Minutes of meeting of Newham Online Steering Group - 14th. Sept ‘98

Present:

Danny Budzak - LBN - Database editor (DB)
Gill Davies - LBN - Libraries (GD)
Loraine Leeson - The Art of Change (LL)
Rik Lewis - LBN - Consultant & ELLVTR (RL)
John Lock - University of East London, Thames Gateway Technology Centre (JL)
Chris McLean - Newham College of Further Education (CM)
Michael Mulquin - Newham Online Chair/UKCommunities Online (MM)
Gavin Sealey - Newham Young People Online/Newham Youth Services (GS)
Richard Steel - LBN - Head IT (RS)
Richard Stubbs - Newham Online Co-ordinator/UK Citizens Online/CH&CTCRP (RJS)

Guests

Helen Ghosh - Government Office for London, Head of East London Regeneration (HG)
Priyadharshini Premkumar - UEL, MBA student and volunteer (PP)

  1. Newham Online Steering Group minutes & matters arising
    1. The minutes of the meeting of 15th May were agreed.
    2. Agreed that RJS should write up draft policy on membership based on discussions at previous meeting and circulate to the list in advance of next meeting.
    3. Promotional leaflet had been drafted but still needed to be produced.
  2. Role of Steering Group
    1. We reviewed existing policy on the role of the Steering Group for the benefit of new members.
    2. We agreed to establish a project Sub Committee for managing the Gateway and Extranet project. This Sub Committee would include John Lock, Chris McLean, Richard Steel, Richard Stubbs. We would also invite Nigel Worthington and Peter Lyons as representatives of the financial partners.
  3. Gateway and Extranet Project Report
    1. RJS had circulated a written report on progress that was noted.
    2. It was agreed to postpone the Launch Conference to next year given the delays in funding. It was noted that is was impossible to start work on the eCommerce aspects of the project until after the ERDF finance was received and that a delay in delivery of outputs commensurate with the delay in receiving funding was inevitable. The delay to plan is currently almost 3 months as formal confirmation was anticipated in July.
    3. A major breakthrough looks possible using SDSL over normal phone lines connected using a standard BT service and with an SDSL "modems" at either end. This should give a permanent connection of up to 2Mbps.
    4. RS said that the Council was supportive of the development of an extranet but would only contribute to the cost if there was a clear benefit for the Council.
    5. JL said that it was understood that network development required a good business case but content development was essential and would require subsidy. Grant funding is likely to prove problematic especially for content of general public benefit, one option would be to raise a levy on profits arising from network development.
    6. HG spoke of the need to target specific Government projects and programmes such as New Deal for Communities. Helen was happy to advise us on opportunities.
    7. It was suggested that we consider twinning with an area that was following a similar strategy to ourselves but that perhaps were further ahead than us in some areas. RS thought that Arthur Anderson may be able to advise on this.
    8. DB pointed out that Richard Card had developed the Brisbane Gateway and would be able to advise us with respect to the Newham Gateway.
  4. Private Sector involvement
    1. IBM would like to be partners in Newham Online and Marconi already are.
    2. It would be a good idea to use the initiative as a way of making Newham a pilot area for software and networking applications. However if we do this we should ensure that we have a body that could hold IPR's and we would need to ensure that we got the best advice.
    3. We should look to Dick Whittington at East London Partnerships for possible marketing advice and Gareth Osborne may be able to suggest solicitors with relevant experience. RS said that the Council was working with Arthur Anderson and they could also be approached.
    4. JL suggested that we should talk to the London Development Partnership, its Chief Executive is Eric Sorenson who would be likely to be supportive. The LDP is the forerunner of the London Development Authority.
    5. We needed to have a clear understanding of the type of body that we intended to develop before we talked too much about partnership in it. Similarly we needed to establish what we needed from potential partners and what we were prepared to offer.
  5. NOL marketing report
    1. PP gave a presentation of her work in preparing a marketing strategy for Newham Online.
    2. PPs work had been based on two surveys of people who had attended the recent Partners' Conference.
    3. The strategy was to target organisations with WANs, LANs and stand alone computers in that order as it would be easier for the former partners to participate. Outreach to the general public was seen as following on from the organisational market effort and was not covered by the report.
    4. PP had produced a model in which marketing efforts made to involve an organisation were targeted at technologists, policy makers and general staff. Different promotional materials and approach would be needed for each.
    5. Response from organisations contacted so far was generally very positive however they were not clear about what was expected of them. A key problem is how the organisation is seen as it has no clear identity and indeed is too readily confused with the Council. PP advised that the identity issue and that a clear commercial element is incorporated. It was essential to ensure that the potential of Newham Online was not lost through it becoming a "community gateway to Council services"
    6. RJS said that he would put up the report. PP and RJS would work on issues arising from the strategy. Key topics could be discussed online.
  6. Liaison with other projects
    1. RJS reported that he had been approached by the Education Dept. to call a meeting to discuss the formation of a Newham Learning Grid. We discussed this and suggested the names of people that should be invited.
    2. It was agreed that it was useful to look at projects that could use the opportunities offered by inter school networking within the Education Action Zone. Loraine Leeson agreed to look into this opportunity. RJS said that he was also involved with a project at Hallsville School that was led by Aston and which involved children developing local history materials that would be published on the web.
    3. RJS reported on his meeting with Beth Duff who is a consultant to the Health Action Zone, he had referred her to the ELLVTR for assistance. It was agreed to maintain a watching brief.
    4. RJS was in liaison with Di Robson with respect to Newham's Millennial Celebrations which will include a web site. DB also involved.
    5. It was agreed to follow up relationship with Community TV. JL was keen that we investigate wider opportunities for production activities though questioned capacity to distribute video content. There was a link between the type of content and infrastructure requirements. Would their be any opportunity to ask Cable & Wireless to distribute.
    6. Access to Jobs. Regeneration and Partnerships have taken the lead in developing a web based application to manage job opportunities. It was to be launched at end of November.
    7. Newham Online is also a partner in Aston's Slipway Project that will be based at the St. Luke's Centre in Canning Town.
  7. Next Core Meeting
    1. The next meeting of Core had been booked for Mon 2nd Nov. from 2.00 to 4.30 though venue had not yet been fixed.
    2. It was agreed to focus on jobs and commerce. R&P should be invited to present their project. We would also need to give a report on the work of the Steering Group since the last meeting.
  8. A.O.B
    1. It was agreed that the next Steering Group meeting should be more discussion based and less focused on reports. The date is to be agreed online.

Minutes by Richard Stubbs