|
|||
I N S I D EBuilding Bridges what's hot
eventsyouth & tech
| ||||
|
q&a |
free internet
Over the past 30 days free internet has been installed at Interconnection, 124 N. 35th St.; Community Day School, 135 32nd Ave.; and Sojourner Place, 5071 8th Ave. N.E.
It's not too late to get free cable Internet and modem for your local CTC. These free connections are currently only available in the Comcast service delivery area and within the Seattle city limits. For more information and to download a short form to make application, go to our tech web. If you have questions, email Derrick Hall or call (206) 233-5061.
archives
Back issues of Brainstorm including techtips and linkages are now available in our online archives. Click to revisit all previous issues.
sub/unsub
To subscribe or unsubscribe to Brainstorm, please email us, and we'll add you to our email notification list, or subtract you per your request. If you have ideas for future stories, please let us know and we'll try to accommodate them. We encourage you to visit the City of Seattle's Community Tech pages, seattle.gov/tech.
"We’re one of the most wired cities in the world, but there’s still much we can do to bring the benefits of this technology revolution to all segments of our city." -Mayor Greg Nickels
|
Greg Nickels, Mayor Department of Information Technology BILL SCHRIER chief technology officer RONA ZEVIN director, office of electronic communications DAVID KEYES manager, community technology program staff  D.H. CASS MAGNUSKI editor |
PSACT Board President Mike Donlin stresses the importance of building connections between the schools and community tech/service organizations to foster lifelong learning throughout the communities they serve. Photo by Lane Campbell, courtesy of PSACT.
building bridges of opportunity
The conference room was packed as more than 125 technology educators and program providers gathered in Redmond for our first Building Bridges of Opportunity Community Technology Conference on March 8. Attendees from around the Puget Sound, inland from Ellensburg and south from Portland shared challenges, best practices and prized resources and worked to impact future software development. Akhtar Badshah, Microsoft Senior Director of Community Affairs, presented their vision and work on digital opportunities and shared resources available through their Unlimited Potential campaign. Mike Donlin from Seattle Public Schools talked about the role of CTCs in enhancing educational achievement.
The day was a starting point for what we intend as a stronger give and take between software developers and the frontline community technology programs staff. The conference provided a rich opportunity for an expert audience of community trainers to provide rich feedback to Microsoft developers on the needs of first time users, and tell Microsoft, the City and PSACT how they can best help the community tech centers. A public access computing configuration tool, presented at the conference by Microsoft, is expected to be available soon. Participants also received copies of Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential Office skills curriculum. PSACT is continuing to help distribute the curriculum in our area. The event was organized by Sandra Mears from the Puget Sound Alliance for Community Technology (PSACT), ethnographers Nelle Steele and Tracey Lovejoy from Microsoft, and David Keyes from the City of Seattle, with support from Rodney Hines of Microsoft Community Affairs. The results and resources collected at the conference will be made available, so stay tuned.
The Washington State Supreme Court has adopted the Access to Justice Technology Principles (Bill of Rights), the first in the nation. The initiative was led by the Washington State Bar Association Access to Justice Committee and was initiated by King County law librarian Jena Holcomb, and led by retired Judge Don Horowitz with Richard Zorza. Marilyn Sheck from Seattle Public Library and David Keyes worked with a wide range of law and technology experts on this landmark accomplishment. The Bill of Rights provides a set of principles to guide the adoption and use of information technology in a manner intended to ensure "that current and future technology both increases opportunities and eliminates barriers to access and effective utilization of the justice system. and thereby improving the quality of justice for all persons in Washington State." For more information, go here.
The 14th annual Community Technology Center Network (CTCNet) conference will be held June 17-19 in Cleveland, home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The conference offers a wonderful opportunity to build skills, collect resources and network at the largest international gathering of community technology organizations, programs, and experts focused on harnessing technology to meet human and social needs. For more information about this year’s CTCNet "Making Connections, Strengthening Communities" conference, see ctcnet.org.
Green Maps are locally created maps that chart the natural and cultural environment. It’s also an international movement that has created a shared visual language of Green Map Icons to highlight green living resources and produce maps in a variety of formats, each tailored to the local community. Green mapping started in New York City in the mid 1990s and has grown tremendously. Green Maps cultivate citizen participation and include environmental, social, economic, and cultural features that are locally significant from a green, or sustainability, perspective. Local communities also create their own new icons to add to the map language. Some of these are available online. supremes adopt tech bill of rights
rock, roll and learn
greenmap rollout coming
To deliver interactive mapping, they will be using “scalable vector graphics” or SVG, SVG is an emerging standard for vector graphics for the Web as recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Learn more at their web site.
This spring, the Homewaters Project in Seattle is working with Nathan Hale and Cleveland High School students to create green maps in their neighborhoods. This was funded by the City of Seattle Technology Matching Fund.
factoid
In Seattle, African Americans are one-third less likely to have Internet access, 10 percent less likely to buy products or services online, and almost 25 percent less confident in online financial transactions. Source: 2004 IT Residential Technology Survey.
d.o.l.l.a.r.s
Grassroots.org Offers Free Web Hosting
Deadline: Ongoing
Nonprofits registered as 501(c)3 and public schools are eligible for free web hosting, email and other Internet services through grassroots.org. This initiative is designed to help make nonprofits more efficient and better able to serve their communities. Areas of interest include education, public health and youth advocacy.
ThinkHost offers free Webhosting
Deadline: Ongoing
ThinkHost is a privately-owned company providing high performance website hosting services to a global market. The company assists many community organizations with sponsored web hosting through their free hosting initiative. Organizations that focus on the environment, grassroots democracy, peace, social/economic justice or human rights are eligible to apply. Other community groups are eligible for free setup and an ongoing 10 percent discount on the monthly fees of any hosting plan.
Deadline: Ongoing
Grantee Exchange Fund (GXF) provides discretionary small grants to build bridges between grassroots organizations throughout the United States. The purpose of these grants is to encourage social change organizations to seek technical assistance from one another, and to help build regional and national networks among organizations.
Southern Poverty Law Center: Mix It Up Grants Program
Deadline: Ongoing
The Mix It Up Grant program, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Study Circles Resource Center, provides grants of $500 to youth-directed activist projects that focus on identifying, questioning and crossing social boundaries in schools and communities. Preference is given to projects that show youth leadership; collaborative efforts across social boundaries; and continuing efforts to identify, cross or challenge social boundaries.
Seattle neighborhood groups and organizations are invited to apply for funds for projects which increase technology literacy and access in their communities. The City is also encouraging civic participation projects which increase resident involvement in problem solving and use information and communications technology to support their effort.
l.i.n.k.a.g.e
April is Earth Month, culminating with Earth Day on April 22. Here are some relevant Web links. City of Seattle Environmental Action Agenda Environmental volunteer opportunities with Seattle Parks and Recreation Seattle's 19th Annual Spring Clean Rain Barrels for Salebehind the map
Check out the new map service at Google. Example searches include going to a location, finding a business, and getting directions. After you take a peak at maps.google.com, learn more about how the technology is done, here.