Introductions S-Z
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These are introductions made from July 1996 to the IACN mailing list S-Z. Back to full IACN intros index.
alun@ukiah.demon.co.uk
I'm pleased to provide some introductory details about myself for the
*iacn* mailing list.
My name is Alun Servern. I am a Business Support Worker at Co-Enterprise in
Birmingham (UK), engaged specifically on delivery of a SRB funded community
business support project, focused on the Saltley and Small Heath area of
Birmingham.
Co-Enterprise is Birmingham's lead agency developing community enterprise
and has been doing this for over ten years. Most recently, key areas of
activity have been community care enterprises (particularly home care
support), childcare, and community-managed employment resource centres.
My own background is varied. I have previously worked in co-operative
development, been a member of a worker co-operative, and written training
and promotional materials for ICOM (the Industrial Common Ownership
Movement).
I am particularly interested in the role community and co-operative
business development can play within disadvantaged communities and as part
of regeneration programmes.
I am also interested in the role of the IACN mailing list, because I think
that, outside of predominantly academic circles, the internet is a largely
unexplored medium for development agencies, and is still (within my own
organisation, for example) viewed somewhat sceptically, its purposes and
potential benefits unclear.
It seems to me, however, that it could be used for:
* networking examples of good practise
* exploring the generation of new community enterprise ideas
* as a medium for "ideas generation" workshops
* to disseminate new funding opportunities
* to exchange ideas and good practise in
project proposals, resources acquisition etc
I have to admit, though, that I still think that some development workers
(like me, for instance) will continue to find it difficult, maybe
impossible, to justify time spent in the office on contributing to the
growth and development of this or similar mailing lists. I don't have an
answer for how this can be tackled -- just that it needs to be acknowledged
as one of the constraints that many voluntary sector workers operate under.
1 Chestnut Rd Oldbury
Warley West Midlands
B68 0AX E N G L A N D
Tel +44(0)121 422 9509
Charles Shearer <charles@itopia.co.uk>
charles@haflibs.org.uk
My interest in this group is from the public sector viewpoint. I work for the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Libraries and I am responsible for their information services. My involvement in this group is not official and what I may say is not necessarily endorsed by my employer.
I am aware that librarians have not always been (and still are not) responsive to the needs of the community, particularly their information requirements, often defining them on perceived needs rather than any practical involvement with their users. Librarians please don't flame me...I know there are committed people out there.
My own approach is hopefully less top down. I worked for the London Borough of Lambeth which at the time had innovatory ideas on community librarianship, providing services to people where they congregated, acknowledging that a library building was not necessarily the natural focal point for the community. Even more radically at the time, great effort was made to actually talk to and find out what the users of the service really required from the library and an effort was made to deliver a service that matched those needs.
Much of my work now has to do with electronic information services and I am very interested in the libraries participation in CINs. I am concerned however by the response of Local Authorities in general to the internet an where exactly libraries, traditionally more in touch with their users (???) will fit into the controlled top down environment that is deciding the content of the _official_ web site. Many of these seem to be triumphs of little style over less content (with exceptions).
I look forward to hearing peoples views on what role the library may play in CINs and how libraries could participate given the current economic and political climate in the public sector.
penny.shepherd@bitc.org.uk
I am New Business Development Manager for Business in the Community, a UK charity which seeks to develop the quality and extent of business involvement in the community and to have such involvement accepted as a natural part of successful business practice. We work particularly with education and regeneration and also run the following business to business campaigns:
- Opportunity 2000 (for a gender balanced workforce)
- Race for Opportunity (on the relationship between business and ethnic minorities)
- Business in the Environment
Currently, I am working on the implications/potential of information and communication technologies for corporate community involvement and corporate social responsibility, including:
- New ways and new tools for business to support the community (eg. companies are already taking account of the Internet and other ICTs in considering what media to use for the materials they produce for schools)
- The Internet as a tool to communicate with people in business about community involvement
Prior to joining Business in the Community last year, I worked for IBM for 19 years as a computer consultant, particularly in application development, and a quality manager. There, I gained many years of experience in facilitating communities of geographically dispersed specialists and using online conferences, databases of information, etc across IBM's worldwide internal network.
In the late 70's, I co-founded Women and Computing which campaigned and networked on issues around women in the computer industry and the gender-implications of new technology and, in the mid-80's, the Women's Computer Centre which teaches computer literacy skills to women.
I am a (totally inactive) member of the British Computer Society and a chartered engineer.
