Mentioned here in passing previously, Flickr for Good is a charity donation programme managed in the UK by Charity Technology Exchange, giving photo storage, sharing and organisation facilities.

There are a total of 10,000 one year Flickr Professional accounts being made available internationally, which don’t have the various restrictions of the basic account. Some examples of uses are at http://www.flickr.com/good, or to apply go to CTX: http://www.ctxchange.org/about_ctx/donor_partners/flickr/.

The third occasional paper in City Bridge House Trust’s ‘The Knowledge - Learning from London’ series is Making Connections, on the Lasa Circuit Rider project.

The six pages give an overview of the success in helping third sector organisations build their ICT capacity, and some of the barriers. Download via this link.

A Spanish foundation which supports volunteering through technology, Bip-Bip, has created a volunteer-matching web site with a difference - the most commitment it will ever ask for is 2 hours. While probably not unique (is there such a scheme in the US?), http://www.microvoluntarios.org is perhaps the first successful micro-volunteering site in Europe.

Volunteers can commit just a few minutes for microtasks such as translations, graphic design, internet support and editing. From Vita Europe (http://web.vita.it/vitaeurope/art.php?art=93867, registration required).

Support body The Wheel has launched a new site, ICTpoint at http://www.ictpoint.ie, to provide Irish charities with advice on how to harness computers and information technology to further their missions.

Of course there are one or two UK sector tech sites too, such as ICT Hub, http://www.icthub.org.uk, now run by NCVO ICT Development Services and the connected Knowledgebase, http://www.icthubknowledgebase.org.uk.

The information resource site Fumsi has an article looking at UK Government Information on the Internet.

Written from a business information perspective but a useful rundown of key sources and recent changes. http://web.fumsi.com/go/article/find/2776.

HSE’s FAQ (frequently asked questions) on Display Screen Equipment (VDUs) has been updated.

It covers issues such as How can I protect my eyes? and How do the regulations apply to work with laptops? http://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/faqs/vdubreaks.htm.

‘The Future of the Internet - and how to stop it’ explores how the internet, along with personal computers, created an open environment for innovation and exchange but this is now under threat by the rise of controlled information appliances. Looks like an interesting read which may well provoke debate and possibly action.

The book is online at http://yupnet.org/zittrain/, with comments encouraged.

(Source: Nonprofit Online News)

A CiviCRM user group in the UK has been proposed for all those using and developing this open source content management system focused on non-profit needs. This could be a very valuable development in ironing out wrinkles in converting American features to British!

See CiviCRM forum post at http://forum.civicrm.org/index.php/topic,3144.0.html.

UPDATE from original item: as pointed out on the forum there is also a Drupal for NGOs event on 10th June in London. Drupal is one of the two platforms CiviCRM can run on.

Charity Technology eXchange (CTX) has been launched in Northern Ireland, offering low cost access to technology products from the likes of Microsoft, Symantec and Cisco. Flickr professional accounts have recently been added to the range for eligible UK organisations. Do note that not all of these companies’ offerings are available through this route, and you should check out the entitlement limits too.

NICVA news item at http://www.nicva.org/index.cfm/section/news/key/240408_technology_conference, or go direct to CTX: http://www.ctxchange.org.

The Catalyst Awards are looking for inspiring stories of people who help their community by using social technology, especially ideas that others might be able to use for themselves. Two examples given are Liftshare (http://liftshare.com) and The Nag (http://thenag.net).

There are ten categories - see http://www.ukcatalystawards.com for details.

A study from Work Research has come up with a three way categorisation of Online Video:

- Snippets, material of 5 seconds to 5 minutes on the likes of YouTube, not taking all the viewer’s attention.
- Boutique, mini videos from 2 to 5 minutes, task-based viewing where content is instructional or helps with information gathering around keen interests.
- Catch-up, from 5 minutes to feature length, where PC becomes a second TV.

No immediately obvious voluntary sector angle on this, except that it may help to decide whether a charity video is aiming for the first or second category. From PublicTechnology.net.

The first UK Social Networking Guidance, providing advice for industry, parents and children about how to stay safe online, has been developed by a taskforce of representatives from industry, charity and law enforcement agencies.

Get ‘Good practice guidance for the providers of social networking and other user interactive services 2008′ from Home Office website.