Resources
ICT Service Providers Directory for the North East
A directory, with contact details, of the ICT support network across the North East, including IT technical support providers, ICT advice, and IT training venues. It's now completely on-line - brace yourselves!
ICT Service Providers Directory
Monthly E-Bulletins
The March 2008 edition of the ICT E-Bulletin is the first of the new format bulletins which are sent out as direct emails rather than a chunky attachment. You can view these archived bulletins by clicking on this link: ICT E-Bulletins
Website Accessibility Study
The Community IT Academy (CITA) have just published a report to explore the options around website accessibility for Open Source Content Managed website systems such as Joomla, WordPress and Drupal.
There is a legal (and moral) obligation to make websites work fully, to allow anyone (and everyone) to use them using any platform, software and/or peripheral hardware. There is also some confusion as to what measures you must take, what is good practice and what the industry standards are.
The full report is available here to view or download: Website Accessibility
ICT Strategy Toolkit
The Community IT Academy (CITA) in Newcastle upon Tyne have developed an online toolkit to enable frontline and 2nd tier organisations to complete a basic ICT Strategy for their organisation (a stock-take of skills, equipment etc.)
As many of you will know, having an ICT Strategy helps to focus the work of your organisation and to assist it in securing future funding. Funders want to see that organisations take their ICT interests seriously!
This toolkit is available for use to the entire sector nationwide.
The intellectual property rights of this toolkit remain with VONNE and will be used to develop future toolkits for the sector. Whilst VONNE own the rights to this toolkit, you may consider it freely available to the sector at all times.
Click here to start using the toolkit and create your ICT Strategy
- You will be asked to enter an e-mail address and password to be able to use the toolkit.
- Please write any answers within the toolkit in full, as they form the basis of the finished report.
- All Strategies and information that you enter may be saved online for up to 30 days. Any unfinished Strategies will be automatically deleted after 30 days.
This toolkit was made possible via funding through the National ICT Hub.
Understanding the web and making it work for your organisation
At the end of last year Flatline Design, on behalf of VONNE, ran a series of free workshops to help de-mystify the web. The sessions were aimed at any third sector organisation which was either considering developing a website or, which already had one but wanted to make it more effective. The sessions covered everything from choosing a web designer to understanding accessibility and search engines. They were presented in clear, simple english and included support materials which are freely available below. As well as the PDF manuals there are also podcasts of the workshops available too.
Many thanks to Roger from Flatline Design for this useful piece of work.
www.flatlinedesign.co.uk flatline.design@mac.com
Planning & Managing a Successful Website (PDF 364 Kb)
Planning & Managing a Successful Website (MP3 10.3 Mb) 
Making Your Website More Effective (PDF 195 Kb)
Making Your Website More Effective (MP3 11.3 Mb)
ICT Strategy Assistance (net:gain)
UK Online Centres in the north East are delivering the ICT Net:gain programme. Net:gain is an effective training programme available to the voluntary sector that gives you access to free and discounted services, practical advice, and educational workshops. The programme offers you a step by step guide to creating your own ICT business plan and modern technology strategy. Net:gain will help you to identify how your organisation could be supported through the use of ICT, find local sources of ICT advice and technical support, and demonstrate how methods of ICT can be of use to your organisation.
For further details, please contact:
Bellevue Centre, 01429 221832, alex.sedgwick@bellevuecentre.org.uk
Teesdale Village Halls, 01833 696650, fergus@teesdalehalls.co.uk
CITA, 0191 256 5015, admin@communityitacademy.org
For case studies of organisations signed up to net:gain, see below:
Tackling Sustainability Issues (pdf 213kb)
Reviewing communications for a diverse audience(pdf 334kb)
Motivating colleagues to embrace change (pdf 248kb)
Centre plans for diversification (pdf 242kb)
NAVCA Directory of members and local contacts
This directory lists local and regional infrastructure organisations who operate on a district-wide, county-wide or region-wide basis and also details other local infrastructure organisations.
Use the map to find members in a particular region. Use the tick boxes to specify if you would like to view Region-wide and/or District-wide organisations as well as County-wide ones.
http://webdb.navca.org.uk/Home.aspx
We have also produced a Venue Guide, to enable you to search for a suitable venue to hold your event or meeting across the North East. Our newsletter 'The Vine' is available online as well as being sent out in print to all our members.
Publications
A selection of useful and informative publications on ICT for voluntary and community organisations.
If you wish to view these documents as PDFs you may need to download the free Adobe Acrobat reader.
Corporate Product Needs of the Sector
This authoritative independent research document was commissioned by the ICT Hub to study software options for the sector. It is aimed at informing the small to medium sized Voluntary and Community Organisation (VCO) about what software is available. It addresses issues such as the availability, likely cost, usability and ease of set up.
Download: Full Report (PDF 1.8 MB) PDF 1.8 MB
From Nightmare to Nirvana - an ICT Survival Guide for Trustees
What has ICT got to do with Governance? Why should trustees be interested in ICT? This guide is not to improve your technical understanding; but will help your trustees understand the role of ICT and the importance of strategic planning to reduce the cost and risk implications, and to make a difference to your organisational effectiveness and your impact on beneficiaries.
Download: ICT Survival Guide for Trustees PDF 399 KB
ICT Foresight: Charitable Giving and Fundraising in a Digital World
Alongside exploring the tools available for electronic giving, such as websites and mobile phones; this report looks at the impact of technology on traditional marketing methods; and how to adapt to a cultural change in managing donors to ensure these tools are used effectively.
