The Managing Consultant of Revell Research Systems, Alastair Revell, has been appointed the Membership Director of The Institution of Analysts and Programmers (IAP). The Institution is the UK's leading professional body for people working in the development, installation and testing of business systems and computer software.

Alastair Revell, a fellow of the institution, is already a member of Council, the body's governing body and a member of its board of directors, having been elected last year.

He is a Chartered IT Professional and has been working in Information Technology since 1985 when he established Revell Research Systems. He is actively involved in software development and is currently leading several development projects for the practice.

The South West Branch of BCS The Chartered Institute for IT is hosting a talk by James Barisic MBCS, a prominent IT lawyer in the South West, on Social Media, Community Building and the Law.

Mr Barisic, IT Solicitor at Everys Solicitors, co-hosts the PhotoLegal podcast and is also a Member of the BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT.

He will explore the legal and practical issues of community building using social media. Using tools such as Twitter, Flickr and Facebook, he will illustrate how organisations can build communities online and the legal issues surrounding the use of such sites

The event is being held at  the Malt House in the 16th century Bridge Inn in Topsham (near Exeter) on Tuesday, 26th January 2010, starting at 7:30pm. The inn is renowned across the West Country for its real ale. The event will also include an opportunity to network with local IT professionals after the formal presentation, when cheese and biscuits will be available.

The event is free and open to the general public, although those wishing to attend are asked to register in advance at http://www.bcs-southwest.org.uk.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, announced on 9th December 2009 during his Pre-Budget Report that he will be levying a broadband tax of £6 on each household with a fixed line.

The money raised from this tax will be spent on improving rural access speeds so that they become comparable with those in more urban areas.

Darling said: “We have provided funding to help extend the opportunities of the broadband network to more remote communities. We now want to go further, so we can provide the next generation of super-fast broadband to 90 per cent of the population by the end of 2017.”

The tax should raise around £170 million, but this falls far short of BT estimate of £5 billion needed to provide superfast broadband to every household in the United Kingdom. At least it is a start…

The tax itself seems a sensible way to ensure that rural communities do not get left behind, provided the funds raised actually get spent on this objective.

BCS The Chartered Institute for IT has recently launched a new micro site at savvycitizens.bcs.org to help people get the most from information and information technology.

The site contains useful information for UK citizens about the use of information technology. The institute "seeks to promote better public understanding of the benefits of being a Savvy Citizen".

As part of the launch of this site, the BCS has published some research that analyses aspects of people’s behaviour and attitudes in order to form a snapshot of how ‘information savvy’ the United Kingdom is.

The institute is the leading body for information technology in the United Kingdom and the only body able to register an IT professional as a Chartered IT Professional (CITP). 

Elizabeth Sparrow has become the next president for BCS The Chartered Institute for IT, the leading professional body for IT practitioners. The formal announcement was made at the Institute's Annual General Meeting in London on Wednesday, 4th November 2009. She will hold the office for one year.

According to the Institute's web site, the new president has set her sights on leading the transformation agenda that the professional body is currently engaged in. The body, which was formerly known as The British Computer Society, has recently rebranded itself and started an ambitious programme of change. It aims to become considerably more relevant to people working in the IT profession and is promoting its Chartered IT Professional (CITP) qualification. It is the only body in the United Kingdom that can confer chartered status on IT professionals by virtue of its Royal Charter granted in 1984.

As part of its transformation, BCS The Chartered Institute for IT is aiming to appeal to IT professionals world-wide.

It was also announced that Bob Assirati has become the Institute's new vice-president. A number of other leading professionals have been elected to the Institute's Council, including Chartered IT Professional and Fellow Kevin Chamberlain, who currently serves as the Secretary of the Institute's South West Branch.

The South West Branch of BCS The Chartered Institute for IT is hosting a talk by Trevor Arnold of the National Air Traffic Service (NATS) concerning the use of information technology in air traffic safety.

The talk is entitled: "Why IT is paramount to the safety of Air Traffic Control". It will be held in Room 004 of the Harrison Building at the University of Exeter at 7:30pm on Wednesday, 25th November 2009.

NATS is responsible for providing air traffic control (ATC) services to aircraft flying in UK airspace, the eastern part of the North Atlantic and 15 of the United Kingdom's biggest airports.

Safety is NATS' first and foremost priority and IT plays a key role in ensuring that NATS can provide this service in an efficient and cost-effective way.

This talk will explore the role IT plays in the challenging environment of ATC and detail the potential implications of these systems failing.

The talk is free and is open to interested members of the public as well as members of BCS The Chartered Institute for IT. Anyone interested in attending should register at www.bcs-southwest.org.uk.

The Microsoft Windows 7 Launch is today.

This is a particularly important product launch for Microsoft, after the dismal showing for Microsoft Vista in the corporate computing market.

The good news for Microsoft is that most commentators, ourselves included, seem to agree that Windows 7 is a much better product than Vista.