100617.3462@CompuServe.COM
I live and work in Newham which is in the East End of London. I've worked in co-operative and community based initiatives for more than twenty years and have also earnt my living as a freelance consultant specialising in these areas and also computer applications including database programming and telematics.
My current work and involvements are as follows (please feel free to contact me if anything strikes a chord)
*UK Communities OnLine I have been working with David Wilcox for the past year on a range of initiatives (as part of Partnerships for Tomorrow) including Communities Online. My main current tasks for UKCO are:
a) establishing a technical team and technical resources to support community networking and UKCO sites (see separate eMail in near future)
b) securing a server that can support our need for an interactive online space (excellent offer received, details soon)
c) developing online training and facilitation initiatives All this is being done voluntarily at present...but one can hope.
*UK Citizens OnLine Democracy I am part of the core group organising this project to create a new online forum for political discussion in the UK. It has the support of Hansard and the Cabinet Office. If all goes well it will be launched by the end of September. Whilst the initial focus is on the General Election the strategy is to go local thereafter; there are many shared interests with UKCO and many opportunities for mutual aid. My main responsibility and work within UKCOD is facilitating and summarising the online discussions that are deciding the rules, etiquette and organisation of discussion within the site. Voluntary again :-(
*NewTEL I am part of the steering group for this project. It is providing training and support to get the voluntary sector online in Newham and is promoting the establishment of a cross sector community network in the borough. I am currently helping to organise an invitation only seminar for key potential participants. Again voluntary.
*Custom House and Canning Town Community Renewal Project This lot pay me. It's a community owned and controlled development trust and registered charity. I am their economic development officer (half time). Currently we are in the middle of a L1.3 million scheme to convert a large church so as to provide a health centre, community centre, cafe, training centre and offices. Also setting up childcare practice and training centre, homecare co-op and hopefully a telematics and health project.
AND ALSO:
Newham Co-op Party - Chair
Community Economy Limited - Treasurer
UK Futures - Member of futures techniques and tools sub group
Longlife Housing Co-op - Finance Sub Committee
Richard Stubbs
Partnerships for Tomorrow
69 Romford Road, Stratford London, E15 4LY
Tel: 0181 534 6891
eMail:100617.3462@compuserve.com
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/R_Stubbs/
geoffw@geoffw.demon.co.uk
Hi Everyone,
I am new to the group and wanted to share the experiences of NewNet to date with you.
1. Introduction
Digital technology, in its many forms, is something we wittingly, or unwittingly, access many times a day. Although we move within and without it, it pervades every aspect of our lives. In the words of The Eagles song Hotel California:-
You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.
NewNet is an attempt to capture the advantages of the digital age for communities potentially isolated from it. It is a combination of a civic, commercial and community network for the City of Newcastle upon Tyne. It involves a one year voluntary organisation World Wide Web community access project called VISION which aims to:-
2. The Pilot Partners
There are currently 13 organisations involved in the partnership:-
Ability Training, Byker Bridge Housing Association, Community Service Volunteers: North West Newcastle, Zone Gallery, Newcastle Youth Congress, West Denton Association, Blakelaw Young Peoples Project, Newcastle Citizens Advice Bureau, Linden Training, Westgate Community College, Byker Advice & information Project, Healthy Cities Project, Walker Open Learning & Fitness Centre.
3. Pilot Support
All pilot support is offered free of charge to the pilot projects for an initial twelve month period.
Newcastle City Council, Community & Leisure Services, Research & Development Section:-
Advice and support on project planning & development.
Onyx Internet & Pandora Information Services, based in Middlesborough, Teeside:-
Internet connection and software plus technical support.
Tagish Ltd, based in Alnwick, Northumberland:-
5Mb of webspace per organisation plus technical support on design, form and content.
Lotus Notes Software:-
Free evaluation copies.
Customised Training Package:-
Being designed by a Core Group responsible for project development with advice from Onyx and Tagish.
Geoff Walker
Research & Development
Community & Leisure Services
Newcastle City Council
Civic Centre
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 8PN
Telephone: +44 191 211 6222
Fax: +44 191 211 6276
Email: geoffw@geoffw.demon.co.uk
WWW: http://www.newcastle-city-council.gov.uk
"If you don't know where you are going you are sure to end up somewhere else."
