News & Events > ICT Bulletin Archive

ICT E-Bulletin - November 2011

By Lasa Information Systems Team

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

Lasa news

Lasa Technology Conference - what happened?

For all those that were not (but also those that were) at the Powering Up The Third Sector conference on 14 November, some of the audio and video is now on Storify. You can also see what delegates and followers tweeted.

We will be adding all the session presentations and reports on the Knowledgebase very soon.

News

Charities' use of the internet - new report

What makes some charities especially effective in the way they use the internet? The Nominet Trust has launched a new state of the net review, Charities’ use of the internet, Current activities and future opportunities (pdf 2.16Mb) revealing that the internet could be the making or breaking of charities.

No desire to interact with corporate social media sites

Nearly two thirds (61 percent) of British internet users have no desire to interact with brands on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, says a report by TNS.

Hard drive prices rise

Computeractive reports that the recent floods in Thailand have caused the price of hard disc drives to rise dramatically. Now may not be the time to upgrade those old PCs - or indeed buy a new one as computers will be in short supply.

Smugging on the rise

According to research conducted by credit card provider Capital One, to coincide with National Identity Fraud Prevention week, 60 million social networking profiles have been subject to unauthorised access in the last year, that's the equivalent of 1.9 every second. Capital One has dubbed the phenomenon 'smugging' (social media mugging).

State of online safety

The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) works internationally to develop a safer Internet by identifying and promoting best practices, tools and methods that also respect free speech.  This month they publish their State of Online Safety report.

Health charities performance website survey

Very little data exists about how charities working in the health sector perform online. In recognition that if a group of charities shared their data, all would benefit from finding trends that we can address together, The Prostate Cancer Society and Breast Cancer Care have developed a quick online questionnaire to gather data.

If you would like to take part, and benefit from this knowledge, please complete the survey by Friday 25 November 2011. All participants will be given access to a report the collective insights by 9 December 2011.

Government sets green ICT targets for 2015

The government is aiming to achieve 10 improvements in its green ICT practice by the end of 2014-15, along with using more efficient data centres and recycling much of its computer hardware, according to a new document Greening Government ICT Strategy (pdf, 700Kb) from the Cabinet Office.

Government Digital Service

The Government Digital Service is the team within Cabinet Office tasked with transforming government digital services.  It was established in response to Martha Lane Fox’s report, Directgov 2010 and beyond: revolution not evolution with a core purpose to ensure the Government offers world-class digital products that meet people’s needs.

Events, training & learning

London Events Calendar

For London technology events please see our Events Calendar. This month's events include: Data Protection issues facing VCS organisations, CES Training on how to choose and use ICT to evaluate outcomes, GovNet's Cyber Security summit, Social Marketing Conference, Digital By Default and Agile ICT in the Public Sector

CRM Master Class

Peter Flory is running a CRM Master Class to help demystify the confusing concept of CRM. The date of this event is 29th November 2011 at the Grand Connaught Rooms, London and the cost is just £99 (no VAT) for not for profit organisations.

An evening with Kirsty Stephenson of Child's i Foundation

Sounddelivery and the Third Sector PR and Communications Network are hosting
a free networking event on Tuesday 29 November 2011. Kirsty volunteers as a digital strategist at the Child's i Foundation, a transitional home and family support centre in Uganda. Kirsty will be talking about using social media and the power of video. There will also be a Skype link with the charity's base in Uganda.

Help from The Helplines Association

THA are running two masterclasses: Winning helpline tenders (23 November) will help you get the best out of the competitive tendering process. If you have realised that you may not survive on your own; Effective partnerships for sustainability (12 January 2012) covers different ways of collaborating, from informal arrangements to organisational mergers.

New dates added to data protection webinars

Paul Ticher, the sector’s data protection guru, is running  the second in his series of webinars, Data Protection: Information Security on 6 December at 11am. Cost per webinar is £25 but some organisations may be eligible for a 40% discount. The series continues in the new year with Data Protection: using cloud services  on 19 January, Data Protection: working with other organisations  on  Wednesday, 8 February and Data Protection: overview on 13 March, 2012.

Funding and awards

Fundraisers need to understand Facebook

The Guardian reports on an international fundraisers’ conference which raised the issue that fundraisers aren't succeeding in raising money with social media because they are not engaging fully with the social element.