Download: Charitable Giving and Fundraising in a Digital World PDF 670 KB
ICT Foresight: Consultation and Campaigning in the Age of Participatory Media
This report, based on a survey of almost 300 senior managers in the voluntary and community sector; maps out emerging trends in relation to the critical 'voice' and representation roles of the sector.
Download: Consultation and Campaigining... PDF 581kb
ICT Foresight: How Online Communities can make the Net Work for the Voluntary & Community Sector
This report examines the impact of the internet on the growing trend for individuals and organisations to come together through online social networking, forums, blogs, wikis and other new technology.
Download: How Online Communities can make the Net Work for the VCS PDF 1.3Mb
A Guide to Managing ICT in the Voluntary and Community Sector
This in-depth guide covers all aspects of managing information and communications technology. It contains over 100 pages of accessible information that is useful for anyone whatever your level of technical knowledge. This publication has been supported by ESiT.
Download: A Guide to Managing ICT PDF 1.55Mb
New Media Case Studies
The Media Trust have produced a booklet highlighting 10 VCOs of all shapes and sizes who have used new media to communicate with their audience.
Download: New Media Case Studies PDF 701Kb
How to Cost and Fund ICT
This booklet will help you identify and budget for total cost of ownership of ICT, an invaluable resource when funding your ICT. This guide has been sponsored by Datek Solutions www.dateksolutions.com.
Download: How to Cost and Fund ICT PDF 1.24Mb
Easy Free and Quick ICT Accessibility Pack
This booklet and CD explains why accessibility is vital to your work, clarifies your legal obligation, and tells you how easy it is to make simple practical improvements to your accessibility. The CD helps you put into practice simple improvements and has a wealth of case studies. Most of the ideas in this booklet are free or cost less than £100.
Download: ICT Accessibility Booklet PDF 492Kb
Web Accessibility Pack for Voluntary and Community Organisations (booklet and CD)
This booklet and CD is a practical introduction to web accessibility. It will give you the knowledge to make your site accessible at no or little additional cost. The pack explains what web accessibility is, the benefits and what the law says, as well as giving guidance for web managers/ commissioners, editors, designers and developers.
Download: Web Accessibility Pack PDF 1.69Mb
ICT Tools to Support Collaborative Working
ICT has great potential for enabling collaboration, especially for projects which involve multiple partners over large geographical distances. This information identifies what works and what doesn’t, and is illustrated with case studies.
Download: ICT Tools to Support Collaborative Working PDF 274Kb
Collaborative Working to Make More Effective Use of ICT
It can be a challenge to identify and realise the potential of ICT because of the difficulty in resourcing and finding the support needed. This information explores how you could collaborate with others to support your ICT.
Download: Collaborative Working PDF 170Kb
ICT Signposting Guide for Small Voluntary and Community Organisations
This is a signposting guide for small voluntary and community to help get better use out of their ICT and to support its effective management.
Download: ICT Signposting Guide for Small VCOs PDF 43Kb
Making More Impact With Your Funds, briefing for funders booklet
This briefing for funders booklet is designed to inform funders about both the importance of ICT and funding the total cost of ownership.
Download: Briefing for Funders PDF 250Kb
Circuit Rider 2.0 Guide
The circuit rider guide aims to answer all of your circuit rider questions such as:
What is a circuit rider?What do circuit riders do? How do circuit rider projects work? How do circuit riders benefit the voluntary and community sector?
Download: Circuit Rider 2.0 Guide PDF 184Kb
Future Focus 3: How will we use new technologies in five years' time?
New from the Performance Hub, this guide looks at how ICT is impacting on the voluntary and community sector and suggests ways for your organisation to make strategic choices and plan ahead.
Download: Future Focus 3 PDF 184Kb
Staff Contact
Andrew Samuel (Sam)ICT Budget Calculator.
A simple spreadsheet where you simply need to enter the number of staff you have that use or need to use a pc and the calculator will estimate costs for hardware, software, training and technical support - a useful tool when putting in funding bids for IT support and systems and also by way of planning. Developed by LASA and available to all at the link below.
Strategic Planning Guidelines - Write your own ICT strategy!
A step-by-step guide (with examples) of how to write a simple and effective IT/ICT strategy for your organisation. This strategy will prove invaluable in helping you win funding bids, and to raise the level of IT/ICT awareness within your organisation in general.
ICT Strategic Planning Guidelines (96kb)
Healthcheck Guidelines - Assess your status and move forwards.
A useful tool to 'stock take' you hardware, software and staff skills, with a view to determining your next steps. Works well as an appendix to Strategic Planning Guidelines, or stands alone as a useful review tool.
Healthcheck Guidelines (136kb)
Website Planning Guidelines - Ascertain what you need.
A 'no nonsense' checklist to complete to help you determine exactly what you want for your organisation, it's functions, and how it looks.
Website Planning Guidelines (88kb)
Assistive Technologies - What there is, their uses and where to find them.
A clear explanation of what technologies are available, what they can do to assist, who they are for, how much they cost, and where you can get them.
Assistive Technologies (244kb)
Accessibility Options - How to adapt MS Office for free.
Some quick and easy 'How to' guides to improve accessibility to your IT/ICT data and services, for staff and for clients, for free.
Accessibility Options (1.50mb)
Looking for a venue to hold your event or meeting? We have an extensive list of suitable venues across the North East.