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Compton Resigns what's hot Jim Compton Seattle City Councilmember Jim Compton has announced his resignation, effective January 6. Councilmember Compton has been chair of the Utilities and Technology Committee for the last two years. In this role he has overseen the Technology Matching Fund and community technology projects, cable refranchising, the broadband task force, and other major IT initiatives. He is leaving to pursue two international projects in Egypt and Romania. See more here. The Council will be accepting applications and appointing a replacement. ctc resourcesCTCNet recently launched the CTC Resource Center, a peer-reviewed, interactive collection of resources for community technology practitioners. The Center is a directory of links, containing tools and information on programming and curricula, management, evaluation, sustainability and operations. It is designed to serve as an environment in which members can find, contribute, rate, and review tools and information available to CTCs. Also, the new Pew Internet & American Life Project Digital Divisions Report, released 10/5/05, is available here. nickels blogsSeattle Mayor Greg Nickels took a step (or a stylus) into the world of blogging recently, writing a blog during his trip to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal. Read it here. day of service:
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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
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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 |
WISHING YOU HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Horn of Africa Services trainer Tsegaye Gebru and executive director Eskindar Sarka looking good with their new equipment.
new at horn: workforce training
Community Technology Centers usually have to patch different funding sources to keep their programs alive and growing. Horn of Africa Services has been able to upgrade their lab thanks to support from Boeing. City of Seattle Technology Matching Funds are enhancing their computer training. Now, Horn is leveraging these to take another step forward. A three year grant from Communities Connect/Gates Foundation will enable Horn to develop workforce training for immigrants.
Others receive education and workforce grants tooThe Low income Housing Institute (LIHI), another of last year’s Technology Matching Fund grantees, has also been awarded funding from the Communities Connect program/Gates Foundation to enhance educational services for their homeless transitional residents. In addition, the Puget Sound Alliance for Community Technology (PSACT) is receiving a small grant to pilot employment readiness assessment software in six labs.
cable: tentative deal reached
The Office of Cable Communications has reached a tentative agreement with Comcast for a renewed cable franchise. Highlights of the proposed deal were discussed at the Utiltities and Technology Committee of the Seattle City Council on December 13. You can view the proceedings on the Seattle Channel (Channel 21) or by going to seattlechannel.org, and searching for "cable franchise" to get the direct link.
The agreement provides funds for the Seattle Channel (channel 21) and SCAN, (the public access channel, 77 on Comcast and 29 on Millennium), a grant for youth civic involvement projects, continued free cable modems for community access sites with expansion for non-profits, funds for community center technology support, and senior and low-income discounts. The agreement also provides for creation of an innovative and groundbreaking "Seattle Arts Zone," which will feature local arts programming produced by the Seattle Channel.
Draft legislation will be presented to the Seattle City Council in January. At that time, the draft will be available for review and the City Council will conduct a public review process. Look for announcements and more information about the proposed franchise agreement at www.seattle.gov/cable/refranchising.
Students never have to be stumped by a tough homework assignment again. The Seattle Public Library is now offering free online homework help.
The service, called Online Homework Help, allows students to get immediate help from qualified tutors by visiting their web site and selecting Homework Help from the Quick Links menu.
Tutors are available to help with math, science, social studies and English via the Internet from 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily. Spanish-speaking tutors are available from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. The
service is designed for students in grades 4-12. As long as they own
valid library cards, students can use the service from community
technology centers, schools, libraries or at home. The help sessions
operate as an online chat with the student and tutor corresponding in
real time. All tutors are certified teachers, college professors,
professional tutors or graduate school students from across the country.
