The Scottish Tech Army launched in April 2020, and this month we are celebrating our seven-month anniversary and looking back over just a few of the projects we’ve had the pleasure of being involved with.

The Scottish Tech Army teamed up with The National Library of Scotland to assist with a project that has so far resulted in the ability to search and access over 8 million open and free publications from Libraries via a new service https://opentexts.world/

Scottish Tech Army recently joined forces with Leith Community Pottery to assist with a website transformation after the project stalled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Leith Community Pottery is a social enterprise which provides access to expert pottery tuition to the community in Leith.   Places in classes and workshops are offered free of charge or for a voluntary donation to those living with mental health conditions, the marginalised, the isolated, those living with dementia, those with any physical health conditions likely to benefit from the gentle exercise involved in clay-work and other disenfranchised groups.  Leith Community Pottery receives referrals from NHS professionals and 3rd sector organisations, with whom they have strong links.

Live Music Now Scotland (LMNS) supports and trains young musicians at the start of their professional careers to perform a range of musical programmes to people in community and health care settings. Although the charity currently shares a website with its sister organisation in England and Wales, LMNS director Carol Main says that the Covid-19 crisis provided the catalyst to bring forward her plans for a standalone Scottish website.

As a venture philanthropy organisation supporting the voluntary sector to address deep-rooted social problems in Scotland, Inspiring Scotland supports over 300 charities across different portfolios through 13 managed funds. One of the programmes funded by the Scottish Government, intandem, matches volunteer mentors with young people between the ages of eight and fourteen who are looked after at home because of various challenges in their life.

We were delighted to hear that on the 28th of September 2020, exactly five months since the launch of the Scottish Tech Army, our co-Founders Alistair Forbes and Peter Jaco were recognised with a Points of Light Award by the UK Prime Minister, a truly humbling testament to the impact of the work that the volunteers who make up our community have had in such a short time.

The Scottish Tech Army has created a dashboard that provides interactive visualisations of the data related to the incidence and impact of Covid-19 in Scotland at National and Regional levels - we are launching this as a publicly-available resource today, 2nd September 2020. Read the story of how the dashboard was built and what our future plans include.

Keeping track of PPE supplies is crucial for many organisations in the fight against Covid-19 especially charities like Aberdeen social care charity VSA. It supports over 20,000 vulnerable people, many of them in care homes, in 22 locations across the North-east of Scotland. When the pandemic struck, the VSA’s Deputy Chief Executive, John Booth, realised that their Health and Safety Manager would need more than an Excel spreadsheet to manage the distribution of supplies to meet the increased demand for PPE across their various sites.

Glasgow’s Govan Community Project is a charity that works with asylum seekers. When lockdown happened many of the people they support were unable to access any of the charity’s services online due to digital poverty. This means that people didn’t have access to suitable devices, Wi-Fi or 4G data. Although Traci Kirkland, the project’s Head of Charity, quickly raised funds as part of a digital inclusion project to buy smart phones and tablets to lend to people, there was not much capacity within the organisation to manage the devices manually.

Edinburgh Community Food is a social enterprise and registered charity that tackles health inequalities in low-income communities in and around Edinburgh. Their mission is to help people enjoy delicious, fresh, healthy food and making sure that everyone in the capital has access to an affordable, healthy diet. ECF work with partner organisations such Edinburgh City Council to provide food deliveries to those in need, have an e-commerce website offering food boxes, and supply local businesses and community organisations with fresh fruit and vegetables.

Asking anyone for help can be a daunting prospect, but at the Scottish Tech Army we’re here to listen and then share our ideas about how we think we can help. If you’re an organisation with a tech issue and have completed our website form requesting support, you’ll then be contacted by a member of our Triage Team. They're on the frontline of the STA and play a critical role in our organisation.

Young Enterprise Scotland (YES) is a Glasgow-based charity that works across Scotland with pupils in primary, secondary and tertiary education to inspire and equip them with entrepreneurial skills. Chief executive, Geoff Leask, always had a long-term strategy to move towards a more blended model of delivering their services, but with COVID-19 he says he’s been able to accelerate his plans with help from the Scottish Tech Army .

Even before lockdown began, Jean Duncan had seen the need for a charity to combat social isolation in her area. Seventy-year-old Jean, who lives in Gilmerton, got the idea after a visit to Erskine Edinburgh Nursing Home where she volunteers. One of the residents of the home, which cares for veterans and their spouses, said to Jean, ‘after we chat to you, we don’t feel so isolated.’

The Scottish Tech Army was launched on 28th April 2020 - one month in, co-Founder Alistair Forbes gives an update on progress to date.

After just one month, the Scottish Tech Army has recruited over 700 passionate volunteers, received more than 80 project ideas and already has 30 projects in progress

Get2gether is a charity that organises social activities in a safe environment for disabled people living in Edinburgh and the Lothians. When the charity had problems with its website it meant it was unable to communicate online with its 900 members.

Time to cll in the Scottish Tech Army