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iT4C Volunteer Newsletter
Number 20 - December 2005
Welcome to the December 2005 edition of the iT4C
Volunteer Newsletter.
The highlights this month include an immediate opportunity to work with us as
a Development Consultant on 3 month contract, starting in
January (note this is a paid, not a volunteer position) and the expected New
Year launch for new iT4C website
.
We hope that 2005 offered you rewarding volunteer projects (please don’t
forget to tell us about your experiences/successes) and that you are looking
forward to new projects in 2006. Season’s greetings to you all.
iT4C is looking for a Development Consultant
iT4Communities www.iT4C.org.uk is looking for a Development Consultant to work on a 3 month contract starting January 3 2006. iT4Communities is part of the ICT Hub - www.ictconsortium.org.uk The ICT Hub is a consortium of voluntary sector organisations who have come together to plan and deliver a co-ordinated framework of ICT guidance, good practice, advice and support for voluntary and community organisations, accessible at a local level
Development Consultant will be required to:
* Conduct telephone consultations with charities to define their IT requirements and scope projects that are suitable for IT volunteering. Coordinate contract staff doing similar consultations
* Promote IT 4 Communities to both the voluntary and corporate sectors through managed relationships, presentations and training events. Coordinate and quality-control contract staff providing training
* Develop and promote good practice in IT volunteering
If you can analyse the technical requirements of medium and small organisations, have good communication skills and have an understanding of the voluntary and IT sectors we would like to hear from you. We are a small but growing team. We need enthusiastic all-rounders who can contribute to multiplying what we do. You will be involved in everything from answering the phone through technical strategy to developing strategic relationships in the commercial and voluntary sectors.
The Development Consultant will be based with the team at our new office - CentralPoint, 45 Beech Street, London EC2Y 8AD.
To express your interest please email your CV
and a covering letter describing your relevant experience to John Davies,
Programme Director
Email: john@wcit.org.uk. to reach us
by 19 December 2005
If you would like an informal chat please call John Davies at any time -
Tel: 020 7796 2144 or 07736 798802
Do you know your WAI from your EARL?- Regional Accessibility Champions wanted.
Our ICT Hub partner, AbilityNet, is currently looking for one Accessibility Champion in each region to work along aside the national ICT Hub delivering accessibility services throughout the region. A total budget of £20,000 plus VAT is available for each Accessibility Champion’s organisation. An Accessible IT Kit and a full training and support package will also be put in place for the successful organisation. Only members of a voluntary or community sector organisation can apply.
Tenders should be submitted by email and hard copy by 5pm Thursday 26th January 2006 with interviews taking place during the week commencing Monday 30th January 2006. An interview date will be available by the end of December. The work will continue for the duration of the ICT Hub Project, until March 2007.
For further details please see visit http://www.ictconsortium.org.uk/index.htm
New Year launch for new iT4C website
The development of the new iT4C is approaching
an early new year launch.
The new website will streamline the application for volunteering opportunities
process and make room for an increase in both volunteers and opportunities
over the coming months.
We will keep in touch about our plans and will, of course, be asking for your
feedback on the stage 1 launch.
Keep watching this space www.iT4Communities.org.uk.
Women Memberships of British Computer Society is Up
The number of women joining the BCS is on the up. From September this year women have accounted for 22% of new members, whereas historically they only made up 14% of membership. More women have been attracted recently through specially-targeted recruitment drives and campaigns.
<http://www.bcs.org/news/female>
There
have been many volunteering opportunities for website, both for advice and
building of them in many areas and some organisations are very happy to work
with a "virtual" volunteer (some working remotely).
Take a look at Volunteer Opportunities
online for these and a full list.
West Midlands Projects of the Month
1317 Birmingham
The charity will be officially launched in November so this is an opportunity
to get involved right from the start. In order to promote their objectives the
charity would like a simple website. They're starting from scratch so would
appreciate advice on hosting, domain name registration, e-mail addresses and
the actual site design. They envisage a static site with only a few pages to
describe the organisation and the charities involved and provide contact details
for further information. They'd hope to be able to work with a volunteer to
learn how to maintain the site themselves in future.
This is a new charity that is to act as an umbrella organisation for five well-established care-focussed charities in Birmingham. The new charity will promote payroll giving as a way of donating money to the existing organisations. They will approach employers and visit employees in the workplace to explain the benefits of payroll giving. Website
Welsh Projects of the Month
1253 Narberth, Pembrokeshire (Can Be Done Remotely)
This
charity runs a community building in Pembrokeshire, South Wales. They provide
facilities for local community groups to hold events - arts and crafts lessons,
exhibitions, children's sports clubs, coffee mornings, etc.
They also provide conference facilities and are the No 1 music venue in the
area. Their website needs bringing into the 21st Century with a design in
keeping with their professional approach to conferencing and musical events.
They'd like to include more information about events including samples of music.
