how to / create centres / links Below are a list of Web sites, publications and other resources about community networking, resource centres, telecottages and teleworking. UK and Scottish sites about centres Main gateway sites for volorgs, and mailing lists, newsgroups Organisations offering advice to volorg Practical publications Key policy reports in the field National initiatives Updates will be found at http://www.ruralnet.org.uk/~partline/centres. Send your updates by mailto:centres@ruralnet.org.uk and they will appear at this URL. Official sites about centres The UK Online Centres site provides UK Government information about the English programme. NGFL Scotland Communities Channel is developing content on the Scottish programme for community grids and centres. The UK Government-funded British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) provides guidance to ICT centres as well as schools, colleges and libraries. The Community Access to Lifelong Learning (CALL) pages provide links to information about the CALL funding programme, which provides revenue support for centres and community grids for learning. Becta provides technical help - including a helpdesk - to those thinking of applying. The Becta CALL Faq pages go beyond technology to cover, for example, what 'learning offer' a centre should make, dewvbeloping mobile centres, and access for people with disabilities The Becta technology FAQs page is aimed mainly at schools and colleges, but provides generally useful information and links on hardware, software, training and funding. Becta provides information sheets on ICT-specific topics - for example, recycled/refurbished computers, digital television, intranets, video conferencing, large screen computer displays, NGfL Managed Services, locally managed internet connections. There are also information sheets on topics general advice - for instance, parents, health and safety, copyright, IT policy, National Grid for Learning, careers guidance. Main gateway sites for volorgs, and mailing lists, newsgroups InfoRurale http://www.nrec.org.uk/inforurale Information gateway for rural development, part of the national rural enterprise council. Community Work Training http://www.community-work-training.org.uk Training materials, articles and links from West Yorkshire Community Work Training Group Black information link http://www.blink.org.uk Proving information to bring about improvements in race relations and to act as a forum where ideas can be freely shared BBC education http://www.bbc.co.uk/education BICA Voluntarty Sector Directory  http://www.communities.org.uk/bica The results of a project to collect information and links for community groups in Leicester Community Development Foundation http://www.cdf.org.uk Focussing on Social Inclusion, Regeneration, Capacity Building and the community sector. Ability Net http://www.abilitynet.co.uk DisabilityNet http://www.disabilitynet.co.uk An information, discussion and news service for disabled people and those with an interest in disability issues OneWorld  http://www.oneworld.org An alternative news "supersite". Edited routes into many groups working for social justice and sustainable development, including Oxfam, Save the Children and Amnesty International The Site http://www.thesite.org An enormous umbrella site for resources for young people on the web Local Government http://www.open.gov.uk/index/filclgov.htm An official list of local authorities on the UK Government's open.gov server Tagish http://www.tagish.co.uk/local/ Compiled by consultants Tagish Ltd, with a short report on The State of Local Government on the Web The Charity Commission http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/ UK Public Libraries on the Web http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/square/ac940/ weblibs.html by Sheila and Robert Harden has a comprehensive list of resources. Fundraising UK http://www.fundraising.co.uk/ Information about Grants and Partnerships, Examples or fundraising on the Net, Events and Resources Funderfinder http://www.funderfinder.org.uk/ Extra resources from the providers of the grant-seeking software Chronicle of Philanthropy http://philanthropy.com/articles.dir/v09.dir/i20.dir/web.htm including articles, examples and analysis of fundraising for US non-profits using the Internet Society of Public Information Networks (SPIN) http://www.spin.org.uk Provides a list of member organisations, including many local authorities providing information electronically National Council for Voluntary Organisations http://www.vois.org.uk/ncvo NCVO News, FAQs, Events, Publications and Services Learning technology research centre http://www.ultralab.anglia.ac.uk/ Schools, education and technology department at Anglia Polytechnic University. National Institute for Adult and Continuing Education in England and Wales (NIACE) http://www.niace.org.uk UK Lifelong Learning http://www.lifelonglearning.co.uk/ Including discussion list  on "The Learning Age" - at http://www.lifelonglearning.co.uk/consult/ ELDIS http://nt1.ids.ac.uk/eldis/eldis.htm Eldis gateway to information sources on environment and development. An excellent set of resources from the British Library for Development Studies NUA http://www.nua.ie Regularaly updated survey information on use of the Internet Mailbase http://www.mailbase.org.uk electronic discussion lists for the UK higher education community, many of which are open to all CVSNet www.neilirving.demon.co.uk/cvsnet A useful mailing lists for CVSs and others with a local voluntary sector interest. Organisations offering advice to volorgs GreenNet  http://www.gn.apc.org/gn/links Menus of members, environment, progressive, spiritual and government links and support for these groups Poptel http://www.poptel.net/sales/ An co-op set up to provide Internet access and publishing services for non-profits including major trades unions, the UK Labour Party and voluntary sector organisations. Charities Aid Foundation web services - CharityNet www.charitynet.org/index.html With a search engine listing over 70,000 community groups, links to Corporate Community Involvement Pages on Company Websites and the CharityCard Directory VOIS www.vois.org.uk Voluntary Organisations Internet Server offers a resource centre, a volunteers noticeboard and a searchable database Community.Web http://www.oneworld.org/community.web Part of the OneWorld site - web publishing for groups in the UK ChurchNet http://www.churchnet.org.uk/churchnet/ for all Christian churches, groups and organisations in the UK with resource