Home News Five things you need to know today Edinburgh

Five things you need to know today Edinburgh

August 21, 2014 6:21 am

Holyrood recess

Museum Lates

Your team

Doctor Who Premiere

Edinburgh Apps

From tonight at midnight The Scottish Parliament enters what is known as purdah: that time between the parliamentary session and the Scottish Independence Referendum on 18 September 2014 when no new legislation can be passed.

No matter what your politics are this is an historic moment in Scotland. We will be at the count at Ingliston on 18 September and propose to bring you live rolling coverage of the event. If you have strong views then now is the time to let us know them. Write to us here for publication.

Deadlines for the Scottish Independence Referendum

The following are the deadline dates

Registering to vote – Tuesday 2 September 2014
New Postal vote applications and Changes to existing postal votes – 5pm Wednesday 3 September 2014
New applications to vote by proxy and changes to existing proxy Votes – 5pm Wednesday 3 September 2014
Emergency proxy applications, without attestation – Wednesday 10 September 2014
Emergency proxy applications, attestation required – 5pm on Thursday 18 September 2014

Further information on the council website about how to register – or you can get a form from your local library.

***

The National Museum of Scotland is open late tomorrow night. You may still be able to get a ticket to this event filled with music brought to you by DJ Lord Holyrude on his vintage gramophone. More details here.

Have a look at what happened at the last adult only event at the Museum!

Museum After Hours from National Museums Scotland on Vimeo.

***

We have a whole area of our site set up to accept your content. Called EdinburghReportage it is firmly based on the same platform as Guardian Witness, and the nice people at The Guardian allow us to use it under our branding.

Our latest storyboard is for you to put up photos of your team – this can be a team that you play for or one that you support. You might have some video content – or you may like to use this space to give us some match reports from matches that are not covered by mainstream media.

But please do use it – it is a playground for our readers! And if you have any suggestions for new storyboards then let us know!

Click here to make your contribution to Your Team.

***

Doctor Who fans will already know that this Saturday is the start of the new season with Peter Capaldi as the Doctor. But did you know that you can watch a special screening of the first episode on Thursday afternoon as part of The Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival?

“Peter Capaldi’s first appearance as The Doctor will be show on BBC1 and in selected cinemas around the world on Saturday 23rd August but the episode will premier in Edinburgh, as part of the Festival, on Thursday 21st August. The feature length escapade ‘Deep Breath’ is set to be a spectacular beginning of an exciting new chapter in The Doctor Who saga. – See more at: http://thisisedinburgh.com/whats-on/the-guardian-edinburgh-international-television-festival-2014/#sthash.HLe3n8ca.dpuf

Enjoy Edinburgh tell you how:

Post by Enjoy Edinburgh.

Tickets for the public screenings can be booked in person at The Filmhouse Cinema, by phoning 0131 228 2688 or online at http://www.filmhousecinema.com/. Timings for the screenings can also be found on the Filmhouse website.

Tickets for Doctor Who and Dynamo: Magician Impossible will cost £10 / £8 concession, Showrunners £6 / £4 concession.

***

Forward-thinkers are being challenged to come up with innovative solutions to help improve the lives of people in Edinburgh.

EdinburghApps, run by City of Edinburgh Council, pits teams and individuals against one another to create fresh and creative concepts using Council and partner data.

Launched in 2013, the event offered winners business support and the opportunity to work with the Council to develop their concepts further.

Now the competition will return for a second year, in partnership with Transport for Edinburgh , and will centre on two themes: Health and Culture and Sport.

Designers, developers, start-up businesses and other entrants will be able to use data provided to create apps, websites or other concepts. Ideas should either help citizens live healthy and independent lives or encourage interest and participation in culture and sport.

This year’s EdinburghApps event will launch on 5th September with an Ice Breaker evening at the School of Informatics Forum, where anyone interested in entering will hear more information about the challenge and themes.

Participants will then be given seven weeks to work on their ideas before presenting them at a judging and awards event on 26th October. A series of drop-in sessions will be run during this period to allow competitors to discuss their entries further.

Convener of Finance and Resources Alasdair Rankin

Councillor Alasdair Rankin, the city’s Finance & Resources Convener, said: “Technology is key to creating a thriving, equal society and events like these show the multitude of ways we can harness its benefits.

“We were incredibly impressed by the range and quality of entries in 2013 and I look forward to seeing what this year’s entries have to offer.”

Organisers are hoping to attract a similar calibre of entries to last year’s EdinburghApps, which was won by Joint Equipment Store, an app that helps Council lorries operate more efficiently, and Trashman, another app helping the public to locate their nearest recycling bank.

Thanks to the competition these apps are now due for release by the Council in October.

EdinburghApps also ran an interim Hackathon in June, when participants were challenged to use data from the Council, Scottish Government and other partners to come up with solutions to improve road safety.

If you are interested in taking part in this event, visit the EdinburghApps website and register on the event page or emailedinburghapps@edinburgh.gov.uk.

Find out more about the Council’s Open Data Strategy on the website.