Techies reveal their creative side for charity

In December last year, Microsoft began a competition asking IT professionals to come up with innovative technology projects to help a charity of their choosing. 

Entrants, of course, had to use Microsoft technologies. The winner of the competition stood to see their chosen charity receive £15,000, so that the charity could implement the winning idea. To celebrate the creativity of the IT professionals' entries, artists created and exhibited art work inspired by the designs.

Over the next five pages are details and images (at the bottom of the page) of each of the five finalists' entries, together with the artistic interpretations (at the top of the page).

The winner of the DesignIT competition, as it was called, was James Elliott, whose entry was developed with a Birmingham charity for the homeless, St Basils, in mind. 

Elliott observed that homeless people have to carry most of their possessions with them. Having access to an online repository for personal documents and records seemed like a logical answer, culminating in Elliott's winning 'Virtual Rucksack' concept.

"My design will provide tangible benefits to the services that St Basils is able to provide. IT people are able to deliver real insight when they work on genuine business problems," said Elliott.

For St Basils, the system will provide a digital record of an individual's case history and, eventually, other organisations will be able to link into the system to provide additional support services, according to Microsoft.

James Elliott's Virtual Rucksack was interpreted by Ross Garth, an accountant and amateur artist. "I started off creating a picture of a tool belt, with a simplicity inspired by the need to get a clear message to youth," said Garth. "I also created a belt that relates to dangerous items which the youth could previously have been involved with during a homeless period. These two images were then used as a repetitive design to present a 'before' and 'after' image."