An IT ringing trust? [was Musical scales, bell register]

[John Camp]

At 12:22 on 05 December 2006, Mike Chester wrote:

> A quick look at the amount of updating work John Baldwin has to do
> at the moment would show just how much time he has to spend on Dove
> as it is.

I think there is a wider problem here. There are numerous individuals
(and I use the word advisedly) who devote time and often money to
maintaining databases, websites, email lists, and other manifestations
of information technology for the benefit of ringers in general. I
imagine that all of them do it because they enjoy it and because it is
part of their contribution to ringing.

But what happens when someone becomes unable to carry on or drops
dead?  Perhaps arrangements have been made for someone else to take
over, perhaps not.  There may or may not be someone else who knows how
the set-up works.

Could there, I wonder, be a small group of people with the requisite
skills with whom individuals could register the details of their own
particular internet presence, including such things as passwords,
hosting arrangements, payments made and so on? This would include some
information about how the application in question functioned, in
practical terms. I am thinking only in terms of IT applications which
are provided by one person for use by other ringers.

This group of 'trustees' would be low-key, but would be able to step
in if the individual for some reason became unable to carry on and at
least keep things ticking over until other arrangements were made. It
would also be able to inform ISPs, hosting providers and other
relevant people about the existence of such a problem. It would
probably need to be modestly funded in some way.

This may not be the right list to bring up this matter, but historians
are concerned with maintaining records and continuity of information.
Any thoughts?

John Camp