Mike Meir, MA(Oxon)

I am the Executive Director of Gate Seven Computers Ltd, the vehicle through which I would manage your contract, and a Director of two other Charities: Tower Hamlets Community Housing, and the Union Chapel Project.

I have devoted much of my life and career to community-related activities, and have lived on the Mansford Estate in Bethnal Green, an inner city, and latterly trendy, area of London, since 1995.

After taking a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford, I worked for many years in therapeutic communities, and was then Information Officer for a national mental health charity. I became involved with computers as part of my work there as early as 1983 when I set up a CVS-type project to connect volunteers with people needing support, and which was run by people with a history of mental illness as part of their rehabilitation programme. I went on to support the charity in the introduction of PC-based systems, and set up their branch in India.

In 1989, I founded Gate Seven Computers Ltd, developing systems which first enabled and then made easy, the use of Indic scripts, such as Bengali, in standard applications. This software is widely used in Translation Units throughout the UK.

From 2004 I have been delivering web-related solutions, often, but not exclusively for "third sector" organisations - community based organisations and charities, who need powerful, interactive web sites which they can manage themselves. After evaluation of a number of CMS packages, I chose TYPO3, which is powerful, and flexible yet easy and intuitive for end-users. It is also natively multilingual.

**Skills and Experience**
- Programming, particularly socially relevant software since 1983, mainly in relation to Indic Scripts (Bengali, Devanagari, etc.)
- Developing web sites and intraextranets with the CMS TYPO3 since 2004, with a particular, though not exclusive, interest in sites for community groups and third sector organisations.
- Designing sites to meet the needs of anyone who wants a web site that they can manage themselves with the minimum of hassle, and maximum of ease-of-use, and ditto for their visitors.
- Familiar with the technologies that TYPO3 uses - range of available extensions, mySQL, PHP, Typoscript, (X)HTML and CSS, YAML CSS Framework; also Accessibility, Visual Basic and Visual Basic for Applications.
- Development of intra- or extra-net-based resources for organisations through the CRM package SugarCRM, and the ECM package Alfresco.
- Managing Linux-based web servers.
- provision of comprehensive and properly optimised hosting.
- Empowerment, training and on-going support.
- Content writing, editing and proof reading, particularly in relation to plain English.
- Supporting Indic and other non-Latin scripts on the web and in print.
- Type Design and Type Technology;
- automation of Indic script entry.

**How I Work**
In taking on your work, I am commitment to delivering the solution that you want, in the way you want, to the highest standards.

**Value for Money**
By working with the CMS TYPO3 which is both powerful, flexible and extensible I am nearly always in a position in which I could provide you with just the customised solution that you need. Development costs are reduced by the power of the package itself, and the pre-existence of more than 5000 extensions, which can be used directly or developed as part opf your solution.

Simialrly, both Alfresco ECM and SugarCRM are available in free community versions which already provide solutions for many of the projects which are advertised on this site, reducing the actual task to one of customisation, for which they are designed. The base packages can be provided free of charge as part of a hosting agreement.

Areas covered: Based in London, but able to travel as required.