stephen blyth’s blog

Monday night marked a significant milestone for the Wellington e-rider IT service. After all the planning, discussion, highs and lows, we held a big celebration.
As the banner and invite said, “We’re up and rolling”.
About 50 odd people turned up to help us celebrate at Internet NZ’s boardroom. There was a great buzz, and […]

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Setting out to build a new website or set of online tools can be pretty nerve wracking. No matter what research and insights have been captured, how many people have been surveyed, and advisors consulted it’s hard to know if anyone will actually find what you’ve done as useful and exciting.
The syndrome of […]

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It didn’t take long before I was scribbling down a list of resources and websites to look into after meeting Aba Maison, from the London Advisory Services Alliance (LASA). While on a two month trip around New Zealand, Aba took time out from her sight-seeing to swap notes about using IT to support community groups.
One […]

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I’m really pleased the new e-rider website went live last week. On the site you’ll find all you need to know about the new IT advisory and support service available to community and voluntary organisations in the Wellington region.
Perhaps even bigger news is that the e-rider service is actually underway. Last time I […]

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I’ve just missed the “Introduction to Social Software” session today at the Duke Street Community House. It was a bit far to travel to Melbourne to attend.
The course is one of the early practical outcomes chalked up to a new project being run in Victoria, Australia. The Doing IT Better project is being run over […]

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Social service organisations in the Rotorua area will soon be able to access better IT support and advice. The Rotorua Community ICT Trust is looking for somebody with a technology background to work as an e-Rider in the area.
The empahsis of the service is going to be on strategic advice, eg records management, security, IT […]

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“Experienced and motivated IT professional to take up the first e-Rider position advising and supporting community groups in the Wellington region.”
This is an excerpt from the advertisement we placed last week for the mobile IT professional the Wellington Region 2020 Communications Trust is hiring to work with community and voluntary organisations.
The person we’re looking for […]

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The 2007 Computerworld Excellence Awards were announced on 27 July 2007 with the Louise Perkins Foundation receving the top award in the Not-for-Profit Organisation category.
The Foundation, which is known publicly as Sweet Louise, offers a whole suite of practical help and restorative therapies, helping women with breast cancer to lead more positive lives. It’s services […]

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Some pretty sizeable grants have been made as part of the 2007 round of the Digital Strategy Community Partnership Fund. Over $10 million in grants was allocated, virtually exhausting the $17 million fund.
Announcing the successful applicants on Monday 30 July 2007 Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Luamanuvao Winnie Laban said the community-based ICT projects will […]

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I’ll definitely bring out my dead for the eDay coming up on 29 September. Dumped in forgotten corners around the house we’ve got three ancient laptops with barely a flicker of life between the three of them.
A lot of people got into the spirit of things at last years eDay in September 2006 when 50 […]

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