Local Hubs - win-win options
March 11, 2008 Posted by julzswitch in : Environment, South West region, Flexible Working, Guest Bloggers , 1 comment so farI am doing some research today ahead of an event next Wednesday in Devon which is bringing together people from public, private and third sector organisation to look at the development of local ICT ‘hubs’. The event is being promoted by Community Council of Devon and COSMIC jointly and has already engaged interest from the County Council, BT, University of Plymouth, RDA and others.
There are several counties already running projects in the UK which provide ICT resources in local communities using facilities such as village halls, post offices, libraries and pubs and its interesting to see how these are now developing a new level of support given the need for everyone to take environmental issues more seriously. Examples I am looking at include - Somerset Broadplaces, Connecting Dorset and Switched on Shropshire
By providing access to services and resources in local communities we should be able to reduce the need for travel and our ongoing reliance on so many vehicles. I also think that if we extend this to shared work-based use of local facilities such as community centres and village halls it becomes a win-win situation. Many of us know about the issues with homeworking (isolation, lack of social support, etc) and so if we developed locally shared workspaces which could be used by a range of employers not only do we provide people with improved working arrangements, but we also develop new and much-needed income streams for local venues. I am going to encourage many more people to think about local hubs in this way and increase the debate as much as possible, starting with next Wednesday.
Julie Harris, COSMIC
COSMIC sees through the storm
March 10, 2008 Posted by julzswitch in : Bristol, Events, South West region, collaboration, Guest Bloggers , 1 comment so farHello Connecting Bristol, and thank you for asking me to be guest blogger for the week - I feel privileged to join in. I thought it would be useful to reflect each day on my role as Regional ICT Champion for the third sector here in the South West, as well as on my role as Chief Executive at COSMIC - and there’s always plenty to say about both roles.
Well what a start to the day - storms overnight meant a collapsed fence first thing at the office - we decided that we would wait and see if the weather got worse before fixing it. Sounds like an analogy for a few organisations I know recently!
Last week, on Wednesday 5th March, we ran the Rural ICT Conference at Lackham College near Chippenham and today I have been pulling together presentations, reports and feedback to complete a post-conference report. It has reminded me of the value of documenting events and reflecting on their value, for the benefit of those not able to attend but also to remind people who were there what we achieved in just one day! It really was a great event and lots of discussions and debate focussed on initiatives, campaigns and collaboration which will help to make the work of rural VCOs more effective using ICT. I will be posting a full copy of the event report on my Champs blog soon.
In the process of pulling the conference report together I have been using SlideShare to upload and share the various powerpoints from the day. If you haven’t used it already then its worth a try. You can upload full copies of powerpoints to the online store and then share them with contacts or the wider world.
Here at COSMIC we have been reviewing recent decisions and some others which are imminent which could offer more funding for the delivery of ICT support to third sector organisations across the region. Both Capacity Builders and the Big Lottery BASIS programme are looking at their funding programmes and making announcements in the coming weeks. We will be looking for as many opportunities as possible to boost the ICT support available to organisations. Good news is that Regional ICT Champions funding will continue for a further three years, and we are hopeful that the powers-that-be at the lottery will also identify ICT as a key support issue in its BASIS round 2 funding.
This week I am writing in three separate blogs - this one for Connecting Bristol, my Champs blog as shown above, and also one as Social Enterprise Ambassador. I just hope people are reading them all … or at least one of them!
Julie Harris, COSMIC
Mapping the Urban Forest
May 9, 2007 Posted by Pete Ferne in : Bristol, Innovation, Environment, South West region , add a commentFollowing on from a recent Guardian article on the death of the urban tree I came across the San Francisco Urban Forest Mapping Project — a collaboration between the City of San Francisco’s Bureau of Urban Forestry and a local group called Friends of the Urban Forest.
In the past, San Francisco’s long-term urban forest planning was hindered because there was no way to share information, much less get the community involved. That’s all changed, thanks to a significant partnership effort between Friends of the Urban Forest, the City and County of San Francisco, and Autodesk. By working together and leveraging new technology – MapGuide Open Source – the project team has created an Urban Forest Map, which digitally pinpoints the location of each tree, maintains tree data in a consistent database, and offers web access to the tree data – key for maintenance and planting efforts. The community can get involved by posting photos and stories about their own trees that they plant and map online. With the launch of this collaborative effort and the support of the Mayor’s Office, a critical step has been taken to move San Francisco’s urban greening efforts forward.
It would be great to see something similar for Bristol and the Forest of Avon.
The State of the South West?
March 27, 2007 Posted by Clare in : Digital Challenge, Bristol, South West region , add a commentAccording to a new report, the people of the South West live longer, enjoy the lowest rates of reported crime and unemployment, and give more of their time to social, civic or volunteer activities than the rest of England.
The region also has the fastest growing population in the country - driven entirely by people moving into the region, with more than half of those newcomers leaving London and the South East.
It is not all good news however: the sunny climate means there are 27% more deaths from malignant melanoma and people in the South West spend proportionally more on motoring and services provided by local authorities are financed by a higher proportion of council tax than the national average.
The State of the South West 2007 report provides a comprehensive picture of region’s people, economy, environment and social make up. The report was co-ordinated and produced by the South West Observatory Core Unit and can be read on www.swo.org.uk.
