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Dear Louise,
As someone with an interest in voluntary and community sector ICT we hope you find our new look monthly London ICT e-bulletin useful. Our bulletin is aimed at smaller voluntary and community organisations, managers, circuit riders and accidental techies. It will keep you up to date with the latest news for circuit riding, ICT events and training, ICT accessibility and more. You can also forward it to a colleague or unsubscribe at any time.
Lasa Information Systems Team
In this London ICT e-bulletin for May 2009:
this month's featured event
Lasa circuit rider conference
ict news
Westminster City Council gives away free computers
IT volunteering on the rise
Digital Mentors
funding
Nominet Foundation
BT Community Connections
events & training
Social Media Exchange
London Net Tuesdays
Introduction to ‘Cloud Computing’ for VCOs
Better Writing for Charities
NCVO - Multi-Media Explained
Lasa Circuit Rider Conference
LVSC Cascade conference
CiviCRM training camp
Collaborate|2009
resources
Fight the economic downturn
Setting up a circuit rider service
Digital Newport report - older people using Internet
Maximising your potential through ICT resources
SMEX09 resources available
Data protection & freedom of information - legal changes
practical tips
Compress images in Word or PowerPoint
Open Office 2007 documents in Office 2003
tools & applications
Microsoft Office 2007 Compatibility Pack
AbilityNet's - technology support for disabled people
This month’s featured event:
Lasa Circuit Rider Conference 2009 @ IBM Bedfont, Feltham, Middlesex
For circuit riders, accidental techies and anyone working in voluntary sector ICT support and development, this conference will offer practical, relevant tools and solutions for small voluntary organisations to survive the economic downturn.Sessions will cover risk management, Lasa's ICT learning programme for circuit riders, web 2.0, cloud computing, best practice for organisations working with ICT volunteers, social media and hard times and resources and tools from the IT handbook, FAQ flash cards, VoIP, contact management to the Lasa ICT Knowledgebase.
Prices from £80 for charities, booking until 4 June. Book your place now: www.lasa.org.uk/crconference
ict news
Westminster City Council gives away free computers
Westminster
Council is giving away computer equipment worth approximately £200,000
per year to charities. Successful applicants will each receive about
£700 worth of computer equipment and software. In order to apply, a
group must be classed as a charity or not-for-profit organisation and
be able to show how their service or activity meets the needs of people
living, working or studying in Westminster.
To find out more email or call Westminster Council on 020 7641 3382
IT volunteering on the riseIT4Communities (IT4C) has seen a 200% increase in IT volunteers registering to use their skills to help charities over the first part of this year. IT4Communities introduces volunteer IT professionals to charities needing IT help and support.
Find out more in IT4C's May newsletter.
Media Trust Digital Mentors
Digital Mentors aims to inspire, engage and support disadvantaged and isolated communities to get their voices heard through digital media.
Led by Media Trust, Digital Mentors will provide funding for 26 grassroots groups, alongside one major new initiative and a further 40 small grants for specific digital projects. Digital Mentors will also provide comprehensive tools and resources.
To get involved either as a pilot project or as a digital volunteer: www.mediatrust.org/digitalmentors
funding
The Nominet Foundation has launched its new grants programme to support distinctive and inventive Internet-related projects that can make a difference to people, primarily in the areas of education, online safety and inclusion.
Find out more: Nominet Foundation
If you volunteer with a community group or charitable organisation, you can apply for a laptop and contribution to a year's free broadband connection. Round One closing dates 9th June (postal applications) 11th June online.
Find out more: BT Community Connections
events and training
01 June - Social Media Exchange for the Cultural and Heritage Sectors @ LVSC Resource Centre, N7 6PA - from podcasts to social networks and blogs to twitter, sounddelivery is offering bitesize masterclasses, practical creative surgeries, collaboration and networking opportunities that will give you new ideas and ways of incorporating new technologies into your work.03 June - Introduction to ‘Cloud Computing’ for Voluntary Organisations @ NCVO, London N1 - a free breakfast seminar to introduce 'cloud computing' - or services delivered over the Internet - and demonstrate the Salesforce customer relationship management (CRM) application. Salesforce Foundation has donated over 6,000 licences to voluntary and community organisations worldwide.
Email ikelly@salesforce.com to book your free place.
05 June - NGO Media Better Writing for Charities @ CAN Mezzanine, Old Street, London, N1 6AH - this free afternoon seminar from NGOMedia will cover everything you need to know about how to make your charity’s publications as effective and powerful as they can be through great copywriting. Free and book in advance.
08 June - Multi-Media Explained @ NCVO, London N1 - an NCVO conference for anyone who working in communications, marketing or publishing for a charity, voluntary or community organisation, who wants to start using multimedia to get their message across. Prices start at £151 for NCVO members.
09 June - Lasa Circuit Rider Conference 2009 @ IBM Bedfont, Feltham, Middlesex - for circuit riders and accidental techies, this year's conference will look at 'Riding the crest of a slump - surviving in tough times'. Prices from £80 for charities.
12 June - Cascade conference - Improve your newsletters and e-bulletins @ King's Fund, London - Led by Marc Osten, the theme will be tools, tips and strategies for maximising effective use of e-bulletins and newsletters.
