News & Events > ICT Bulletin Archive

London ICT E-Bulletin - January 2011

By Lasa Information Systems Team

A source of technology news, resources and advice for small to medium sized third sector organisations in London.

Lasa news

Knowledgebase is 10!

The Lasa ICT Knowledgebase is celebrating its tenth anniversary this month and to mark the occasion, Lasa is excited to bring you its first 'technology hour of service' via Twitter (aka #kbis10).

We’ve assembled a team of experts who have freely volunteered their time to answer your questions about all aspects of third sector technology from databases and websites to new media and open source.

To take part join us on Twitter from 10am-11am Wednesday 26 January 2011, and include the hash tag #kbis10 in any questions you post to our experts. More information on the Lasa website. 

News

Charities move to the cloud

Charities could save money and time by switching their IT operations to cloud computing, says Lasa's ICT Champion Miles Maier over on The Guardian's Voluntary Sector Network Blog.

Mobile giving must be encouraged

A new report by mobile business Cubate says that charities need to do more to embrace new media in their fundraising in order to encourage giving from younger donors, Third Sector reports

In addition, more than 1,000 retailers have signed up to a scheme which allows people to donate about 2.5 per cent of the price of online purchases. Consumers can download Give as you Live, which is powered by Everyclick, to their computers for free. They then choose which charity a percentage of the purchase price will go to.

0800 charges

Third Sector reports that the Helplines Association are concerned at Ofcom proposal that recipients should pay for mobile calls made to 0800 numbers.

Events, training & learning

London ICT Events

For London technology events please see our Events Calendar. This month's events include NetSquared on social reporting and Fossbox's open source drop-in.

Media Trust training

The Media Trust are running a number of digital media training events in the London area over the next few months.

Idealware online seminars

Idealware continues their series of seminars in January and February with Getting Started With Email Fundraising, Making The Most of Social Networking Sites, Building An Effective Email List and Telling Your Story with Blogs, Photos, and Videos. All seminars are one and a half hours long and run between 1 - 2.30 pm EST (which is 6 - 7.30pm here, we think).

ICT Champions Events Calendar

The ICT Champions website has a useful list of countrywide ICT events.

Funding and awards

ICT consultancy for advice giving organisations

Do your activities include the provision of information, advice or support by telephone, email or SMS to people in part or all of London?  If your audience does not extend beyond the capital, and you would like to make better use of technology, then a scheme delivered by The Helplines Association (THA) and funded by City Bridge Trust might help. The aim of the project is to help more Londoners, or serve them more efficiently or effectively, through better use of technology. You do not need to have a formal 'helpline', but you will need to demonstrate that you have the capacity to work with THA during 2011/12 and to implement agreed recommendations following a funded evaluation of your ICT. Please note the closing date for applications is 21 January 2011.

How to get free advertising on AdWords using a Google grant

Nick Beck, Managing Director of Tug shares his advice about Google grants over on KnowHow NonProfit - free advertising budgets to eligible non profit organizations using its popular AdWords program.

Resources, legal and accessibility

Web Accessibility Code of Practice help

ACCESS 8878 is a resource that supports the new British Standard BS 8878. BS 8878 Web Accessibility Code of Practice supports developers in producing web products that are accessible to a range of users.

How to make the most of the cloud

Are you considering using the cloud for some or all of your ICT needs? Lasa's Information Systems Team over on KnowHow NonProfit shares some tips and guidance on how the cloud can work for you.

New on the Knowledgebase

New articles now up on the Knowledgebase are Just What is a Green Computer, What Your Organisation Should Know About Office 2010, Martini Security - Working Safely Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere and Windows 7 Licensing For Charities.

Five years in the cloud

Judi Sohn at the C3 Colorectal Cancer Coalition looks at running a small nonprofit using cloud technology.

Tweet your legal questions

Alternative ways of delivering legal services continue to grow with the launch of two web-based, fixed-fee Q&A services, and what is claimed to be the first Twitter “law firm”. The two websites – http://www.expert-answers.co.uk and http://www.questiontheexpert.com– both use panels of qualified lawyers to answer questions put by users, while @thelegaloracle is the brainchild of the founder of personal injury referral network Loyalty Law.

Practical tips

Five PowerPoint tips

Becky Wiegand over at TechSoup highlights her five favourite tips, features and shortcuts for Microsoft's presentation software.

Flippin' heck!

Some useful little videos on how to make Flip camera videos.

How can technology be used to make you trustees more effective?

Louise Brown at NCVO looks at tools and services that can help make trustee meetings more efficient

Sound and vision

Thanks to Gavin and Bill over on the NTEN Discuss list for suggestions of how to record Skype calls. Pamela can record Skype video calls, with basic (free) and advanced paid-for versions. VodBurner will record, edit, upload Skype calls and upload ready-made to YouTube. Also check out IMCapture.

Customising the Quick Access Toolbar

Follow this step by step guide (pdf 723Kb) to add commands to your quick Access Toolbar in Office 2007 & 2010 - speeding up a range of routine tasks which sometimes take longer with the Ribbon Menu system.

Tools and applications

Delicious to close down?

Marshall Kirkpatrick over on ReadWriteWeb makes his feelings felt about Yahoo's possible shutdown or sell off of the bookmarking site delicious.

Speechbubble

If you work with people who need help with spoken communication because of a disability, this website developed by the ACE Centre gives you an idea of what communication aids are available - allowing you to search by feature, software and supplier.

New ICT donation catalogue available at CTX

The CTX Programme has issued an updated catalogue (pdf 100Kb) of donated products for eligible charities which now includes Norton Antivirus and Internet Security 2011, Symantec Enterprise and Cisco products.

What's Salesforce?

NFP Techno talks to Isabel Kelly of the Salesforce Foundation about their CRM cloud database for nonprofits.

Opinion

Google's ChromeOS means losing control of data warning

New cloud computing OS released by Google is a plan to push people into 'careless computing', warns free software advocate Richard Stallman

Every silver lining...

Louise Brown at NCVO interviews Stony Grunow on how the cloud can assist charities

Tools of the Year!

NetSquared rounds up the social tools of the year.

You can run but...

Cory Doctorow doesn't think that hiding your email address will deter spammers.

NetSquared tech leaders highlighted

Sixteen 2010 NetSquared interviews with technology and social impact leaders in one place.

And finally

The one Ronnie takes on technology