<dwilcox@pavilion.co.uk>
Tel: 01273 677377
I spent 12 years as a journalist, mainly with the Evening Standard in the 1970s. Since then I have worked as a consultant, trainer and writer specialising in community participation and partnership building. I have been the voluntary chair of the North Kensington Amenity Trust (developing 20 acres of land under a motorway), and also chair of the North Laine Community Association (or Bohemian Brighton as the official guide has it). I've tried to condense some of that experience into the publications in the Community pages of this site.
I'm interested in community electronic networks because they seem to challenge elites. The readers become writers, public bodies are challenged to put information into the public domain, partnerships become more widely based IF..... people have access to the technology, the information and discourse is well structured, and virtual communities are based on real ones.
That interest led to to develop Partnerships for Tomorrow with Richard Stubbs, Michael Mulquin and others, and to work with Communities Online.
MORRIS WILLIAMS <M7-WILLIAMS@wpg.uwe.ac.uk>
Dave has suggested that as a new subscriber I post an introduction to the list so here it is. I didn't get to the Sheffield conference but heard about the iacn through the Partnerships for Tomorrow list.
I'm based at the University of the West of England and I am working on a project known as Connections which is funded under the Single Regeneration Budget 1 to develop new media technologies in the community. We have a advisory group from the voluntary sector and City Council. We advertised for a partner organisation to act as a host organisation for a pilot site within the community rather than at the University and have selected the Barton Hill Settlement in inner-city Bristol. We have just appointed a project worker to be based at the pilot site and hope to go operational in September. The project has two elements :
1. the development of multi-media productions by community organisations (we are using macromedia's Authorware) 2. disseminating via cdrom and the www via a site we are developing with hewlett packard called Bristol Digital City Interactive where the main emphases are on the interface and its interactive capabilities. Bristol City Council are also involved.
We've learnt a lot though progress often seems slow. I was very impressed at the Communities Online site in terms of the range of activity that has taken off since the first PFT meeting in 1995 and look forward to infosharing and collaboration in the future
David Williamson <David.Williamson@newham.gov.uk>
Dave has suggested that as a new subscriber I post an introduction to the list so here it is.
I work for Newham Social Services; my job title is Joint Information Resources Officer. I am responsible for developing and promoting Newham's Directory of Resources; a computer database giving details of services and resources available to people living in Newham - an East London borough
The database is available free to people living and working in Newham who have the appropriate hardware and software (a Windows PC with at least 4Mb RAM, 386 or better processor).
We have sold the rights to use and develop the databse to an agency working in the Tower Hamlets and are looking to develop the Directory jointly with them. For example; we are looking to change the thesaurus used so that we can improve the classification and searching of the database's content and to enable us to further develop the Directory's user interface.
There are other activities in the Borough that we are also looking at and are involved in:
- Project ATTACH; developing public multimedia information access points (funded through EC money)
- NEWTEL; a EC funded project to put local voluntary and community groups on the
Internet
- setting up a Council-wide intranet and a corporate presence on the Internet;
One of the main issues we have at the moment is to consider ways of ensuring the local community has a say and is involved in deciding what information Social Services produces and also in how that information is disseminated.
Hope you find this useful.
Dave Williamson
Joint Information Resources Officer
Newham Social Services
99 The Grove
Stratford, E15 1HR
0181 534 4545 x25089
0181 557 8852 (fax)
Stephen Wilson <101515.2656@CompuServe.COM>
Hi Everyone
I have recently joined the IACN Mailing List and Dave Miller suggested that I send a brief introduction to everyone on the list.
My connection with community networking and IACN came from discussions I have been having with David Greenop and David Wilcox in Brighton. I was employed by BT until taking early retirement in March this year, most of my career having been spent in network and customer service strategy. My wife and I then spent six months travelling, during which time we have been shedding the constraints of the past and thinking about our future direction.
Although we have not reached any definite conclusions, we have resolved to get more involved in the development of socially and environmentally sustainable lifestyles through local and global community initiatives. In particular I am keen to combine my technical background with this vision by examining how information networking technology can help to resolve community problems and issues. I should add that we are already involved with a number of the organisations that make up the 'Real World' coalition, which is aiming to raise the level of political debate in this area.
I have already spent some time trawling the Web on this subject and never fail to be amazed, not only by amount of information available, but also the number of initiatives under way around the world. The problem is deciding where I can add most value.
I would be keen to hear from any other IACN participants who are involved in similar initiatives or can offer any guidance or suggestions about what needs to be done. Specifically, are you aware of any related job opportunities out there? (Full CV on request!)
Stephen Wilson
Welwyn Garden City
Herts UK
e-mail: 101515.2656@compuserve.com
Prepared by Communities Online December 2 1996