Lasa mailing lists

UKRiders is a discussion group to help develop and support the UK Circuit Rider movement

What is a Circuit Rider?
Circuit Riders are technology development and support workers, each of whom supports a caseload of voluntary sector organisations the same way a development worker might. As well as technical knowledge, Circuit Riders have the skills to help organisations understand and develop strategies so they can make the best use of technology. Circuit Riders are grassroots-based, and understand the values and practices of the voluntary and community sector (VCS).

Why a Circuit Rider Movement?
Circuit Riders support each other through this mailing list, local meetings and national conferences. The movement is able to influence policy developers, funders, second-tier organisations, development workers and companies which supply IT services to the voluntary sector.

Who and what is this mailing list for?
It's for anyone who wants to know what is being done to develop the UK movement, or who has something to contribute to that process. It is for the open sharing of ideas, debate, and to ask for assistance and share useful and relevant information regarding developmental as well as technical IT/ICT issues for VCS organisations.

How much email will I get?
It varies, but you can expect between 30 and 50 messages a week. All the messages will include the text [ukriders] in the title. You may be able to set up your email software so they don't all go into your inbox, if you want to avoid that. You can also change your subscription to receive a weekly digest.

List etiquette
The list is not moderated and is public. List members are asked to respect each other�s opinions at all times and �flames� or personal attacks will never be tolerated. In general the list polices itself but Lasa, as list owners, reserves the right to remove anyone from the list who does not abide by the spirit of the list.

Please observe the following:

� If the question is 'how do I make XX work?' or 'how do I obtain XX?' do not, under any circumstances reply 'but it would be so much easier/cheaper/reliable/supported/more ethical if you used YY'. That is not a useful answer, however true it might be in your view. If, however, you feel that �XX� is clearly inappropriate then please make alternative suggestions in a supportive way.

� If the question is 'what is the best way to do this?', then by all means give your personal opinion, but try to be positive about the solution you favour, not negative about other solutions.

� If the question is somewhere in between 'what do people think of product XX?' be very cautious before saying 'but YY is so much better'.

� If a user requests a reply to be �offlist� please respect this and do not reply to the whole list. Suggestions can also be made off-list, and that on resolution of any issues posters are encouraged to summarise and post back to the list.

� Check before sending! The list is set up to reply to everyone on the list.

� And, as it says in "Bambi" 'if you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all'. However, saying something nice occasionally when credit is due is welcome!

Users new to mailing lists may wish to refer to http://linux.sgms-centre.com/misc/netiquett e.php for general mailing list etiquette.

About the list
The list was established by Lasa (London Advice Services Alliance www.lasa.org.uk ) in 2002 to develop circuit riding and connect people involved in ICT in the VCS. It runs on a customised version of Sympa mailing list software http://www.sympa.org and is a Custom NPO Group hosted in the US by npogroups.org, a service of Electric Embers a worker-owned cooperative that provides Internet hosting services for nonprofits, cooperatives, artists and other related entities http://electricembers.net

Other resources

VCS ICT wiki http://www.freecharity.org.uk/wiki/

UKRiders Frappr map site http://www.frappr.com/ukriders

UKRiders.info http://ukriders.info/

Lasa�s Circuit Rider pages http://www.lasa.org.uk/circuitriders

ICT Hub Knowledgebase http://www.icthubknowledgebase.org.uk

ICT Hub Suppliers Directory http://directory.icthub.org.uk

ICT Hub http://icthub.org.uk

IT4Communities http://www.it4communities.org.uk