Comments for South West ICT Champion

Comment on Digital Media Research published by Aidan

Aidan — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:36:43 +0000

Hi Julie, thank you for blogging about Community Voices and our research.

We put updates on the project through our blog .

Kim, our Outreach Manager, has been visiting local communities in Devon over the past 3 days to let people know more about Community Voices, when the grants will open and really to make connections face-to-face. Also, we are currently looking for great examples of communities already using digital media to make a difference. We’ve got 20 £500 awards to give away up to the end of March (approx 1 a week). Communities can apply through the blog (more info on there as well).

Thanks

Aidan (Community Voices)

Comment on Charities have the least secure websites by MJ Ray (software.coop)

MJ Ray (software.coop) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:21:06 +0000

Do we still have the problem that the average charity and not-for-profit website is seen as a capital expense and with no budget for installing security fixes? Worse, even where the security fixes are going to be installed by a charity member of staff or volunteer, that’s not written into the contract and most developers won’t leave instructions or answer questions after the contract is ended. software.coop is different and tries to behave as well as we can, of course.

Comment on TALKTALK DIGITAL HEROES AWARDS 2009 by MJ Ray

MJ Ray — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:37:20 +0000

All 12 winners get free broadband from TalkTalk for 18 months? Is that a prize or a punishment? Opal.net (TT’s wholesale provider) still isn’t working properly for me, 6 months and 3 new routers after installation.

Comment on Microsoft Unlimited Potential Programme by MJ Ray (software.coop)

MJ Ray (software.coop) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:41:02 +0000

Worse, by giving away their software, they try to keep charity workers dependent on it and reduce the self-sufficiency of the third sector.

These grants are a new spin on that same “get them hooked, keep them hooked” meme – will they actually give any grants for projects providing non-Microsoft-linked IT skills development?

Microsoft’s support for the third sector is almost certainly dwarfed by support from cooperatives, but Microsoft is one dominant company, while there are lots of cooperatives.

Comment on Digital Britain – report published by MJ Ray

MJ Ray — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:49:53 +0000

At first glance, it misses the mark. It doesn’t do anything to unlock Digital Britain and make us a more sharing and social place. From failing to open the 3G mobile networks to the Phone Co-op and other operators completely (they describe it as already being “highly competitive” – haven’t they visited a South West “notspot”?), through the unnecessary increase in protection for Star Wars’s foreign owners, right down to the continued support for Adobe on the report download site instead of third-sector-produced pdfreaders.org, it looks like the report won’t stop us being “Digital Divide Britain”.

I also have my suspicions about the effect of the “DAB-only from the end of 2015″ decision on our community radio companies, but I’ve not been active in that sector for years and there’s a further consultation about that.

Ultimately, “the Government believes piracy of intellectual propert for profit is theft and will be pursued as such through the criminal law” is the killer phrase in this report. The concept of being allowed to file-share without payment doesn’t even appear in the same section. I’ve been warning about these “New Enclosure” attempts for years: I didn’t expect the Digital Britain report to be such a leap towards them.

I think most of these problems generally stem from the failure to include digital production cooperatives in the preparation of this report in any significant way. It has been captured by the private sector and a few trading funds, to the detriment of the nation.

Comment on FREE ICT Conference from Microsoft and NCVO, 6th May 2009 by cosmicjulie

cosmicjulie — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 08:20:00 +0000

Hi MJ
Good to see you yesterday in Bristol. I will follow-up on this thread and our discussion with the next Regional Champs meeting in a couple of weeks time.
Julie

Comment on FREE ICT Conference from Microsoft and NCVO, 6th May 2009 by MJ Ray

MJ Ray — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:08:01 +0000

I meant taking something like the Bristol Wireless event from 2008 to other regions. The Taunton event contained too many errors about FOSS and Web 2.0 service terms for me to be enthusiastic about it going elsewhere unless those problems get corrected and FOSS gets a fair hearing instead of shouted down.

Thanks for taking the Office price comment on board. That’s just a recent symptom – the problem is pervasive. Any chance of a preview of materials like the ICT FAQ cards? I’d really love it if they don’t point to obsolete, unmaintained resources like the ICT handbook I saw did.

I’m currently looking for financial or logistical assistance in running a FOSS promotional event. I look forward to hearing from you.

Comment on Digital Inclusion and Social Enterprise by MJ Ray

MJ Ray — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:59:29 +0000

“Hardware requirements: Adobe Flash player v9 or above, Screen resolution of 1024×768 or above & Javascript must be turned on.” So, it doesn’t work on community-developed software like MPlayer or Totem – and since when are Flash player and Javascript hardware? Where’s the “play in standalone player” link?

I left them a feedback comment along those lines and it demanded I pass an eyetest or a hearing test. I got through after a few attempts. I’d love to share your enthusiasm, but it’s videos on a site I can’t watch on a site which has just made me feel like a second-class citizen when I sent feedback. It feels rather anti-social to me.

Comment on Community Computers (near Taunton) by cosmicjulie

cosmicjulie — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:03:15 +0000

Thanks MJ for reminder about Bristol Wireless – and yes for people in Bristol that will be the better option.

I think that the idea of producing a list of offers is great and will do my best to start something off to share – but as ever it depends on people keeping information up-to-date and relevant to third sector

Julie

Comment on Community Computers (near Taunton) by MJ Ray

MJ Ray — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:43:00 +0000

Reminder: http://www.bristolwireless.net/wiki/index.php/ComputersForSale still advertises £30 computers. Taunton-Bristol return train fare is £10. Other than being £60 more expensive, I don’t see details on CC to compare them further.

Maybe an index of these offers would be good?