London Regional ICT champion

Over the last few posts I’ve been talking about blogs, flickr, etc and how the voluntary sector might use this so-called Web 2.0 technology to get its message out to funders, supporters, people using its services and beyond.
In his book, Flipping the Funnel, Seth Grodin, describes a  process whereby Web 2.0 tools might be used [...]

A quick 2 minute riff for those of you who haven’t yet caught up with the latest ICT research published by the venerable ICT Hub.
As ever, if you have ICT research findings of your own, wherever it’s from in the world, I’m always keen to hear about it and what lessons could be applied to [...]

A report from the US non-profit, Dot Organize, finds that over half of the 400 organisations they surveyed, report being frustrated or really struggling with the complexity of the technology they use.
Watchers of voluntary sector ICT issues in the UK will no doubt be familiar with Dot Organize’s findings, since ICT problems tend to be [...]

The Organizer’s Tool Crib is a participatory directory which allows people interested in organising communities to share, review and rate online tools and resources.
The directory currently lists over 110 online tools, including users ratings on favourites like flickr, Wordpress, Skype, HiveLive, and Drupal. Users can also add their own tags to categorise the various tools.
The [...]

In ‘Cool Web Tools’ I’ll be taking a brief look at services provided over the internet – things like RSS, video, podcasting and blogging – and showing how a small community organisation might use them to better share information and work more effectively.
I’ve chosen the Google Calendar – the calendar or diary being the first [...]

Part of the ICT Champion’s role is to educate the voluntary sector and funders about new technology. With that in mind, readers of this blog will be wondering just what this web 2.0 stuff is that myself and other writers keep referring to.
According to Wikipedia, which is itself a web 2.0 tool:
Web 2.0, a [...]

Clearly the need for a ‘champion’ or ‘Buzz Director’ as Steve Bridger calls it, to promote technology to the community sector is one that many commentators – including David Wilcox, Nancy White and Beth Kanter (amongst others) – have been talking about.
As Steve Bridger says:
It’s a particular crusade of mine to encourage not-for-profits to [...]

Since this project started, I’ve been evangelising blogs as tool for enabling voluntary sector organisations to communicate with their audience and each other.
Whenever I’ve asked people about using a blog to promote their work to a wider audience, the reception I’ve got has usually been an expression of polite indifference. And then people start edging [...]

The Bright Ideas: Using technology to support and involve conference in Newham was my first ‘official engagement’ as London ICT Champion.
The event featured a number of voluntary/statutory sector projects show-casing innovative uses of technology to improve the quality of life and give a voice to communities often marginalised from mainstream society.

Newham Advanced Telecare (NeAT)
Regen TV
The [...]

The London Regional ChangeUp Consortium has secured £2m for London’s 39 Consortia to 2008.
Consortia projects are located in every borough and sub-region. Your very own London Region ICT Champion is set to be joined by ‘pan-London champions’ for Equalities and Workforce Development.
Projects cover:

Equalities
Volunteering
Social Enterprise
Community Development
Workforce Development
Local Area Agreements
ICT
Premises
2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

You can get [...]