Nominet Trust £250k Challenge

Launched last month, the Nominet Trust £250k Challenge is looking to invest in projects that work with older people (65+) to:

• use the internet to address specific social problems facing older people
• design new and better ways for older people to access and use the internet
• develop and use technologies familiar to older people that may have internet functionality such as use of IPTV or internet radio

The deadline for first stage applications is 1st February 2012.

Resources, legal and accessibility

What are the differences between building and buying software and how will it shape my nonprofit?

Deborah Finn talks to colleague Eric Segal for answers in this 5 minute audio clip.

I can’t get no...

A new KnowHow NonProfit article looks at what you need to do to run a website satisfaction survey.

Get off of my cloud

Mike Small from the ISACA security advisory group over on Guardian Government Computing looks at the risks associated with cloud computing and how to “preserve information assurance”.

Is open source right for your organisation?

This article from Idealware and the NonProfit Times examines the pros and cons of open source, the types of software available and how to make the decision.

Sector lacks knowledge and understanding about mobile technology

The Association for Interactive Media and Entertainment (AIME), surveyed 368 charities and found that whilst the vast majority were comfortable with the internet and social media, only 40 per cent considered themselves to be ‘very comfortable’ with mobile sites, reports Third Sector. The report, Understanding Technology Needs, (free, requires registration) also said that the charities needed to expand donation options to include mobile technology to appeal to potential donors.

Using microsites to tell your story

Carla Chadwick at Sankynet on the NTEN blog reveals how mini web sites can help your organisation.

Practical tips

Upgrading to Windows 7?

TechSoup looks at the 4 questions you should ask yourself before upgrading your XP of Vista computers to Windows 7.

Moving servers to a new datacentre

TechSoup recently moved over 100 servers to a new datacentre. In this blog article they share their lessons learned.

Google Good to Know Guide

Google, working with the Citizens Advice Bureaux has developed a guide covering:

• Staying safe online - Advice for staying more secure on the web and an overview of some of the security tools that Google offers
• Your data on the web - An overview of ways that websites can get to know your preferences and how this makes them more useful for you
• Your data on Google - Explaining what information you share with Google when you use Google products and services and how they use it to improve experiences

• Manage your data - Guidance on how you can manage the data that you share online, both across the web and on Google services

Office 2010 tips at Techsoup

Discover five new shortcuts for Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook.

Tools and applications

Noted...

As we accumulate more internet connected devices, it’s becoming more important to have access to our data wherever we are. Evernote is a cloud-based application which stores your notes be they text, photos, video or audio which you can connect to from a PC, laptop, smartphone or tablet. And it’s free!

Edit images for free

Whilst Photoshop is the acknowledged leading image editor on the market, it’s a heavy investment for small organisations who may only occasionally want to carry out fairly simple image editing. The oddly-named GIMP is an open source image editor which handles most of the tasks that are required to edit a picture for your website or newsletter.

Free security for mobile devices

NFP Techno examines Prey, an open source application that can help recover a mobile device should it be lost or stolen.

Need to convert video files?

Freemake’s free Windows video converter will convert video to AVI, MP4, WMV, MKV, MPEG, SWF, 3GP, DVD, MP3, iPod, iPhone, PSP, Android, rip & burn DVD, convert FLV and online videos from 50+ sites, burn Blu-ray and upload to YouTube.

Eventbrite comes to the UK

Eventbrite, the online ticketing and event management service, has launched in the UK. It now also supports UK currency for credit card transactions.

Opinion

Allow social media vs. ban social media at work

Letting the reins out on social media use is tough because it requires trust. While it's critical for IT to address security and compliance, social media thrives on uncensored communications, finding the right balance is key, says PC Advisor.

An angry buzz

Melissa Carey takes issue with our old friend John Kenyon over his description of social media as being the dessert to email and websites main course vegetables. What about the soup and nuts?

Podcasting as digital storytelling

Deborah Elizabeth Finn on the NTEN blog goes behind the scenes of a podcast recording session to provide pointers on how to go about making a great podcast.

New version of Ubuntu desktop under the microscope

Scott Gilbertson on The Register examines the Unity desktop that has been updated for the new, 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot, Ubuntu open source operating system.

Will tablets take over?

Bill Detwiler looks behind a survey in which 40% of participants thought that tablets were the real deal and not just a fad.

And finally

Rats bring down Scottish broadband

The Register reports on the super-rats that gnawed through Virgin Media’s cables in Fifeshire...