Transmission Project

Ross was required to wear many hats during his work with CUWin. On the technical and external side Ross work closely with CUWiN developers and local activists to implement CUWiN software in our domestic network sites—setting up wireless access points in areas that community members had identified as key sites. He helped install and troubleshoot network nodes in Champaign and Urbana and develop manuals and instructions in order to provide technical support to local residents and partners to help maintain the local wireless network. Internally, Ross worked closely with the CUWiN core staff to facilitate the growth of the CUWiN project. This showed itself in our growth and the development of our leadership and advisories boards and the partners we have developed.

Ray spent the year coming up with ideas for the workshops, creating the materials necessary to lead the workshops, and organizing the instructors of the workshops. Workshop topics included digital storytelling, silent movie-making, audio dubbing, and 3D imaging. Ray learned how create (and advertise) workshops that are appealing to teens and eventually had regular attendance at them. Students in our program earn a free computer system to take home. Our policy states that if they attend 5 workshops, they’ll earn enough extra credit to earn a year of free internet access at home. While nearly all of our students earn the home computer, many students weren’t able to take advantage of the free internet since they weren’t getting the opportunity to attend workshops. With Ray’s help, a great number of students were able to attend the workshops that are required in order to earn home internet. While having a home computer is valuable to our students, without internet they remain at a disadvantage when it comes to completing homework and projects for school.

Now that Ray’s term has ended we are happy to have a whole library of workshop ideas and materials at the ready. Because everything has already been developed, it is much easier for us to recruit volunteers to lead our workshops, since it no longer requires a significant time commitment on their part. We are pleased that we were able to, and will be able to continue to, offer so many workshops to our students and that they may earn internet access at home.

The first focus for the site was to capture the history of World War II veterans because they are subject of a great deal of local interest and are quickly passing away. TINCAN is a contributing member of the Library of Congress Veterans’ History project. Nora’s accomplishments on the veteran’s aspect of the project include:

• Collecting, transcribing, and uploading (with volunteer assistance) 25 WWII veterans’ and civilians’ oral histories. Several WWI veterans have been identified as well.
• Scanning hundreds of photos from WWII, often from veterans’ scrapbooks, and photographing memorabilia, including medals and souvenirs brought back from the various locations in which the veterans were stationed.
• Reorganizing the handful of veteran’s histories and photos that were online, which included creating consistent archiving processes for the materials, correcting annotations, and in some cases, re-contacting the veteran or civilian to check data.
• Developing a cadre of 30 volunteers, primarily from Gonzaga University, to carry out interviews and scan photos.
• Putting on events to bring attention to veterans’ history. Perhaps the most memorable was a gathering on Veteran’s Day at a neighborhood coffee house, where veterans of all wars were invited to come, bring materials to be scanned, and make appointments for oral histories. The café owner loaned the back room to set up computers and scanners, and a local grocery store provided a large cake decorated like an American flag.

The next focus of the project was to engage local historical organizations in uploading historical materials to the Memories site. Nora’s accomplishments to date are:

• Identifying local museums and historical associations in the Inland Northwest. Four organizations are now actively working with the project.
• Working with the Valley Museum, a small community museum, that is planning to upload documents and photographs to the site. Working with a local school, they will develop an exhibit on the founders of the Valley community, and upload the materials to the site as well as having an exhibit.
• Working with the Hillyard Museum, which does not yet have a physical location, to explore putting materials online as a means of raising interest in the development of their neighborhood museum.
• Working with the local Railroad Society to consider putting their extensive collection of materials online. We will also look for a means of collecting railroad-related oral histories, since the railroads were pivotal in Spokane’s settlement and development.
• Scanning and documenting materials for the Masonic Temple, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
• Helping to develop a rationale for organizations to put their materials online. For example, since every item in the Memories archive contains the URL of the contributing organization (if available), viewers of online materials may select the contributor’s web site for further information, and perhaps donations.
• Beginning to develop formal training materials for volunteers to put materials online. Formal training procedures for uploading and using the archiving tool will greatly streamline the process, and take the burden off staff trying to develop a full and interesting site. The project also has goals that include working with K-12 schools and TINCAN’s other projects to make use of the Memories site. Accomplishments to date include:
• Assisting teachers who took prior oral history workshops in uploading student interviews and other veteran’s memorabilia.
• Developing a project with a local K-8 school to work with the Valley museum on an exhibit.
• Planning a summer teacher workshop for summer 2005.
• Developing a proposal with the Garland neighborhood to engage at risk teens in TINCAN’s Virtual Online Teen Center in a project that will use oral histories to create the basis for business district murals and a video project.

As an Americorps VISTA member, Clarice was an integral part of preparing for the school district’s “back to school registration drive,” at which time, parents and students attend school orientations and register for classes. Through OTX we serve a school district population comprised of 48,000 students and 104 school sites. For the purpose of the home computer component of OTX-West’s computer reuse program, Clarice assisted in the coordination of this effort to reach 41 middle school and high school sites. Her work included creating and organizing information packets, scheduling meetings with school sites and staffing orientations. Due to the extensive outreach effort, we were able to serve 800 middle school and high school students last Fall.

MAFEI currently has six interns representing the traditional high schools in the District, two of whom have returned from the previous year. As an Americorps member, Clarice serves as a liaison with OTX interns, coordinating work schedules and advising them appropriately regarding work responsibilities.

Sue has helped us launch our project nationally, and we know have over 350 affordable and public housing facilities using “Abilities for Resident Service Coordinators” to link low income frail elderly and disabled residents to community services. “Abilities for Resident Service Coordinators” has been endorsed by the American Association of Service Coordinators and is acknowledged by industry professionals as a vital tool in keeping elderly residents in independent living. With the infusion of technology in elderly and disabled resident service coordination, properties are able to keep residents independent, and avoid unnecessary and costly institutionalization. This project is a prime example of using community technology to meet pressing needs, and impact important policy areas.

Sue helped us attend a national conference in San Antonio, Texas, in which we brought 20 laptops and set up a training lab. We taught Resident Service Coordinators how to use technology to link their residents to community services, manage their residmonitor resident and program outcomes with technology.

Sue has been a vital player in helping us develop an implementation plan for CTCs in affordable housing communities in Southern California, as she is at our office early every day to assist with implementation. Her involvement helped us determine that we could expand beyond 50 to now over 200 CTCs.

Sue led the effort at Pangea Foundation to develop the training manual for our users. She has helped develop the 100+ page training manual that is available to users when they log into the system. This is an ongoing effort. She also helps with phone training, and attended our training conference in San Antonio, Texas.

Sue has helped run the show at Pangea with the Resident Service Coordinators. She is the first to receive their calls when they need technical help. She continuously tests the systems. She helped create the training manuals and system forms for printed materials. Sue’s involvement as an AmeriCorp*VISTA member enables our organization to provide these services to the community. To date, this system has over 200 properties using it, which represents service delivered and managed to 20,000 low income elderly and disabled residents across the country.