Individuals interested in becoming a Homework Help Center volunteer should contact Anne Vedella, Library volunteer services coordinator, at
(206) 386-4614. For more information about the program, contact Andra
Addison at (206) 386-4103.online homework help from spl
disaster preparedness tips
Seattle's Personal and Home Disaster site now has a series of disaster preparedness tip sheets available. These include utility safety, 72 hour comfort kit, securing wall hangings and tall furniture, and more.
new community stories:
queen of tatary and biodiesel
Find these new stories online and on cable on the Seattle Channel. Here are two new programs you'll see on Community Stories:
Masguda, Queen of Tatary
Masguda Shamsutdinova immigrated to Seattle from the district of Tatarstan, a sovereign state united to the Russian Federation. She gave up her career there as a successful folk modern composer to move to the U.S. for her family. Masguda’s approach to living in the U.S. is that of an artist in transition. She shares her inspirations and history, her struggles with learning English and the music she hears in her everyday life in Seattle and discusses the differences between her past and present life. The episode also features symphonies and works in progress by Masguda.
Biodiesel Empowers Seattle
The burgeoning biodiesel community in Seattle is not just for hard core environmentalists anymore. Citizens choose to go biodiesel for a number of reasons—-to have less impact on the environment, and to be less reliant on fossil fuels are a couple of incentives-- but they also come together to share knowledge and support this growing industry. Biodiesel users like activist Aaron Kahn, high school science teacher Noam Gumble and co-op member Ara Erickson share how folks create community at the fuel pump.
d.o.l.l.a.r.s
Deadline: Ongoing
Funds projects with the following goals in Seattle, Pierce and Snohomish counties:
- Education, with an emphasis on K-12; financial literacy; teacher development and retention; student mentoring and life skill development
- Community Development, with an emphasis on workforce development; self sufficiency programs that provide employment training and job preparedness; adult literacy; English as a Second Language
- Community Development, with an emphasis on: homeownership initiatives, such as homebuyer counseling and education programs; affordable housing; neighborhood revitalization.
City of Seattle, Dept of Neighborhoods
Funds a broad array of neighborhood-initiated improvement, organizing or planning projects.
Small and Simple fund
Deadline: January 17, 2006
Large Project Fund Letter of Intent
Deadline: February 6, 2006
Deadline: February 24, 2006
Funds programs with the following priorities:
- building economic foundation for strong neighborhoods; encouraging small business development and growth
- protecting and helping neighborhoods flourish and thrive
- low- and moderate-income homebuyer education programs that include homeowners insurance education
- loss-prevention education programs for homeowners
- safety and disaster preparedness programs
- neighborhood festivals that attract diverse audiences
- community clean-ups and neighborhood beautification projects
- the creation or enhancement of pocket parks and gathering spaces
City of Seattle, Dep't of Information Technology - Bill Wright Technology Matching Fund
The 2006 deadline for the Technology Matching Fund will be March 20th. Applications and more information will be available after January 10th. Watch for more info in January's Brainstorm.
l.i.n.k.a.g.e
PBSKids.org has a whole series of interactive games that help teach about advertising tricks, the real costs of entertainment and products, and much more.
The fantastic Palm Beach County Library mousing exercise teaches many of the ways you may need to scroll and click.
The Exploratorium museum of science, art and human perception has a LOT of interaction to explore and learn online for kids...and old kids. Start here. Then try their music section or the list of very cool science and exploration games.
A video from Lori Bell of the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center walks you through the process. On WebJunction.
t.e.c.h.t.i.p
Instant Messaging
Instant Messaging enables immediate electronic communication among two or more users simultaneously online. A new cool features now available with most IM programs allows you to do Voice over IP and Video over IP using the P2P (Peer-to-peer). What this means is you can now connect to your friend’s computer in China and see them as well as talk to them live.
Some of the common programs that you can install to do this are Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, AOL messenger, and Skype. All of these programs allow you to type to another user and use video and audio to communicate. But there are a few differences in software. All free, they are listed below.
Yahoo Messenger allows you to separate your video from your text window, so if you are doing video and audio you don’t have to have your text window open.
MSN Messenger has a faster frames per second support which allows your video services to almost be in real time. This service also blends into MSN/Hotmail accounts.
AOL messenger comes standard if you have an AOL account. If you don’t you can still download it at www.aim.com and setup an account. You can communicate with other users who use AOL as well.
Skype allows you to connect a regular phone (with phone attachments) to your computer and communicate with others. It's free to connect to other Skype users, but there's a fee if you want to connect to someone with a regular phone line, so be aware.