Presented by the Puget Sound Alliance for Community Technology (PSACT) and the City of Seattle Community Technology Program.

wilderness tech opens new center

The Special Technology Access Resource Center is looking for volunteer advisory board members. For more info or to nominate candidates, send to info@digital-promise.org. Include the name of the candidate, a brief description of their qualifications, and contact information, by Friday, October 21. Contact Joe Diehl at (206) 290-5498 if you have any questions.

q&a

Don't miss Ask the Mayor on the Seattle Channel. It's a Q&A show featuring host C.R. Douglas and callers in local issues discussion with Mayor Greg Nickels. Next taping is November 9. Email your questions in advance to askthemayor@seattle.gov.

free internet

Free cable broadband Internet service is available for organizations providing technology training to community members. The free service is offered in the Comcast service delivery area and within the Seattle city limits, based on the City’s cable franchise agreement. 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 linkage are now available in our online archives. Previous TechTips and Linkage are also available. Click to revisit all previous issues.

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"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

CITY OF SEATTLE 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

We are pleased to announce that Andrea Lee has joined the City's Citizens Telecommunications and Technology Advisory Board (CTTAB) as their young person "Get Engaged" representative. She has already agreed to become chair of the Community Technology Committee of CTTAB. Andrea brings experience working with Plymouth Housing Group the past few years on a range of tenant support services and prior to that, as a women's advocate at Noel House Programs. She has also been a volunteer photographer for Real Change and tutor for Seattle Central Community College. Andrea is a graduate the George Washington University. Getting Engaged is a program run by the YMCA that works with the city of Seattle to place young adults, ages 18 to 29, on City of Seattle boards and commissions as full members for a one year.

The Seattle Public Library's computer curriculum, Wired for Learning, is now available in other languages. The courses are designed for English as a Second Language (ESL) adults and basic skills adults who want to improve their computer skills. One module teaches using the most basic tools of a computer, such as using the keyboard and mouse. Other classes focus on word processing, Internet and email skills.

To find a class in English, Russian, Spanish or Chinese at one of the libraries, view the schedule.

The curriculum is also available for download via the Puget Sound Alliance for Community Technology's website.

On November 8, Seattle voters will have an opportunity to vote in the 2005 Election. Information on candidates and referendums are available on the Seattle Channel web site. A Video Voter's Guide can help you learn more about the candidates in their own words. Watch the program in its entirety or select individual candidates' two-minute statements.

You will need a copy of Real Player installed on your computer to watch this video. A free download of the current player is available on the website.

Across the world, governments at all levels, schools, businesses and the civic sector of non-governmental organizations are working to define and manage their use of information and communications technologies (ICT). In the United States, we often use the term “IT” or information technology, though much of the world has settled on ICT as a more encompassing term that includes the communications purpose of technology.

This November 16-18, the United Nations will host its second World Summit on Information Society (WSIS).

These UN sponsored international information society summits help call attention to the issues discussed. According to the United Nations, “By involving Heads of state and government and other high-profile world leaders from intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations as well as from civil society and the private sector, Summit events have put long-term, difficult problems like poverty and environmental degradation at the top of the global agenda.”

The first WSIS in 2003 produced a Declaration of Principles recognizing the importance of ICT to the global society and “embraces the idea of universal, accessible, equitable and affordable ICT infrastructure and services.” It discusses the need for multilingual, diverse and culturally appropriate content as well as consumer protection, technology for good governance, universal and affordable access, and the necessity to work to close the digital divide. The Plan of Action, to be achieved by 2015, includes development of community access points.

For more information on the World Summit on Information Society, go here. Read the Key Principles here.

Telecentre.org is a new global support network and service to increase the information sharing and capacity of community-based telecentres to promote digital development. They are expected to launch their services this fall in conjunction with the WSIS event. Telecentre.org is a project of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), with the support of Microsoft Community Affairs. For more information see the Telecentre.org web site.

The historic bronze gates designed by George Tsutakawa will swing open at noon on Saturday, Oct. 22 to welcome patrons back to the Lake City Branch. The expanded branch is the centerpiece of a new municipal center that also includes a neighborhood service center, the Albert Davis Park and an underground parking garage. Opening festivities include music, refreshments and craft activities for children.

Seattle Foundation Anne V. Farrell Leadership Grant

Deadline: October 21st

Provides funds to organizations working with those categorized as the working poor, providing these individuals with the resources to achieve self-sufficiency for themselves and their families, and/or enabling them to make the transition from a living wage to a thriving wage.

Paul Allen Foundation Youth Engagement Program

Deadline: Ongoing

Provides funds to community-based organizations that provide early childhood education and after school programs that offer opportunities for hands-on learning in a variety of disciplines including the arts, humanities, and sciences.

Puget Sound Energy

Deadline: Ongoing

Provides funds in these areas to help make the Puget Sound better for everyone: social services, education, arts and culture, energy efficiency and environmental stewardship, community and economic development, safety and emergency preparedness.

A free mouse tutorial in Spanish is "Mousercicio."

A bilingual site for information for latinos with disabilities.

Jan Smith's Illustrated Computer Literacy 101 in Spanish.

History of DVDs
DVD stands for Digital VideoDisc or Digital Versatile Disc. It refers to an optical digital disc for storing movies and data. Introduced in the U.S. in 1997, and developed by both the computer and movie industries, the disc uses the same diameter platter as a CD, but holds 4.7GB rather than 700MB. Whereas CDs use only one side, DVDs can be recorded on both sides as well as in dual layers. DVD drives/players read most CD media as well.

DVD-Video is the movie format, which uses MPEG-2 compression to provide approximately two hours of video per side at standard definition TV resolution (480i resolution). When most people mention the acronym DVD, they are referring to a DVD-Video disc.

Technology
Originally, "Digital Videodisc." Since the technology became important to the computer world, the "video" was dropped, and it was just D-V-D. Later, it was dubbed "Digital Versatile Disc" by the DVD Forum.

Usage
DVD’s are useful for three main applications. There are more, however the average consumer would use one of the following.

1. Video 92% of all Hollywood titles ever made are 133 minutes or less. They would fit on a single 1 sided DVD
2. Backup and storage Because of the large data capacity of the DVD drives, they are very useful for storing all of your personal information on one or maybe two DVD’s
3. Large software installations Most computer vendors are now shipping their computer systems with DVD drives because it's cheaper and more efficient for the consumer. Major software vendors like Microsoft will be soon moving this way. Program sizes are growing from the size of one CD to mulple CDs, and the company can save time and resources by just using one DVD.

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.