Penval - Penval supports project design, delivery and evaluation and helps organisations identify project governance and risk

Modernising the Third Sector – Echoes and Resonance

When we talk about modernising our Third Sector it’s not a question of Microsoft or Open Software; it’s not a choice between lap tops, desk tops and tablets; it’s not even about smart phones it’s about re-thinking the approach. The backdrop to all of this is Digital by Default and it’s shadow, Assisted Digital. The positioning of an organisation in a digital context begins to prepare it to support its client base is a digital by default world. This is about more than building the capacity to support ICTs, this is about how we work and what we do that constitutes work that enables us to create organisations that ultimately provide better outcomes for their clients – who are some of the biggest cost users of public services – so we all benefit.

Rethinking Digital Inclusion

It’s time to look again at the policies we have adopted and to un-tick some of the boxes in order to re-visit what we mean by digital inclusion, to understand the importance of a knowledge society and to think again about how we might realize the benefits.

Moving on or moving back?

The new world of “Big Society” and citizen choices is, in reality, one of fixed price interventions where individual clients are invoiced and performance is measured in outcomes. What does this mean in reality? It means that front line organisations will need to know which clients were marketed using which channels, which clients responded to the marketing by accessing services, which clients were repeat customers and which were lost and why. What were the complimentary services delivered to those clients and what were the organisations that delivered them?

Shropcamp Report

I am hoping that this will become a vibrant community of interest which will drive the use of open data and social media in helping to engage and empower communities in rural areas such as Shropshire so that next year’s Shropcamp will be bigger yet and who knows, it may take on a wider rural participation.

A Holy Trinity

On Friday Martha Lane-Fox Tweeted: “RT NewStatesman xmas issue: @Marthalanefox has agreed to be our celebrity subscriber of the week : HELP, not feeling v funny or inspired!” Along with I have no idea how many others I put forward my suggestions: access to the knowledge society as a fundamental right not as [...]