They'd like a facility for on-line ticket booking and a way for visitors to
sign up to be kept informed of future events by e-mail. They are able to make
basic text changes to their current site but would like a volunteer who can
work with them to redesign the site and to show them how to make more sophisticated
updates themselves in future. They'd also like advice on accessibility issues
relating to the website design. Website
London
Projects of the Month
1207 Lambeth, London, SW2
This youth club needs help with training / mentoring its members - ages from
6 up into the teens in using its computers. Packages include Office2000, Photoshop,
music software, etc. A small budget is available to buy new packages if required.
The club also needs help in configuring its systems (XP Pro) to make them
more resistant to problems causes by uncontrolled surfing and downloading
by the members. Sessions for the members are early to mid evenings on Monday
and Friday with easiest access to the systems for configuration work on Wednesday
evenings. CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) checks will be needed given the age
of the membership. This is a project for one or more IT professionals who
would enjoy the twin challenges of passing on skills to young people and helping
the adult staff and volunteers to protect the computer systems against the
anarchic tendencies of these same young people. First contact with the club
should be via email. Training
1264 Vauxhall Cross, London SW8 London
An opportunity to assist a charity which helps Africans in the UK contribute
to African development, by helping develop an It strategy. A volunteer
is required to understand the charity's objectives and operation, talk through
ideas the staff have for the use of IT, point out opportunities for IT to
assist in meeting their objectives, and help develop an IT strategy and forward
plan. Strategy
East Midlands Project of the Month
1303 Coalville, Leics
This advice agency would like training and support in transferring their accounts
data in their old system, over to a QuickBooks system.
They are currently using MS Excel for their accounts, however, due to manpower
they need to manage this on a more automated system. This would suit a volunteer
with QuickBooks experience. Training
Scottish Projects of the Month
1322 Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire
Scotland
This Community Resource Centre for Adults and Children would like to update their
computer systems as they no longer function with the applications that they
require. This is due to software upgrades and the low spec of the computers.
The charity would like to find out if it would be viable to upgrade these systems
or, if it turns out to be too costly, then they would like a volunteer to cost
out new hardware. Once the computer systems have been upgraded they would like
these all to be networked so that they will be able to share an internet connection.
This project would suit a volunteer with some project management skills so that
the charity can pass a proposal onto the local council if new hardware is required.
Advice
Remote Project of the Month
1172 Neasden, London NW10
(this can be done remotely)
This charity provides opportunities for young people with learning disabilities.
The charity needs an interactive website to help bring them together via an
easy to use chat facility and other interactive materials. The style might
be based on www.symbolworld.org (from
www.widgit.com) but are there alternatives which are cheaper or free?
The chat facility would need to be moderated, perhaps in real time, by a responsible
adult. The charity also runs a Saturday session for the young people and needs
some advice on bringing IT into this. The charity envisages buying laptops
which they can use at the sessions. This is a project for a website designer
and technologist who can apply creative imagination to the problem of communications
for young people who cannot easily communicate in text. The designer can work
creatively with the young people, staff and trustees to bring IT into the
world of these learning disabled young people. Website
Organisation:
Middlesex Young People's Clubs
Name of Volunteer: Hibri
Marzook (m)
Reported by: Russell Dickens Chief
Executive
Project Summary:
Middlesex Young People's Clubs - micro-websites project
Hibri, our volunteer, met with me first to hear my ideas for the project, he
then met with a number of clubs to get an idea of their needs. Incrementally
he then developed the microsites, asking for feedback on a weekly basis. As
the site developed, we amended certain functions, which was possible because
of the constant feedback possibility. I have no idea of the time put in by Hibri,
but given the result I would guess a lot!!
Outcomes:
This project achieved so much more than I had hoped for originally. This is
a truly brilliant piece of workmanship. Hibri has agreed to help us as we need
it so that this site works to its best potential.
The benefits for us are that we have a fantastic benefit for members. The benefit
for the clubs is a promotional website. In addition, people can search for youth
clubs that offer the kinds of services that they would like to receive. We hope
that the sites will make the public aware of the excellent work being done in
clubs and will drive additional young people to clubs.
We have still to roll this out but when it is ready it will be:
http://www.mypc.ws/home.php
And finally, as this month's editor I would
like to introduce myself, I am Anne Stafford, a new Development Consultant
for iT4C. I have joined iT4C from SCIP,
providing technical support and training within and for the community &
voluntary sector in Brighton & Hove.
I have several years experience in providing IT support and training in the
community and voluntary sector, previously working for a software development
company. With over 10 years ICT working/volunteering experience I am committed
to supporting the work of the community voluntary sector nationally and look
forward to working with you to this aim.
iT4C is looking forward to a bigger team, a new website for you and many more
successful projects in 2006.
All at iT4C wish a happy seasonal break
and successful volunteering for the new year.
Best Wishes
Anne