23-24 June - CiviCRM training camp @ Miller Technology, London WC1X - a two day indepth workshop focusing on integrating CiviCRM with Joomla, Drupal and other platforms. Cost £400.
25 June: Collaborate|2009 @ Dunchurch Park Hotel nr Rugby, Warwicks - sessions include collaboration for funding, use of social media, work of the regional champions and a presentation from Helen Stephenson of the Office of the Third Sector. Costs £55 ex VAT.
resources & good practice
Fight the economic downturn
Go to the Lasa Knowledgebase to find lots of new articles, tips and tools on how your can save money on ICT and / or use ICT to reduce costs.
Visit the Lasa Knowledgebase: www.ictknowledgebase.org.uk
Wales CVC Circuit Riders - new Circuit Riding guide published
In Computanews 151 we reported on what the Wales CVC Circuit Rider pilot project had achieved. They have recently issued a new guide to setting up a Circuit Rider project.
Download the PDF (512kb) here.
Senior citizens use Internet to overcome social isolation
If you work with older people you might be interested to find out more
about a new research project by the University of Wales, Newport which
reveals how the Internet has helped Newport’s senior citizens overcome
loneliness and social isolation.
Find out more at Digital Newport
Maximising your potential through ICTPresentations from the recent NCVO / Microsoft ICT conference are now available to download.
SMEX09 presentations available
Presentations, resources and an exclusive video interview with Ken Loach from sounddelivery's first Social Media Exchange event are now available.
Data protection & freedom of information - Legal changes in April 2009
Taking an individual's photo without consent may be breach of privacy even if images are not published.
Anonymised information can be personal data under the Data Protection Act if the numbers are so small that individuals can be identified.
Information Commissioner's Office guidance on clarifying what is and is not personal data and on dealing with loss of personal information.
When public authorities can choose not to disclose commercially sensitive information obtained from third parties (e.g. in a contract bid) under a Freedom of information request.
practical tips
Compress images in Word, Publisher or PowerPoint
If your Word, Publisher or PowerPoint document is too large to send by email or upload to your website because it contains lots of images - there is a quick way to compress all images and reduce the overall file size. For Word and PowerPoint 2003, Right click an image, select Format Picture and in the Picture tab, select Compress. Then check the All pictures in document option and select Web / Screen or Print as appropriate. You can follow this procedure for Publisher 2007 but for earlier versions you will have to reduce the original images and then re insert into your document.
For further guidelines on how to do this and other tips on image resizing please refer to the Superhighways guide.
Open Office 2007 documents in Office 2003
If you are using Office 2007 and people are having problems opening documents they receive from you by email because they are using an earlier version - use the Save As option to save to an earlier version. Alternatively, point them to the Office 2007 Compatibility tool.
tools & applications
Microsoft Office 2007 Compatibility PackIf you are using earlier versions of Microsoft Office such as 2000, XP or 2003, but need to open and edit documents created in 2007, you will need to ensure you have both the latest Service Packs for your version of Office and download the MS Office 2007 Compatibility Pack
For further information and guidance please refer to the Superhighways guide.
Accessible technology support for disabled people
AbilityNet has released a suite of low cost tools for disabled people wanting to use technology. these include AccessAT - a collection of free and open source tools, AccessFun - a pendrive made up of over 50 games, music, utilities and storybooks for disabled young people.
Find out more from AbilityNet
About Lasa
Lasa is a charity which delivers innovative services in the fields of welfare benefits advice, ICT (information and communications technology) and advice policy. Our clients are mainly from the voluntary sector and statutory sector but we also work with some private sector organisations.
Lasa publications
Lasa's monthly London ICT e-bulletin provides up to date ICT news, events, funding, tools, tips and resources for staff in small to medium-sized voluntary organisations. Published in collaboration with Superhighways
Get Lasa's monthly London ICT e-bulletin by email.
Lasa's magazine Computanews provides straight-forward, clear information on the use of ICT for staff in small to medium-sized voluntary organisations.
Computanews is published quarterly as a free Acrobat pdf file download at www.lasa.org.uk/computanews
ICT support in your areaLondon ICT Champion
The London Regional ICT Champion
supports VCOs to better understand ICT to achieve their missions of delivering quality services more effectively.
Lasa ICT Knowledgebase
The sector leading ICT Knowledgebase contains over 300 articles in jargon free plain English on all aspects of ICT.
Lasa Suppliers Directory
From web designers to support companies, use the Suppliers Directory to locate independenly verified high quality ICT support in your area.
UK riders email list
UKRiders is a discussion group for circuit riders and others who support voluntary and community sector technology.
Superhighways
Superhighways is an ICT Support and Development Social Enterprise run by and for the voluntary and community sector in South London, and collaborates with Lasa in the production of this e-bulletin.
Subscriptions: Manage your Lasa subscriptions here or stop receiving all Lasa publications and bulletins here. Please feel free to forward this bulletin to a friend, and be sure to add our from address into your address book or safe senders list to help guarantee delivery of our email.
Contact: Lasa, Universal House, 88-94 Wentworth Street, London, E1 7SA
Phone 020 7377 2748 • Fax 020 7427 4725
info@lasa.org.uk or www.lasa.org.uk • Company registration number 1794098 • Charity Registration No. 8001
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