Transmission Project

VISTAs have not had an easy time keeping in touch with each other, both during and after service. In some cases certain personal information wasn’t even kept on file, such as a home telephone number. I created a global addressbook last year and incorporated it into the redesigned VISTA website this year. Alumni and current VISTAs now have a simple facility on the Project website to share their information as well as access other VISTAs’ information. In enhancing VISTA alumni resources and communications the VISTA Leaders wrote a form letter to all past alumni announcing the creation of a new CTC VISTA alumni connections mailing list (January), which also served to connect alumni to the great CTC VISTA directory networking resource. We plan to use this addressbook to periodically send a newsletter to alumni and hold reunions.

Assistant Director Paul Hansen and I worked collaboratively to re-launch the VISTA website (http://www.cpcs.umb.edu/vista/), creating a mock-up on a development server before going live with the re-design. In addition to migrating the directory pages off the development server, I replaced the static roster listings (current VISTAs, alumni, all VISTAs, and organizations) with dynamic database- backed pages, laying the groundwork for a recruiting system in which potential supervisors can add and edit VISTA job descriptions directly on the website. (The rosters do not at present list who is a second- or third-year VISTA, and it does not indicate any special titles for people, like VISTA Leader, for example).

Developed enhanced VISTA resources. One of the biggest challenges any group of short-term workers faces is the loss of knowledge when the staff turns over. In an effort to combat the lack of knowledge retention between VISTA “classes,” Dan
Schackman and I erected a resource wiki on the Project website. A wiki is “a website that allows users to add content, as on an Internet forum, but also allows anyone to edit the content” (WikiPedia.org). The wiki technology is widely deployed across the Internet and was chosen for its ability to cater to both novice and advanced Internet users. Dan and I created a modest framework though which VISTAs and non-VISTAs alike can contribute to and maintain a database of resources exclusively targeted to CTC VISTAs. Dan and I fleshed it out with resources provided by VISTAs David Johnson and Michelle Rogers. I feel the wiki will serve as an effective tool enabling VISTAS to have greater participation

The Community Technology Review website (www.comtechreview.org) was beefed up and migrated from an obsolete web server to a server which hosts all other CPCS website properties (CPCS, VISTA, CBC, etc.). Of note are the new comment approval system and the PayPal order page. The comment page will ease the approval process for user-submitted comments, and the order page will streamline CTR hardcopy purchases which can now be handled with a credit card. I also trained Dan Schackman to use the administration interface and made some minor code changes for the Winter 2005 issue.

Finally, I became savvy with Final Cut Pro and edited a couple of small VISTA project videos for distribution on the web (http://www.cpcs.umb.edu/vista/video/). I massaged the swearing in footage for the 2004-05 crop of VISTAs originally shot on September 1 by former VISTA Leader James Fishwick, featuring US Representative Barney Frank and UMass/Boston Chancellor Keith Motley. A couple more projects have been added to the archives, including a Liz Cavano’s half-hour “What’s a VISTA” (2001) and Scott Hillier’s “CTC VISTAs: A Day in the Life” (2003).

The past few months haven’t been spent exclusively glued to a keyboard and monitor. I spoke at Faneuil Hall in October on AmeriCorps Opening Day, an ambassador of the CTC VISTA Project. A number of situations arose with a few VISTAs, some of whom I tried to help with varying degrees of success. For my part I served as a liaison with a VISTA in Minnesota, who ended up leaving the program after transferring from her first assignment and failing to make her second assignment work; I supported two VISTAs in Massachusetts, one in California, and one in North Carolina who had some conflicts with their supervisors and another experiencing some serious interpersonal conflicts with one of her co-workers. These situations have been very time and energy intensive, requiring frequent and detailed communication with VISTA support staff and the involved parties.

On a related front of Project responsibility, I assumed coordinating responsibilities for the monthly meetings among the Boston VISTAs, ensuring an agenda, chairperson, and minute-taker for every meeting as well as editing and posting the minutes

During the 05-06 project year, Saul’s supervisor said the following:
Saul has continued to lend his considerable technical skills to a number of projects– some to the benefit of the college others to the benefit of the Project. The addition of the reporting system to the Project’s ‘online application system’ has been an enormous help and was pulled-off pretty much without a hitch. Reports were submitted by participating organizations largely on-time! This was unheard of in the past and represents a huge leap forward in efficency. He continues to work on the application system. Currently he is revising it so that organizations can have and access more than one application– for multi-year projects. This revision is proceeding slowly however. In the role of VISTA Leader (and as the Leader of the other Leaders) Saul has performed well. Communication between the Leaders could be better (more frequent perhaps) but the improvement over previous years has been considerable largely due to his coordinating efforts which began well before the August 2005 PSO. Saul also plays a vital role as the person whom I bounce my ideas off of. As I often have bad ideas, the value of this cannot be underestimated.

David has assisted TSN Coordinator with the procurement, development, distribution and evaluation of instructional materials for member sites.

David has met with eligible sites independently and jointly with TSN coordinator as well as helped procure and disseminate information between sites and the TSN coordinator. Because of David’s technical background and ability to grasp the complete picture he has resolved many problems and questions before they could become issues. Once the financial issues are resolved, David will independently visit the Centers receiving equipment to ensure that its installation is complete and satisfies the Center’s requirements. As a result of the David’s assistance the current round of hardware and furniture upgrades is ahead of last years pace.

David is serving as the Project Manager for the re-design of the website). Davis is coordinating the translation of a portion of the website into Spanish and is keeping the content of the web site up to date. David frequently provides help desk support to members using the site.

