thought I’d just pop my head in and say hi before I start posting my thoughts and reflections on all things site-y.

Big thanks to Olly for covering my maternity leave and doing such a superb job at standing in as the Editorial Manager for the past year. TheSite.org is really going to miss him, but luckily here at YouthNet we don’t have to as he’s only headed a few feet away to the other side of the office to take on a new role on do-it!

Although I’ve only just officially taken back over my role on TheSite.org I’ve been back at YouthNet since February working on YouthNet’s latest big project – a new website called Lifetracks.

Not heard of it yet? The idea is simple – there isn’t enough good information and help out there for young people to further their studies and careers. For a long time here at YouthNet we’ve been moaning about how so many of the websites on this subject just look like sites made by the government. They’re text heavy, design light and do nothing to get you inspired to do anything with your life.

After one moan too many we decided it was time to take the plunge and do something about it. So we put a plan together, found some lovely partners to do all the work ‘on the ground’ (i.e. not online) and were awarded the funds to put the plan into action.

So, thanks to our fab funders (Vodafone and v) we now have to put our money where our mouth is and prove that we can inspire young people to find out what they want to do with their lives and help them get there.

It’s a big ask and we haven’t quite cracked it yet, but we’re getting there. Our test version of the Lifetracks website went live at the end of June and we’ve got a group of young people involved in an online consultation so we can hear how they want us to develop it. It’s early days (the website currently has lots of content but is lacking lots of functionality) but we’re constantly developing and adding new, exciting features.

We’d love to hear what you think, so head over to see where we’ve got to so far. Post a comment on this blog, on the discussion boards – or if you’re keen to really help us shape it into something good then join the consultation. It’s the only way we can make sure we make it exactly what you want it to be.

Posted by Hannah ( 2:03 PM ) Link to this post  |  Comments[1]