Dear branch member,

If this is your first eBCSOxon email, I'd like to give you a very warm welcome to BCS Oxfordshire Branch. We hope you'll be able to come to our meetings, but even if time and/or distance makes it difficult for you to come along in person, welcome to this list anyway.

You can find out more about the branch and follow our events programme on the branch website.

If you would prefer us to use a more friendly and less formal greeting line, see below for how to let us know.

In this issue: details about two very interesting branch meetings in November and December, and a special careers evening in the Oxford Castle on 19 November. We do hope you'll be able to come along.

Our full meeting programme for 2008/9 is on the branch website.

As usual, in late August we posted details to BCS members of the branch who live in the UK or mainland Europe. If you missed it, there's a pointer to a downloadable copy on our branch downloads page.

Our November talk is about Imagining an immersive future: the role of serious games and virtual worlds in everyday lives.

Dr Sara de Freitas, Director of Research at the Serious Games Institute at the University of Coventry, will explore how electronic games technologies and methodologies are being used for purposes other than entertainment. These include: e-learning, simulation, team building, collaboration and opinion shaping.

Whether you're just starting a career in IT or growing within your current role, you're invited to join us for wine and nibbles at the unique Oxford Castle. Tour the Castle and its Tower, take our BCS and Castle quiz, as well as finding out what the BCS can do for you.

If you want to tour the Tower, don't arrive too late, as numbers are limited.

Peter Leavy from the BCS will be on hand to answer questions about CITP, ISEB and SFIAplus. He will also be taking part in a debate on topics that you will choose on the night.

Our Christmas Lecture, subtitled "The End of Privacy as We Know It", is based on this engaging and thought-provoking new book about the implications of privacy in today's increasingly web-based world, jointly written by our speaker, Kieron O'Hara, and BCS past president Nigel Shadbolt.

The lecture, preceded by Christmas mulled wine and mince pies, will be held at Rewley House, Oxford OX1 2JA rather than our usual location.

The BCS Oxfordshire Schools Web Competition for 2009 was officially launched on 20 October, with a mailshot and copies of this poster being sent to all schools in the county.

If you have have connections with a school in Oxfordshire, as a parent, teacher, governor or in some other capacity, ask them to check out the details at www.oxon.bcs.org/webcomp and fill in the no-obligation signup form for a copy of the information pack.

Did you know that BCS members can join up to five BCS Specialist Groups online?

Just sign on to the Members' secure area, and click on "Specialist Groups" in the box headed "Manage your membership". You should then be able to join several Specialist Groups.

The tenth Oxford Geek Night is on 21 January 2009.

BCS members can manage all their BCS email subscriptions online by logging on at https://wam.bcs.org/wam/lsm.aspx.

Want to know more about this newsletter? There's an article on the branch wiki.

You can now subscribe to the text-only version of this newsletter. The BCS online interface doesn't support this option - see below for how to request it.