UK designIT

UK designers still have time to enter the designIT competition sponsored by microsoft (OK, they're not always evil).
You can choose from 4 specific briefs to address the needs of different charities in the UK. It's a good chance to bring your ideas on immaterial design. The winner will be awarded the opportunity to have their system design implemented by Microsoft for their chosen charity (provided their chosen charity meets the eligibility criteria set out above). A maximum budget of £15,000 will be assigned to the implementation. My advise as always: check out previous winning projects and learn from them.

Fauna & Flora International is a leading international conservation organisation which is saving species from extinction and habitats from destruction, whilst improving the livelihoods of local people. According to our recent online questionnaire, a massive 95% of our website users would like to use technology more to open up discussion on conservation issues. How can we bring conservation closer to people with the use of technology? How can we better link grass roots projects and experts in the field to the public who want to know more and get involved?

Global Action Plan delivers tangible environmental, social and financial improvements by working practically and creatively with hundreds of thousands of people from all sections of society. To completely redesign the infrastructure of Global Action Plan’s ICT and optimise how Global Action Plan utilises ICT. The charity would like the new system to achieve: Minimal new hardware purchase (reducing manufacturing impact on the environment and cost) Minimal power requirement of ICT equipment (reducing carbon emissions and operating cost) Maximum reliability of access and speed of access to the server for head office and non-head office staff Optimal efficiency of data handling (increasing server efficiency and speed) Better options for meeting-without-travelling (reducing travel but also improving charity efficiency by allowing more frequent meetings where required and less waiting at train stations!)

Leonard Cheshire Disability exists to change attitudes to disability and to serve disabled people around the world. Our principal activity in the UK is the provision of services in support of disabled people in the widest context. These services include care homes, supported living, domiciliary support, day services, resource centres, rehabilitation, respite care, personal support and training and assistance for those looking for work. We want to create a positive expression of ability on the Internet in which people with and without disabilities have a chance to express their talents. To do this we want to tap into the power of social media. We want to invite people to help build a blanket of virtual squares. Each square will be filled by a person who wants to say what their greatest ability or achievement is and a little bit more information about themselves.

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)was set up to protect children from cruelty, support vulnerable families, campaign for changes to the law and raise awareness about abuse. They have 177 community-based projects, and run the Child Protection Helpline and ChildLine in the UK and the Channel Islands. This application should include: Record information about incidents, victims, and perpetrators. Be able to capture sufficient consistent case information to enable them to be progressed though to resolution. Provide simple enquiry facilities to support locating cases by victim, perpetrator, or incident details. Allow export of data for local (National Governing Body) monitoring, research and analysis. Upload via a secure mechanism anonymous incidence data on resolved cases to a central incident database Allow for the development of resources to reduce the incidence of abuse within sport.

ciao