London Region ICT Champion

The Circuit Rider Conference, hosted at BVSC on 15-16 January 2007 is now booking.

The conference offers 2 days of sessions including practical workshops, discussion of ethical practice and tools to enhance the Circuit Rider toolkit. Other highlights include Speed Casting - a 5 minute ‘edited highlights’ presentation from each project, affinity groups for those interested in similar themes,a cyber cafe and lastly a liquid/evening reception for those needing stronger refreshment.

When we went to check out the hotel facilities at the Macdonald Burlington on behalf of those wanting to stay overnight, we found this wonderful description of the ambience people can expect:

“The Berlioz restaurant offers an air of sophistication and poise for the special evening occasion. Then again, with an actor’s panache, it can change its mood during the daytime to reflect a more effervescent, businesslike atmosphere to complement a light lunch.”

Well, we’re sold on it and if you book before 15 December you can get the hotel’s early bird discount rate of £72 for a single room.

Matt Legg, my counterpart in the north east of England, has compiled a report on the ChangeUp funded pilot IT/ICT support project, Circuit Riders North East (CRNE), which ran across the north east region from January to June 2006.

The project:

• created partnerships with private sector ICT support companies to provide 100 free health-checks;
• worked with Net:gain to provide 100 free places for organisations undertaking strategic planning of their ICT.

Matt tells us that a number of new initiatives to ensure continued ICT support for organisations in the north east are underway, such as:

• ‘Next Steps’ workshops on managing data, ICt funding and systems maintenance
• 5 interns from local IT consultants to develop an online toolkit that will help voluntary sector organisations complete basic ICT strategies and plan their ICT funding.

Download the CRNE project report in full.

The ICT Champion’s mission is to support voluntary sector organisations to understand and use technology to better achieve their goal of delivering high quality services for all.

Why London needs an ICT Champion

The voluntary sector thrives on partnerships – across all sectors - to deliver innovative and effective services, and we believe that the effective use of information communication and technology, or ICT, is crucial to achieving that.

We also want to show-case the best ICT projects in London’s voluntary sector. If you’re using technology in an innovative way to help your organisation’s projects, let us know and we’ll help put you on the map.

Contact Miles Maier, the London Regional ICT Champion at: mmaier@lasa.org.uk

On the 3 November 2006, the London Region ICT champion will be making his public debut at the Bright Ideas - Using technology to support and involve event.
I’ll be giving a short presentation on the highlights of the previous ChangeUp funded London ICT Development Project, followed by a brief introduction to my new role as London Region ICT Champion.

I’ll also be manning a stand at the event, so do come along if you have an ICT project you’d like me to promote.
Bright Ideas is a chance to explore how technology is being used by statutory and voluntary organisations to support and involve people living in Newham.
For more information, see Promarta’s web site.

Back in the Spring of 2006, Capacitybuilders commissioned a review of ChangeUp’s achievements to date.

The full report consists of 4 sections and is available in PDF format from the Capacitybuilders site or the links below:

1. Aims, summary and recommendations
2. Main Report: including aims, summary and recommendations
3. Regional Perspectives: including examples of good plans and capacity building work
4. Appendices

Advancements in new media now allow target audiences to be engaged in cost-effective and imaginative ways with demonstrably positive results. So why are so few charities making use of it? Read the full article at Charity Times.

The National Computing Centre discusses the implications and opportunities that arise from new mobile technology.

Read more about it in this article for the ICT Hub.

Want to find out who else in the voluntary sector is blogging? Check out the excellent OpenCharityBlog for a list of charity or campaign blogs (’blogroll’) produced in in the UK, to raise awareness or cash, communicate with the public, volunteers or members.

The first Ever Annual ICT Hub and iT4Communities IT Volunteer Awards is being held at the Worshipful Company of Information Technologist’s, Barbican, London on 28 November.

Visit the iT4Communities website to register a place at the awards or nominate an IT volunteer.

Back on the theme of new technology, we’ve heard of youth projects and sexual health projects using mobile phones to engage with young people.

But mobile phones can also be used to mobilise support and raise awareness of issues your organisations campaigns for.

See MobileActive, a global network of activists and campaigners using mobile phones for civic action and engagement.