Regional ICT Champion

Submitted our bid to the ICT Hub yesterday to be the South East's regional ICT Champion. We've bid with Lucian Borcanescu, who is currently regional accessibility champion, which is one big advantage, and is based in Slough, which is another big advantage.

It means we'll each be able to cover more manageable patch. Given the size of the south east region it would be nigh on impossible to work on this sensibly without breaking it into sub-regional areas.

If successful I'll be working one or two days a week for the next year, creating links with other ICT-related projects and linking into local networks of frontline organisations to raise awareness of the support available from the ICT Hub [and others]. I'll also be trying to create an ICT Strategy for the region, building on the report published recently that evaluated the South East Regional ICT Demonstration Project, of which SCIP was a part. Hopefully that will appear on the RAISE site soon.

Will find out next week whether we're successful with the bid - got to have an interview first.

technorati tags:scipmark, icthub, nfptechuk

Want a free worker?

Picked up from a post to the SCIP email list - a neat take on voluntary work as part of a sustainable lifestyle...

"Free Work 07

I'm doing a month of Free Work for organisations and companies in Brighton.

My background is mainly in magazine journalism, online campaigning and corporate copywriting.

This month, I've decided to only do Free Work. It's kind of an experiment. And probably a really bad idea.

Free Work 07 - Logistics in Charlie Davies - notebook

technorati tags:scip, scipmark, nfptechuk

Open source bid writing

David Wilcox, Simon Berry and a couple of other people I know are running an open source bid for government money:

"We are developing an "open source bid" to the UK Cabinet Office for a £1.2 million nonprofit innovation exchange - and offering a place for your ideas. More on the exchange, our first model, how to join in, and who is involved. If you like the approach (or not) please leave a comment. No need to register."

More info at Open Innovation Exchange

Not sure whether I can see any specific proposals emerging from the site in the next two weeks - but it's certainly a great way of puffing a bid before it hits the desk of the people who will decide who gets the cash.

I certainly intend posting ideas.

technorati tags:openinex, scipmark, nfptechuk, innovation

Can Excel save Microsoft

Great article about how Microsoft could transform Excel into a truly killer app - before someone else does. I love excel and using it always make me think I could rule the world.

"Paul Graham thinks Microsoft is Dead. Dave Winer disagrees. Sort of.The caveats don't matter. Graham's greater point is compelling. Microsoft don't really seem to be making it as an Internet Playa. They've neither come up with any really compelling or exciting software on the web-as-a-platform in the last seven years nor have they bought any of the interesting new web 2.0 companies. In fact, the last interesting thing MS did was buy Hotmail which was about 10 years ago.

from: Platform Wars

technorati tags:scipmark, excel, nfptechuk