Z/Yen’s Own Ethics Boy To Launch New Publication

Ian Harris, Z/Yen’s very own "ethics boy", has co-authored a joint publication, a collaboration between the BCS Ethics Strategic Panel (which Ian vice-chairs) and the Institute of Business Ethics. The report "Ethics in the Provision and Use of IT for Business" highlights issues, dilemmas and challenges that are common in IT provision. It also provides guidance on how to plan, implement and evaluate the use of IT so that ethical challenges are anticipated, and the organisation's ethical values are reinforced.

Ian (and others) will be launching the publication on 18 January, from 16.30 - 18.30 at the BCS London offices (Davidson Building, 5 Southampton Street, London). A small number of places remain available, so if you wish to attend this event, please email Bee Clayton bee.clayton@hq.bcs.org.uk , no later than 14 January.

Long Finance – Worth Waiting For

Come to the event of 2010! How many times have you heard that? Well, why not come to the event of 02010?! On 1 February, Long Finance is holding its second event at lunchtime at The Willis Building, 51 Lime Street, London EC3M 7DQ, from 11.45 - 14.30, where learning from the sister Long Now Foundation and its 10,000 Year Clock Project will be discussed. The event, free with lunch, is hosted by Gresham College, Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment, Willis and Z/Yen Group with support from Alpheus Solutions, City of London Corporation, Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation, Culliford Edmunds Associates, Financial Services Club, London Accord, River Path, Sedgwick Richardson, Tattarsall Hammarling & Silk, Tomorrow’s Company, UKSIF – the Sustainable Investment and Finance Association. Participants include the musician Brian Eno, Stewart Brand of the Whole Earth Catalog, Bernard Lietaer who co-created the ECU and many other interesting characters all examining the question "how would we know when our financial system is working?" For much more detail (and find out why 02010’s so naughty) join Z/Yen’s Long Finance group at www.longfinance.net. It should be great fun, you’re welcome, nay encouraged, to attend and to invite friends.

Hundreds Sign Up To The Big ExtZy Giveaway

Hundreds of people signed up over Christmas to play ExtZy, Z/Yen’s ultimate market prediction game. Perhaps the huge wave of interest is because Z/Yen is giving away a wodge of ExtZy stocks to anyone who registers (or signs in) between now and 31 January. Or perhaps the enthusiasm stems from the fact that, once you have gained enough Zoints, you can claim real prizes – ranging from a £300 iPod to a pair of deluxe chopsticks. Alternatively, you can choose to convert prizes into donations to the registered UK charity of your choice; so far over 60% of prize money awarded has gone to charity. Z/Yen’s generous give-away comprises up to £50,000 worth of prizes/donations. Simply sign in or register here http://www.extzy.net/ before the end of the month to claim your free gift of ExtZy stocks and get playing towards those prizes and donations.

Care in the CommunityZ, Part One - Raising Aspirations

In October Z/Yen took part in City 4 a Day, a programme organised in association with The Brokerage and the City of London to give pupils from under-performing schools on the City fringes the chance to experience working life in the City. Z/Yen hosted 15 pupils from the City of London Academy for a morning of interactive presentations which gave the pupils a chance to see what it is we do here. Michael, Monique, Leo, Jez, Nick and Ben all rose to the challenge of presenting aspects of their work to a group of very inquisitive 14 year olds, and activites ranged from using PropheZy to predict football scores to working out the basics of the stock market on ExtZy. The morning was a great success and we look forward to working with the Brokerage again in the future.

Care in the CommunityZ, Part Two – On-line Activities

Z/Yen constantly promotes a "community" view of business and organisation. Over the years we’ve been investing heavily in developing our ability to deliver quality CommunityZ in virtuality and reality. Now & Z/Yen readers might like to explore four Z/Yen CommunityZ – all are free to join. The first is Z/Yen itself, where you can now go online for an increasing number of connections with other Now & Z/Yen folk, including groups on Long Finance and Global Financial Centres. The second is the London Accord site, which Z/Yen runs on behalf of a community of several thousand people, including tools such as a pricing calculator for carbon and investment research on environmental, social and governance issues. The third is, of course, the ever-popular ExtZy community. Finally, we’ve begun running CommunityZ for others, most visibly our work for the Real Time Club, a four decade old club for ICT iconoclasts who hold a half dozen fascinating events, typically highly interactive dinner discussions. Strange that Z/Yen starts helping an ICT club put itself online just before Michael magically becomes the Club’s 2010 Chair!

No Svet

Svetlana Savelyeva has recently joined Z/Yen with a fistful of glittering academic plaudits from the University of London External Programme and the London School of Economics. All Z/Yen people swore to eschew the obvious and corny "no svet" jokes, yet when Now & Z/Yen is desperate for a headline, all such vows go to the wall without even breaking a svet. Nevertheless, a very special Now and Z/Yen welcome to Svetlana.