Staff and volunteers of any voluntary sector organisation need the confidence that comes from being fully aware of current issues in order to provide the support needed by their 'clients'.

We also wanted a mechanism for new staff or staff with changing responsibilities to be able to get up to speed quickly with the recent issues relevant to their new responsibilities.

In July 2000 xPRESS started as a weekly summary of news and funding information. In January 2002 it became a daily service and, from this time, news items have been classified by UK country/region. xPRESS covers both urban and rural regeneration.

xPRESS is produced each day by one of four regeneration professionals and it takes an average of a little over 3 hours to research and compile. However, it only takes 5 to 10 minutes to scan by users. This represents a huge saving of people's time and keeps those working in the sector better informed and better able to serve the people or groups they there to support.

Since the outset the xPRESS services have been made available to the users of the Networks Online group of extranets (2,700 users across 20 networks).

We now wish to make the xPRESS services fully inclusive by giving free access for all, and providing support for all who wish to integrate xPRESS content into their own online services. We wish to provide equal opportunity of access to news relevant to the voluntary and community sector. We want to maximise the benefits and opportunities that come from having access to a tailored news and funding information service that can be used by groups dealing with issues as diverse as disability, ethnicity, sustainable funding, young people, the elderly, sustainable development, the environment and so on.

our objectives for the future of xPRESS
1 To make the new xPRESS Digest news and funding information service and the xPRESS Archive available to the whole of the voluntary and community sector free of charge on an on-going, sustainable basis.
2 To establish a 'rolling consortium' of sponsors to cover the production and on-going development costs.
3 To enable sharing, syndication and interaction so that organisations can use the xPRESS services to add value to their own web presence.
4 To continue to use the latest technology to maximise the functionality and utility of the service for the sector.
5 To provide an attractive sponsorship opportunity to commercial companies and public bodies who wish to be associated with a valuable, quality service and wish to support the voluntary and community sector in its work with the most socially excluded groups and individuals across the UK.

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our offer to sponsors
The marginal additional cost of making the xPRESS services available to the whole of the sector would be virtually zero while the benefit would be huge. In order to provide access to all and support for those who wish to incorporate xPRESS content into their own online services, we need funding to cover the costs of production, support and development on an on-going basis.
The benefits to the sector are outlined above. The benefits to sponsors are outlined here:
1 Every xPRESS item would carry a link to our sponsors (~3,000 news items a year) through a sponsors' page on the xPRESS website. This link would be 'live' irrespective of how the services was being accessed and used.
2 The reach of the service would be huge. Factors that would ensure this include: the quality and usefulness of the service itself; the fact that the service is free; the fact that the service could be accessed in many different ways to meet the needs and preferences of different organisations and individuals in the sector. This would ensure a very high and positive profile for the sponsors of the service.
3 The details of the sponsors, including logos, would be featured in all promotional material.
4 The risk of sponsorship is very low given the tried and tested nature of the service and the reputation of ruralnet|uk.

Sponsors will be associated with a valuable, quality service that is provided on a daily basis to all those who want it and at no charge.

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our budget
The actual cost of the delivery of the xPRESS services over the last 12 months was:

Salaries and overheads
  Production £35,000
  Development £5,000
Other
  Hosting costs £600
  Marketing £1,000
Total £41,600

Over the next two years we anticipate that technical developments will enable use to streamline the production of xPRESS. We will maintain the spend on development over the next two years at £5,000. Installing the archive will increase the hosting costs and we will need to spend significant resources on raising awareness of the service and its features across the community and voluntary sector.

The annual budget for the next two years is therefore:

Salaries and overheads
  Production £30,000
  Development £5,000
Other
  Hosting costs £1,000
  Marketing £6,000
Total £42,000

Our initial aim is to identify 12 sponsors who will commit £3,500 per year for at least two years. We aim to recruit one new sponsor to the consortium per month over the next year. This will allow us to build up the new xPRESS service and launch the service to the whole sector at the ruralnet|2005 conference in October 2005. To do this we will need to have the first five sponsors in place by the end of September.

Funds will be maintained in a designated fund and will not be used for any other purpose than for the delivery, on-going development, promotion and support for syndicators of the xPRESS services.

For the first 12 months (to May 2006) the service will be underwritten by ruralnet|uk to enable the consortium of sponsors to be built.

Should a surplus accumulate in the designated fund over time, sponsorship contributions will be decreased on a pro-rata basis.

Those interested in becoming a founder sponsor of the new xPRESS should call ruralnet|uk on 0845 1300 411 and ask for David Head or email info@ruralnetuk.org.

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our experience
ruralnet|uk through its subsidiary, RNUK Ltd, has been delivering the xPRESS Digest as an email-based service since July 2000 to the 2,700 users of the Networks Online group of extranets.

The searchable xPRESS Archive has built up over this period of time and again this is currently only available to Networks Online users.

The skills and procedures for the delivery of the service are well honed and now RSS and XML technology offer new opportunities for the wider and more creative use and delivery of the xPRESS content.

An early prototype of the proposed new xPRESS services is available here: ruralnet.typepad.com/xpress.

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our development plans
The RSS and XML technology that is sitting behind the new xPRESS prototype allows for developments that have not been possible hitherto. These include:
1 The ability to create 'live bookmarks' to enable instant access to the news items of the day or the latest news items that are relevant to you.
2 The ability to offer filtered news and funding information feeds.
3 The ability for third parties to take a feed from the service and incorporate the service, or a filtered selection of news items, into their own websites.
4 The ability to distribute the production of the xPRESS content and thereby broaden the coverage and/or make the content more locally relevant.
5 The ability to handle the content according to a particular user's needs eg the aggregation and filtering of xPRESS with other RSS sources using 'aggregator' programs.

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Access for all - RSS explained
A key aspect of the new xPRESS service is that it will use the latest RSS technology to make it accessible to all.
RSS is a new technical standard that is changing the way information is provided and used. This means that services can be provided to better suit the requirements of the users.
The new xPRESS service will be accessible through a website (like the prototype being tested here); through a daily email, sent to those who have requested this form of delivery, and by RSS.
The RSS compatibility will enable individuals to extract only the news items they need and bring them down into their news reader program. It will also allow organisations with RSS compatible websites to pull relevant content from xPRESS and fully integrate it into their own websites, enhancing the value of the online services they offer, without compromising their own brand.
Other ways of exploiting the RSS standard are being developed all the time and new xPRESS Services will be ready for integration into these new applications as they emerge.

All these options for exploitation of the service will help ensure that the service is accessible to the whole of the sector.

There is an excellent explaination of RSS and its implications for the way we will use the web in the future on the BBC website.

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