European Telework Development
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Horace Mitchell leads Management Technology Associates (MTA), a network of companies and individuals specialising in the commercial, economic and social impacts and opportunities of the information society (which he prefers to call "the networked economy"). MTA operates European Telework Online, the world's leading network of websites supporting telework, teletrade and telecooperation. He is active in many aspects of Information Society development, at European and national levels. He's a founder member and former chairman of Communities Online, which promotes and supports the concept of local community networking within the UK. In addition to his work with European Telework Development (see below) he is active in the promotion of electronic commerce, working with the new European Network of Centres of Competence; community networking (supporting the European Association for Community Networking); and promotion of access for people with disabilities - he drafted the original challenge which led to the formation of ISdAC the Information Society disAbilities Challenge.
Horace was Programme Director of the ETD initiative, working alongside Jeremy Millard, project manager. Horace and Jeremy conceived the ETD initiative and did much of the original work to develop the network of partners and other participants. As programme director, Horace was responsible for the "content" of the programme, its key messages and its response to emerging requirements and opportunities.
Born and bred in Liverpool, Horace had a first career in the Army before joining IBM, where he worked for some 14 years in sales and marketing, product and market development and marketing and product strategies. He helped to form and run a successful software house before becoming an independent consultant in the mid 1980s. Since then he has worked mainly with governments and major national and multinational enterprises, though he retains a strong interest in small firms and has been a director of several small enterprises.
His main interest and focus is on the ways that new technologies can be applied to solve problems and generate opportunities in the economy, in society and for commercial enterprises. He is an active member of the UK Parliamentary IT Committee (PITCOM) and the Foundation for Science and Technology, and a member of the Broadband Stakeholders Group, advising the UK Government on Broadband Policy.
In Europe he has been a member of the European IT Observatory Task Force (EITO) in addition to his work with ETD and other European programmes.
I live near Newbury in the UK on the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire, half way from London to Bristol going East to West and from Southampton to Birmingham going South to North. Although in quite recent times Newbury was most famous for its traffic jams and mass protest against its bypass (which opened in November 1998), we also have a racecourse, a delightful small theatre in a converted watermill, and an active multi-purpose arts venue in the converted Corn Exchange. We also have an excellent Newbury Spring Festival each year, mainly music but with some paintings, sculpture, poetry thrown in for good measure. Our Rugby Club has excellent grounds and premises, and regularly hosts junior international matches.
At home our numbers fluctuate - Diana and I plus Cardie the cat are the most regular. Alistair (Ali) has become irregular since his friend Jo acquired her own house. Alexandra appears and disappears according to phases of the moon or Kevin's whereabouts or some similar reason; her preferred name also fluctuates - currently (March 2004) 'Alexa' seems to be in vogue. Rebecca (Bekbe to me, Zippy to her friends) has her own home in Reading, as does Charlotte (Charlie), who is engaged to marry Richard Duly in July 2004. We live in what estate agents call "the major part of a Victorian country house", which means large rooms, high ceilings and equally high maintenance costs!
Charlotte (I say Shashie, her chums say Charlie, she seems to have many names) took a degree in Sociology in 1996 at Swansea (Wales), then followed a very challenging outdoor pursuits instructor training programme and did a year on the beach or in the mountains before taking a Diploma in Education at Manchester. She now teaches at St Bartholomew's School in Newbury, where she was a member of the sixth form.
Rebecca (Bekbe) completed a Business degree at Brighton (England) and a Diploma at Turin (Italy) and is now in IT consultancy specialising in Lotus Notes implementation, applications and support. She's a keen oar, rowing with Wallingford Rowing Club in almost every class - single and double sculls, fours and eights. On her first outing in the London Head of the River race, their boat sank after a good finish and they had to be rescued from the Thames.
Alexa had wanderlust for several years and went backpacking for extended periods, including two spells in Australia. As a result of this she worked for the Newbury Building Society three separate times, before her present role as administrator for a company that supports advanced video technologies. Retail Therapy is Alexa's main sporting activity, along with night club studies.
Alistair is a computer networking specialist, managing, maintaining and supporting Microsoft networks for a wide range of companies. The largest area in our cellars is Alistair's workshop, a maze of computers and their components, not to mention the disco paraphernalia.
Other than trying to keep up with the family, my personal interests are (in no particular order) Opera (can't afford much of it), theatre and performing arts generally, books (on almost anything), Church (old fashioned Anglican with liberal leanings) (and I am part way through training as a Reader (lay preacher), politics and public affairs (generally conservative with liberal - in the broadest sense - leanings), wine and food and friendship. I played Rugby and squash in my youth but had to give that sort of thing up as it interfered with the wine and food. I still manage to get in the occasional few days offshore sailing, mainly to the Channel Islands and France with one of my neighbours who has a yacht moored (courtesy of the Royal Navy) at Portsmouth.
Diana is a great cook and we run open house; several trips to France every year to stock up the wine cellar, so anyone connected with ETD or my other interests is welcome to look us up on their way North, South, East or West - Newbury is handy for Winchester (former capital of England) and Oxford (an industrial town in the South Midlands with, I understand, some kind of educational activity also going on there), the Vale of the White Horse, Hungerford antique shops . . . if you want a bed for the night we do Bed and Breakfast to eke out the household economy, so feel free to book in! Email diana@highclerevillage.com. You will find our B&B website here.
Diana has many other talents and almost as many jobs - acting Head Guide at Highclere Castle, Clerk to Highclere Parish Council, Young Offender Programmes coordinator for businessdynamics . . . .