base, technical training and help Basic Skills Agency http://www.basic-skills.co.uk BECTa http://www.becta.org.uk Black Britain http://www.blackbritain.co.uk British Council Education Department http://www.britishcouncil.org.uk Campaign for Learning http://www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk City and Guilds Future 100 http://www.future100.org.uk City Learning Centres Community Website http://www.brixton.co.uk Department for Education and Employment - DfEE http://www.dfee.gov.uk Employment Service http://www.employmentservice.gov.uk Further Education Development Agency http://www.feda.ac.uk Further Education Funding Council http://www.fefc.ac.uk Lifelong Learning ILT project http://www.becta.org.uk National Grid for Learning http://www.ngfl.gov.uk New Opportunities Fund http://www.nof.org.uk Royal National Institute for the Blind http://www.rnib.org.uk Workers' Educational Association http://www.wea.org.uk Department for Culture Media and Sport DCMS http://www.culture.gov.uk Department for Trade and industry DTI http://www.dti.gov.uk Practical publications Partnerships Online http://www.partnerships.org.uk/pubs/ How to use IT in the Community and Getting Connected, including articles on the community uses of the technology from commnunity practioners Neighbourhood Online Game http://www.partnerships.org.uk/nolgame Legal Issues http://www.venables.co.uk/legal/issues.htm The legal concerns of going online for an organisation NetActivism : The use of the Internet for campaigning http://www.ora.com/catalog/netactivism/noframes.html Activist and community networker Ed Schwartz's book NetActivism: How Citizens Use the Internet The Virtual Activist Online. http://www.netaction.org/training A comprehensive training course on cyber-activism for those who want to use technology effectively for grassroots organizing, outreach, and advocacy, from the US-based NetAction Benton Communication Best practices toolkit for non-profits http://www.benton.org/Practice/Toolkit/ Total Net Value http://www.totalnetval.com/ Advice from the authors of "Making the NetWork", the best guide to getting your organisation online - including a freebies area New Commmnity Networks - Wired for Change http://www.scn.org/ip/commnet/wired.html London Advice Services Alliance http://www.lasa.org.uk "Computanews" factsheets for Vol orgs Coyote Communications Tip sheets http://www.coyotecom.com/tips.html The Internet and other computer-based tools Netskills http://www.netskills.ac.uk/TONIC A free, online, full tutorial on Internet tools, complete with exercises, from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. Lets you work through in sections, picking up where you left off last time. Key policy reports in the field The Labour party and the information society http://www.labour.org.uk/views/info-highway/index.html Universal access to email http://www.rand.org:80/publications/MR/MR650/ As the government and Microsoft move towards universal email, the RAND group looks at feasibility and societal implications Panos http://www.oneworld.org/panos/ The implications for the developing world BT's vision of community networks http://www.labs.bt.com/ourwork/cnet/index.htm Research from the BT Labs team highlighting connectivity as a key issue in local commnuity networks The COMMIT report http://www.uk.ibm.com/community/uk171.html An Evaluation of Community Based IT Initiatives and social inclusion The Net Result: Social inclusion in the information society http://www.uk.ibm.com/comm/community/uk117.html A major work warning against social exclusion and covering far-reaching recommendations and debate around that theme. Living in the Information Society http://www.uk.ibm.com/comm/community/uk007.html Further IBM sponsored reports into the social consequences of new technologies Community Networking Movement (http://www.scn.org/ip/commnet/cnm.html) Links together various organizations in order to be a jumping off point for information and resources that are available around the Internet and featuring Doug Schuler's new book NCExchange Internet Gateway http://www.ncexchange.org/gateway Terry Grunwald's draft for a community network gateway model in North Carolina. Inventing the Future  http://www.communities.org.uk/itf/itfsum.html Text of a booklet about what the Information Society may mean for communities, produced by Partnerships for Tomorrow in 1996 Bangemann http://www.ispo.cec.be/infosoc/backg/bangeman.html See also the Challenge Site http://www.challenge.stockholm.se, an international competition encouraging use of IT in government. The participating projects demonstrate how technology can be applied in the best interest of people and society all over the world. National initiatives Electronic Libraries Online (EARL) EARL is a consortium of UK Public Library Authorities and other organisations which aim to make available the advantages of the Internet to all library users and other members of the public. This is a list of partners Government Direct http://www.open.gov.uk/citu/gdirect/greenpaper/index.htm The green paper suggesting that in future some government information provision will be solely electonic and attempting to highlight the issues this raises, including responses. Information Society Initiative http://www.isi.gov.uk/ The governement project aimed primarily at businesses, but of relevance to the independent sector. IT for All http://www.itforall.org.uk/ An initiative promoting the use of IT in society as a whole through the promotion of local projects ETO European Telework Organsiation http://www.eto.org.uk and Community Networks and Teleworking http://members.aol.com/telework/netpage.htm Trevor Locke, UK Host for Teleworking, offers some pointers to links Teleworking and the community at large ISPO Information Society Project Office (Europe) Communities Online http://www.communities.org.uk A network for community networkers - Activists around the country exploring ways in which new communications technologies can be used for the benefit of local communities. Partnerships Online http://www.partnerships.org.uk UK Citizens Online Democracy http://www.democracy.org.uk Discussion and pilot studies on the use of new technology in the democractic process Association For Community Networking (AFCN) http://bcn.boulder.co.us/afcn The US branch of the Community Networking movement. Includes a Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) analysis for Community Networking and Community Networking area with working definition, stories, statistics. how to / create centres / links