Today we’re rounding up resources from the 2008 circuit rider conference 2008.

• Lasa has pulled together all the notes from the 2008 circuit rider conference sessions into a pdf file so you can read them on your non wi-fi connected train, the bus or wherever.
• You can view the UKRiders Flickr Circuit Rider Conference set of photos here.
• To view all photos from the conference which have been tagged with crconf08 look here.
• Thanks to David Wilcox  who did a great job of video-blogging the discussions at the conference here.
• Marc Osten has posted a series of five short video tutorials about Online Community Building and Engagement.  A 2nd installment will air in April.  Yours truly was also ambushed far too early in the morning to talk about web2.0 and online engagement - hopefully that segment is still on the cutting room floor and didn’t make the final cut.

The Web Office 101 or How to streamline your digital life or everything you ever wanted to ask about web office tools but didn’t dare ask…..

Thanks to Laura Whitehead, Paul Henderson of Ruralnet and John Kenyon for making this session fun and interactive with examples of the web office tools they use.

What:
Web-based office tools allow you to create, collaborate and share documents through your web browser. Check out the free or low cost examples below:-

Google Docs
Google Calendar
Zoho
ThinkFree
MS Office Live
Zimbra (Yahoo!)
Webex

Some examples of commonly used web office tools:

Homepages or Start-pages:
This is the first page you see when firing up your web browser. Use iGoogle, Netvibes or Pageflakes to customise your homepage with feeds from your favourite news sites, calendar, blogs, weather, Flickr photos and more. These services are free and all you need to get started is an email address and a password.

Laura uses Netvibes (below) for her homepage.

Paul uses Pageflakes for his homepage.

Mobile Office:
Use Google Calendar to keep track of your busy life - work, kids and personal. You can share your calendar with friends and colleagues. Miles uses Google Mobile to send text message reminders to his phone - this helps him turn up on time, barring mishaps with trains, tubes and buses.

Documents and Spreadsheets:

Google Docs, Zoho and others offer a great way working collaboratively on the same document at the same time. John and Miles are fans of Google Docs, using it collaborate and share project documents, meeting minutes and agendas with colleagues.

RSS Feeds:

Subscribe to RSS feeds using Bloglines like Paul or Google Reader like Miles to get all the news from your favourite websites to delivered to you, wherever you are. You can also use Netvibes and Pageflakes to add feeds from your favourite sites to your homepage.

Bookmarks:

Do you have bookmarks of your favourite websites spread over home and work computers? Use del.icio.us or magnolia to save your favourite websites in one place, so you can access them from anywhere. Use tags to label websites you visit, making them easier to find and share. Check out the del.icio.us toolbar for Internet Explorer or Firefox web browsers. Miles uses del.icio.us.

Laura likes Magnolia (below) for discovering, sharing and discovering the best of the web!

Pros:

• Free or low cost
• Anywhere with computer and Internet
• Collaborate and share

Cons:

• Security
• Sustainability - will this service provider be around next year or get bought out?
• Lack of web accessibility features

What next?

• Figure out which tools can do which job for you – calendar, address book, docs, etc
• Experiment - sign up for a free account
• Check out the Web Office Database at IT Redux for a list of web office tools
• Blog it up – let us know how you got on!

A big thank you to all those who took time out from providing technology support services to the sector to attend the first London network event on 4 February - the first of what we hope will be many network events and an opportunity for us to learn from each other.

For those who missed the event, we hope there will be another opportunity for you to contribute to the growth and knowledge of the network. We’ll be announcing the next network event for the middle of May - so stay tuned for news.

Some very powerful messages emerged from this first networking:

• We want to do this again! There are very few opportunities for circuit riders and other providers of tech support in London’s voluntary sector to network and exchange learning. We will also look to hook up with other networks for cross-fertilisation of ideas;

• Funding and sustainability of circuit rider projects is big concern - several circuit rider projects are coming towards the end of their funding, and whilst funding priorities may change, the need for circuit riders hasn’t.