David is currently serving as a fifth-grade group leader for the Kinetic City program. Kinetic City is a science-based program aligned with Boston Public School standards for grades 3-6 designed to be offered in out-of school time. David along with key staff from member sites will be trained to both run the program and sites as well as on how to train others to lead the program. David will provide important feedback as we pilot this train-the-trainer program being developed jointly with MIT’s Kavli Institute.

• David has developed and is maintaining two databases for managing the information needed for reporting to our funders—Boston Connects, Inc. and the Timothy Smith Fund. These databases track information for 40 sites, hundreds of classes, and thousands of students.

• David completed a series of classes at BNN TV’s Multimedia Center and used these new skills to video the recent Girls Get Connected Conference. It is anticipated that he will turn this into a CD or DVD which can be used for publicity for upcoming conferences. David will also use these skills to create a CD or DVD of success stories of individuCenter activities.

Peter oversaw and directly implemented numerous aspects of the “DigitalBicycle” project, primarily focusing on developing a Drupal-based centralized web community that leverages the power of the distributed network but provides for efficient and usable group collaboration. This included planning the framework and workflow of the site, the setup and administration of the server, development and implementation of the code that powers the system, and preparation for the future expansion of the project as it moves from a beta project to having a working user base. In addition to developing the core web system, Peter worked with outside volunteers to develop the specification for a desktop publishing application called “Sprocket” and managed its development by outside programmers. Furthermore, Peter has spec’d out and begun development on a Linux-based client-side system, “KickStand”, which handles the automatic seeding and downloading of specified material and is designed to be used by participating organizations.

Diana has posted over 1,200 services on 4People.org and has been instrumental in helping the database to grow and advance. She has also designed marketing materials, learned to build computers, trained people on computers, written documents, designed web pages, and done lots of editing. With her help, RECA and 4People are advancing at an amazing pace.

At the six month level Diana has completed a great deal of work towards populating the 4people.org database, which includes youth, seniors and family community services. She has developed a web page for another non-profit (Catholic Family and Child Services), and taught a class on beginning web page design. By posting services to 4People and continually improving the database, Diana is helping our online database become a viable community resource. We currently have over 4,300 services listed in Eastern Washington, largely thanks to her efforts and the efforts of the VISTA that preceded her. Diana has been instrumental in helping to design the front end interface of 4People to be first time user friendly. See 4people.tcfn.org.

• Only a few computers were recycled to low-income families and individuals because that effort was given a low priority until early 2003.

• Adam assisted in the detailed technology assessment of the ARC of the Tri-Cities facility. This involved assessment of a network of about 20 computers and subsequent repair/upgrades. He also helped sort and refurbish about 30 donated computers, making them ready for eventual home placement.

• Adam wrote, edited and revised a grant request to Verizon for a portable teaching computer lab. Verizon responded with $9,000 in funding. The portable lab (4 laptop computers, network, and SVGA projector) is now operational. Additionally, the RECA Foundation is now a Verizon e-partner and has started providing technology classes to non-profit agencies in the area.

• Adam wrote, edited and revised a $20,000 “Progressive Technology” grant application to America Connects Consortium. This project will provide for the development of a standard Linux based computer that can be replicated by other CTCNet members all over the U.S.

• Adam’s major focus was on completely redesigning the CBPIN.ORG web site (http://www.cbpin.org/). Most of the development work was completed. The work needs to be finalized and a new CBPIN server put in place.

Gregory has designed an exciting new curriculum as well as a long-term multimedia plan for the school. Students truly enjoy and benefit from these classes and we look forward to building on this aspect of our program in the future. The students welcome the creative outlets these classes provide as a balance to the MS office applications and the technical computer repair classes we offer. As previously reported, this instruction has been given not only to students but to staff as well.

In the web design class students continue to work on non-profit site projects under Gregory’s advisory oversight. Several students are now independently building and maintaining websites for neighborhood non-profit organizations.

Gregory has almost completed the Spanish mirror of our bi-lingual website and he remains solely responsible for the web presence and staff accounts. He continues to work with staff and students in completing and maintaining CAMINOS’ website. (Please see http://www.caminossf.org)

Jason has been instrumental in coordinating the special events that CMC has sponsored or hosted. He has willingly shouldered the duty of making appearances at public functions as the CMC representative, recently meeting the esteemed Governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm, the morning after her State of the State Address.

Other special events include the nationally recognized educational broadcast of the JASON XIV Project. This weeklong workshop was at held at local gathering place Celebration Cinema where Jason led the CMC’s presence, reaching out to the youth of our community. This high-profile event that was attended by many of Kent County’s eight graders and was broadcast 24/7 on GRTV’s second channel LiveWire.

Most recently, Jason coordinated a visit from Detective Sullivan (Oprah Winfrey, the Today Show, and others have featured his new book and software), who teaches Cyber-Safety to school children and their parents. In addition to his interview during drive-time on WYCE 88.1FM, our sponsorship of his visit has resulted in exposure in the Grand Rapids Family Magazine.

Jason has helped the CMC become the production house for the statewide broadband mapping initiative “LinkMichigan.” He designed the LinkMichigan brochure and has recently taken over the large task of redesigning the “FREE Internet Access” brochure that includes a map, location, and hours for every public Internet Access site in Barry, Ionia, and Kent Counties. When finished, this brochure will be featured as part of a large marketing campaign funded by the state to promote already existing Internet Access sites and Community Technology Centers in the area.

During the year, Michelle developed curricula for using multimedia with youth. This involved developing curriculum for video production, graphic design and web design among other activities. She has documented this work and made it available online on her Website.

In addition, Michelle developed a curriculum and program for a computer club and youth volunteer program. We had over 20 youth participants in the computer club, and we had about 5 youth volunteer in our youth volunteer program. Michelle has documented this curriculum and made it available on her Website.

After her year as a VISTA, Michelle plans to go to grad school to study filmmaking.