In this special conversation, we look back at the journey of the Scottish Tech Army with the people who were there from the very beginning.
Join Alistair Forbes, Pete Jaco, Sandy Finlayson, and Kirsty McIntosh as they reflect on how the STA came to life in just a few short weeks in 2020.
From the first spark of an idea to building a thriving community of volunteers supporting charities across the UK, they share the challenges, milestones, lessons learned, and hopes for the future.
In 2015, Cisco set itself a challenge to positively impact 1 billion lives through its social impact grants and programmes by 2025. As we start 2023, this global technology giant has reported that it is 70% into meeting that challenge. Kathryn Baddeley has led Cisco UK & Ireland's CSR programme for more than ten years. She shares how the programme got started and how this extraordinary stretch target is being met. Interviewed by the BBC's Innovation Correspondent, Laura Goodwin.
Shownotes: https://www.scottishtecharmy.org/summit-shownotes/closing-keynote-kathryn-baddeley
Volunteers are the bedrock of the third sector – it simply wouldn’t function without them. Skilled volunteering, whether from the tech or any other specialist sector can be transformational for charities, but sometimes doesn’t realise its full potential. How can the third sector capitalise on the opportunities that skilled volunteering offers and what is the impact when it works well?
Shownotes: https://www.scottishtecharmy.org/summit-shownotes/skilled-volunteering-value-to-the-third-sector
The value and power of open data was highlighted to everyone during the pandemic. There are many open data sets being generated from multiple sources but there are also many issues with discoverability, consistency and frequency/regularity of updates. How can we encourage governments and other data owners to continue to extend and improve access to data and how can we demonstrate the power of using that data to support a story telling capability for the third sector and civil society? Shownotes: https://www.scottishtecharmy.org/summit-shownotes/open-data-for-action
Federated organisations share some characteristics of franchise models. Common processes and systems underpin the operations of successful franchise operations. In principle this lends itself well to federated organisations in the third sector – is this approach being utilised now and what can be done to increase awareness of what works well and encourage greater openness and uptake of this approach? Shownotes: https://www.scottishtecharmy.org/summit-shownotes/federated-organisations-the-scale-opportunity
For the last two years, the Scottish Tech Army has benefitted from the insight of its cross sector Ambassadors. This group of leaders brings together insights and experience from the tech, corporate, third and education sectors, a combination that brings together different perspectives and provides the opportunity for innovative collaboration and these sectors.
There is much talk of the digital divide. On one hand, there is a widely-recognised shortage of skilled people in the tech sector and others that rely on technology, and on the other hand there is an urgent problem of digital exclusion and a dearth of equality of opportunity for many individuals in our society. But good work is being done, by both business and education. Whether it’s ensuring that young people can be inspired and learn what they need to learn to secure high value work, or businesses opening new recruitment and career pathways into their organisations. Shownotes: https://www.scottishtecharmy.org/summit-shownotes/equality-of-opportunity
The technology landscape in the third sector is fragmented and where common systems have been created it has often been difficult to get widespread adoption. There is no ‘one size fits all’ tech platform that can serve all the needs of an entire sector, but there are undoubtedly requirements that are common across significant parts of it. These could be horizontal applications like funding application processes, impact measurement and reporting, or vertical applications supporting organisations working in similar areas, such as asylum seekers and refugees, food distribution, and tackling homelessness. Shownotes: https://www.scottishtecharmy.org/summit-shownotes/infrastructure-for-the-third-sector
Many companies now offer their employees the opportunity to carry out voluntary work during paid hours. This reflects genuine philanthropic intent and the organisations being supported undoubtedly derive benefit from it, especially when staff are using their specialist skills rather than carrying out lower-skilled manual tasks. What are the benefits back to the business itself? Shownotes: https://www.scottishtecharmy.org/summit-shownotes/skilled-volunteering-value-to-business
RHODRI DAVIES, WHY PHILANTHROPY MATTERS: The third sector is always under pressure and constraints, now more than ever - it is heavily dependent on the support of volunteers, funders and philanthropists. Technology has the potential to maximise the impact that can be created from these sources of support but where is the greatest need and the greatest opportunity. Rhodri Davies is a leading thinker and strategist in the field of philanthropy and impact and in this session, he will set the scene for the day by sharing his experience and perspective on these topics. Shownotes: https://www.scottishtecharmy.org/summit-shownotes/opening-keynote-rhodri-davies
The Tech for Good Summit 2023 marks 3 years since the launch of the Scottish Tech Army at the height of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic has faded but the need and the opportunity for tech for good has not, indeed it could be said to be greater than ever. At the Tech for Good Summit in 2022, the Scottish Tech Army announced the launch of the Tech for Good Alliance - join our co-founder and CEO as he shares highlights from the past year and looks ahead to the challenges facing the third sector and the opportunities for the tech for good ecosystem to join forces to create positive change. Shownotes: https://www.scottishtecharmy.org/summit-shownotes/opening-address
Graham and Kirsty look back on 2020 with Alistair Forbes and Joanna Allen. Wishing all a peaceful and safe Christmas and New Year. See you all in 2021.
A chance connection on LinkedIn brought the amazing work of Australia's AIME Mentoring programme to the STA's attention. Kirsty McIntosh met Brenden Newton across an 11 hour time difference to find out more. This is the first in a periodic series of tech-for-good stories from around the world.
Kirsty McIntosh takes a tour around the motivations and experiences of 6 graduates of Scotland's Digital Skills Academy, CodeClan and who have all volunteered their time and new skills to the Scottish Tech Army.
Graham Johnston and Kirsty McIntosh talk data science, sonification, PhDs and more with STA volunteer Eirini Komninou. Eirini's story is a classic example of diverse thinking, teamwork and dedication.
Alistair Forbes joins Kirsty in the co-hosts chair as we return to the scene of last week's Town Hall announcements about the future of the Scottish Tech Army. Volunteers Stacy Munro, Jean Ferguson and Brian Baglow give their thoughts on an event that really showed both the scale and the strength of the STA.
Graham and Kirsty talk to Joyce Murray about how a realisation that we are all just one decision away from getting into trouble led her to set up a chocolate making business that works with women who've brushed up against the justice system. During lockdown she asked for help from the STA who managed to help in more ways than she imagined.
Plus - there's a big announcement at the start of this episode.
Stewart Lewis of the National Library of Scotland and STA volunteer Project Manager Alec Davies join Graham and Kirsty to talk about how a team of STA volunteers worked together with the NLS to bring https://opentexts.world online during lockdown. 8 million digital texts are now available to anyone who wants or needs them, with about 32 million left to go. There's some deviation into talk of Hibs and Edinburgh Rugby and we get Alec's view on good Project Management - a topic for another episode.
It's World Mental Health Day. We brought together one of Crossreach's amazing counsellors, Julie Reekie, with Scottish Tech Army volunteers, Rab Mungall, Kirsty McIntosh and Graham Johnston to share stories of lockdown, managing the new work from home normal and how the STA has provided purpose and a sense of belonging in the most difficult of years.
If you need to work through your experiences, here are more links to those who can help:
https://breathingspace.scot/
https://clearyourhead.scot/
The Scottish Tech Army had quite a week - 5 months old, awards, partnerships and press galore. Graham Johnston and Kirsty McIntosh catch up with Alistair to hear all about it.
