High Peak CVS have developed a range of projects to help voluntary and community organisations across the area make best use of ICT (information communications technology) in the delivery of their mission. These projects have been developed following the report 'Research into the ICT and Information System Needs of VCS Infrastructure Organisations: Is Derbyshire Doing IT?' carried out as part of the ChangeUp programme in 2004:

  Derbyshire CircuitRiders – free, impartial advice and consultancy

  Technical Support – fixing and upgrading your computer equipment

  P-MITT – mobile IT training that comes to you

  Website Design and Maintenance

Derbyshire CircuitRiders

Do you need help to demystify what computers can do and how to make best use of them?
Then our new CircuitRider, Jim Owen can help!
CircuitRiders are mobile IT workers, who travel to you.

Jim will be providing: Unbiased advice on new or replacement equipment Advice on ‘best value' Help with IT-related funding applications Free consultancy and needs analysis Help with IT strategies Advice on developing a website, networking, email, VPN, video-conferencing, anti virus measures and more... Jim will also be developing a list of approved, local “IT suppliers” that understand the needs of the sector and can be trusted.

This service is completely FREE – so if you want Jim's help give him a call on 07740 484 834 or email jim@highpeakcvs.org.uk.

Overview of the project - MS Word 115k.

Technical Support

This is a new service being provided by Purplezebra across the High Peak and Derbyshire Dales area. Purplezebra are a new social enterprise formed from a partnership between Nottinghamshire Rural Community Council, Nottingham CVS, EnProve IT and First Data Training.

This support service will be co-ordinated by staff in a call-centre office based in Pleasley Mills near Mansfield . The service is FREE for a limited number of groups for a limited length of time (after which the charges will be approximately half the commercial rate) – so if you want technical support for your PCs contact them as soon as possible. Call the centre direct on 0845 270 2085 or contact Jim for more information.

Peak Mobile IT Tutor (P-MITT)

•  Do you need to improve your IT skills?
•  Want to learn how to do more things with your computer?
•  Don't have the time to go to a formal class?

Then our new project is for you!

High Peak CVS, with funding from College of the Peak and Derbyshire Learning + Skills Council, will shortly be offering a mobile IT tutor service to work with voluntary and community groups across the area.

The tutor will visit organisations every couple of weeks, working with staff and volunteers on their own computers. They will help them improve their IT skills - in applications such as Word, Excel, Access and Publisher, and work towards recognised qualifications such as ECDL and CLAIT. These “surgery” sessions will be tailored to individual needs,

More details here when the project is launched – but in the meantime for more information contact Tony Okotie - Information, Training and IT Manager.

Website Design Service

Do you need a website or need to redesign your existing site? Some of you will already be aware that High Peak CVS run a small website design service for voluntary and community groups, run as a social enterprise. We will be extending this in the autumn, with a new worker, and so if you want a website designing, please give Tony a call – 01663 735 350 or email tony@highpeakcvs.org.uk

Our portfolio of sites includes:

  National ChangeUp Portal [ changeup.org.uk ]
This Home Office project was competitively tendered for and obtained in November 2005.  The Active Community Unit requested an unfussy design, so rather than involving complex graphical layout, the bulk of the work has gone into needs assessment for the design and content, and into the underlying structure, functionality and accessibility. 

Our layout design uses a liquid 3-column format to accommodate variable screen widths, but with the option to freeze the page at a fixed with of 1000 pixels.  The left-side dynamic navigation system is comprehensive and simple to operate.  Each page has links to an index and help page on the right, and webpage and document search options to facilitate location of content.  A dynamic interactive panel packages brief snippets concerning news, updates and features, leading in to main pages within the site.  The opportunity to subscribe for email news and update alerts is also presented on each page.  At the top there are accessibility aids to change text size, zoom the page (in Internet Explorer) or link to the sitemap.  Each page utilises shortcut access keys and passes the webXACT AAA accessibility rating.

We are currently deriving content from contributing national organisations using template forms and incorporating the material as it becomes available.  Our key role and objective with this site will be to keep the content up to date and to make sure it is carefully structured so that users can easily find or be guided to what they need to know.  As part of this we will use searchable databases to filter information, in particular for the identification and download of documents. Enews updates will be an important part of promoting the site and keeping in contact with its users.

  East Midlands ChangeUp programme [ eastmidlandsinfrastructure.info ]
This contract was awarded in January 2005, for eighteen months, after a regional tendering process. The site contains around 60 web pages and 180 pdf/Word documents which can be located using a database search facility. In keeping with the wishes of the clients the site pays particular attention to the ease of finding content, through multiple navigation options. All the pages meet the W3C WCAG Triple-A rating for accessibility and there are further features to enlarge text, change background colours or magnify the whole page. A useful feature is the Infrastructure Finder database, which can be searched for regional infrastructure organisations.

  Derbyshire Community Foundation [ derbyshirecommunityfoundation.co.uk ]
This was a small-budget site, but that did not prevent a significant investment of resources by us in producing a design and content structure that will benefit a valued Derbyshire organisation with which we work closely.  The site has to serve the three functions of: informing about the organisation; presenting details about available grants for those seeking funding; and providing potential donors with options for contributing money.  This division of content and audience is a key focus of the prominent drop-down navigation system, so that it is quite clear to users how the site is structured, and this is reflected further in the co-ordinated colour schemes of the sections.

The focus of attention is retained on the navigation system and the specific page content by using muted corporate colours for the utility panel on the right.  Like the ChangeUp Portal site, this panel has prominent site-search and email subscription fields, and an interactive panel for news and feature items. Text size, contrast, and zoom viewing controls provide accessibility options in addition to the standard access keys and sitemap.

  Peak Partners for Rural Action [ peakpartners.org ]
Still under development, contains an online database of events that can be searched according to ‘what, when, where' criteria and updated by online forms.

  Glossopdale Furniture Project [ glossopdalefurnitureproject.co.uk ]
A small, but visually interesting site catering for all the requirements of this furniture recycling project, including content management capabilities that allow the staff of the project to upload pictures and descriptions of products or news items

Sites under development
In addition, we currently have sites in development for Buxton Volunteer Bureau, Macclesfield CVS and Derbyshire Information Workers.

Why choose High Peak CVS to design your website?

• We have close links, knowledge of and accountability to the local community and voluntary sector.
• We have a proven track record in the area of web design, with an experienced project team with considerable technical skills
• We have specialist knowledge and experience of the ICT needs of the sector, as evidenced by our recent report ‘Is Derbyshire Doing IT - Research into the ICT and Information System Needs of VCS Infrastructure' Organisations'
• We have a thorough understanding of how a website can be an invaluable tool in providing information and how it should be structured to present information in an approachable, coherent form
• High Peak CVS has a core commitment to valuing diversity, as expressed in its Equal Opportunities Policy. We are familiar with the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and their approval ratings. We are very sensitive to the need to design websites so that their appearance, layout and structuring make them easy to use and maximally accessible, including linking to specialist functions such as page translation.
• As an emerging social enterprise arm, any surplus generated from our website design activity we will add to the sustainability of the organisation and the voluntary sector within the High Peak .
• We can provide statistics on visitor traffic and
• Design packages start at just £900 for simple websites.