• Funders need to acknowledge Total Cost of Ownership and that ICT is a legitimate cost of doing business in their grant criteria. this may mean working more closely with funders to ensure they understand the importance of ICT;

• VCOs need to acknowledge that ICT is a key organisational function (compare with e.g. financial management

Continue Reading »

From the UK Riders email list:-

“What happens when you get a bunch of hackers and social innovators together, give them a set of social problems and only 48 hours to solve them?

We’re going to find out in London between 4th-6th April 2008 when Social Innovation Camp will bring together some of the best of the UK and Europe’s web developers and designers with people at the sharp end of social problems. The aim is to find ways that easy-to-build web 2.0 tools can be used to develop solutions to social challenges.”

The rough model for the event is Barcamp mashed up with a mini-netsquared.

Event organiser Dan McQuillan says “It seem to me that, since riders generally bridge the gap between techies and vol. sector orgs, there’s likely to be some good ideas for Social Innovation Camp lurking amongst list members.”

It’s finally here - if you’re an accidental techie, a circuit rider or someone who supports the ICT of voluntary sector organisations in London - this is the forum for you.

Join us for an informal networking session and learn about the great projects we’re each working on and get the latest on the wonderful world of voluntary sector ICT and circuit riding. Feel free to bring a laptop - we have wireless internet access. After the forum, we’ll be continuing the discussion in the more convivial surroundings of the downstairs bar - so please join us for post-forum refreshments!

If you know of colleagues who’d also be interested in coming along - please pass this invite on to them.

**Confirm your place**
Follow the link to book your FREE place: http://londonictforum.eventbrite.com/

**Why you should drop everything and come along**
It’s new, it’s different, it’ll be fun and you get to share ideas and knowledge.

* Networking and knowledge sharing
* Circuit Riding - all the latest news and projects
* Circuit Rider conference 2008
* Resources and help

**Where and when**
4-6pm Wednesday 6 February 2008
Conference Room
Bread & Roses
68 Clapham Manor Street
London SW4 6DZ

Directions here.

**Anything else?**
We’re hoping this forum will be the first of many more, and to make this forum vibrant and useful we want you - the community - to contribute to future meetings. So we’ll be looking for folks to share their knowledge and experience with us - it might be about a great project idea you have, or using web based tools, or choosing the right database, or community wireless, or open source or something else ICT you want to share.

See you all there!

Issue 3 of the Circuit Rider round-up is now out and available for download (PDF 1.24MB).

• Chris Bailey on FOSS
• Jim Druce of JADe on remote support
• Dave Greenhalgh of Cumbria CVS on social enterprise development
• Aba Maison of Lasa on the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing 2007

After laying low for 2 weeks, the Champ blog is back again - this time after 11 days jury service at Southwark Crown Court.

Our court summons said that most jurors find their service to be a “rewarding experience” - our experience was one of continual frustration and after an unofficial health-check we left recommending that HMCS hire a circuit rider to sort out their IT issues.

• Open an Internet cafe with free wireless Internet access to fill the hours of hanging around
• Internet cafe computers could be refurbished with an open source OS and installed by circuit riders on probation or day release
• replace the antiquated VHS video system with a dedicated media server able to stream video clips direct to court rooms
• install 12″ tv monitors into the jury’s benches, similar to the monitors found in the back of airline seats, as not all of us can focus on a tv screen 20 yards across the courtroom.
• live blogging of trials

Here’s how we reached our conclusions….

The first thing that struck the Champ blog about Southwark Crown Court is that the building entrance bears an uncanny resemblance to Arnold Schwarzeneggar’s jaw, especially in The Terminator series. Obvious, isn’t it?

After running a gauntlet of defendents standing around outside to have a last smoke, things didn’t get much better inside - the coffee was undrinkable and the restaurant was beset by furry four legged visitors on at least one occasion.

On the upside, there was Internet access via BT Openzone, but the heinous fees of £6 (£12 USD) for one hour were enough to put off even the most determined laptop warrior. And there was us jurors thinking that that Internet access ought to be free since we were rendering a public service at no charge to the taxpayer. For those without the luxury of laptops there was a solitary PC of Windows 2000 vintage parked in the corner by the toilets.

Some 4 hours after arriving, we were eventually called up to the courtroom and with no preamble were presented with the prosecution’s key evidence - a video tape. Predictably, the tape was in the wrong place and the machine didn’t have a tape counter. After a break for lunch - with the tape now in the right place - the video player broke down and couldn’t be coaxed back into life.

The next day followed a similar wipe-out - hours of sitting around and getting a caffeine headache whilst HMCS wrestled with the video player. This raised an interesting question of legacy technology - does any serious electronics retailer apart from Amazon or eBay still sell VHS players? A lunchtime trip to Richer Sounds, just a 5 minute walk from the court, seemed to suggest the answer was no.

By day 3, the video player was now working and we got to view the key evidence on a 30″ inch flat screen panel at an eye-popping range of 20 yards - we kid you not. The next day, things improved again and we were upgraded to a bigger courtroom with a DVD player and a big screen closer to the jury. We were also treated to Powerpoint presentations from the expert witnesses - and there was the innevitable delay whilst one expert witness had to fetch their backup copy because the original had been lost.

Has anyone else out there been on jury service and do our experiences echo your own? Or are you interested in circuit riding and would like to help HMCS sort their IT?

The ICT Hub has asked the Telephone Helplines Association (THA) to ensure that very small to medium VCOs are aware of telephony options and their ability to access free practical and strategic information and local sources of support and make better use of telephony within their organisation.

THA would like to identify what telephony experience already exists within the community of IT circuit riders, and is looking to establish an informal network of volunteers with a knowledge of telephony, whether it’s fixed or mobile, traditional or IP-based.

If you would be interested in helping the sector through the jungle that contains (among other things) ISDN, non-geographic numbers, ACD routing, auto-attendant, queueing systems, teleconferencing, textphones, Typetalk, Skype and SIP, please drop Mark McClean a line at mark.mclean@helplines.org.uk or call 0151 641 9746 or markmclean1 at Skype.

Last in the current series of workshops. You don’t want to have to say you haven’t been to an ICT accessibility workshop, you are not going to be one of the crowd or even hip and cool. Any self respecting IT person should be in ‘the know’ and geeky on this stuff.

 Sign up for this free workshop, you know ,”……….. we’re worth it”.

19 September 2007, Happy Computers, London, E1

Objectives of the workshop:

• Deliver a workshop on setting up a Microsoft XP Computer for people with poor sight and sight impairments.
•  Deliver an introduction to computer options for people with sight impairments or no sight.
• Offer a display of some high visibility keyboards and mice.
• Give an overview of Individual Assessment options for Computer users at work.
• Offer a display of other Accessible/Adapted IT input devices and software.
• To distribute a free resource pack ; Easy, Free and Quick ICT Accessibility’ produced by AbilityNet and the ICT Hub.

Time 2.5 hours

Please note: the workshop is free, however If you don’t inform us that you are ‘not going’ to be able to turn up for the session by the day before the workshop, we will raise an invoice for £25 for you or your organisation to pay, unless there are exceptional reasons. We have had to introduce this condition to enable us to still offer the workshops free. We are finding up to 50% of people who sign up don’t turn up and don’t tell us they are not turning up for the workshop. When you book this workshop you accept this condition.

Book on line at www.happy.co.uk using the word ‘accessibility’ to search or go directly to the workshop page; http://tinyurl.com/2o2d8l  call 020 7375 7300 or Minicom 020 7375 7349.

Who is it for? Voluntary and community organisations, infrastructure organisations, circuit riders

Organiser: London Region Accessibility Champion

The inaugural June/July issue of the ICT Hub Circuit Rider News Digest, Round-Up is now available and features:

• ICT Hub Circuit Rider Development Project
• Project study of CVC Circuit Riders, South Wales
• Tools & Technologies - by circuit rider, John Fox
• Web resources for circuit riders
• Circuit Riders of the month – Marcus Otite of Superhighways and Marcus Pennell of SCIP

Download it from:

http://www.icthub.org.uk/circuitriders/index.html

http://www.lasa.org.uk/circuitriders/index.shtml

The News Digest is a PDF file which passes the Quick Accessibility Check and can be accessed using the Adobe Reader 8 Read Out Loud feature. Reader 8 can be downloaded from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Contributions for future issues, feedback are gratefully received.