website maintenance
Wireless Network Deployment
Organization:
Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network (CUWiN) VISTA Name:
Matthew Isaacs
Program Start:
9/2006
Project Description:
CUWiN develops and deploys wireless networks across the US, focusing on areas that are either priced out of the broadband Internet market or areas that telecomm incumbents won’t connect. The VISTA will work closely with the CUWin core staff to facilitate the growth of the CUWiN project.
- Identify ideal node locations. Install and troubleshoot network nodes in Champaign and Urbana
- Provide technical support to local residents and partners to maintain the local wireless network
- Participate in solving problems within CUWiN networks nationwide.
- Help update and maintain cuwireless.net
- Answer questions on the support list
Project Outcome:
Matt Isaacs has been a remarkably productive member of the CUWiN team. His development work has included numerous upgrades to CUWiNware (e.g. porting uDHCP, adding nightly builds and an automatic upgrade script, as well as a firmware builder web-application). He has been actively involved in system administration of the Tribal Digital Village network and has worked closely win CUWiN’s Chief Engineer
Digital Storytelling Web Development
Organization:
Center for Digital Storytelling VISTA Name:
Laura Hadden
Program Start:
1/2008
Program End:
7/2009
Project Description:
Our AmeriCorps*VISTA member will assist with CDS ongoing work in Community Digital Storytelling, both developing capacity for our community-based programs in the Bay Area, and working to assist the development of the Stories for Change Website and networking work among local,national and international organizations involved in Digital Storytelling with grassroots communities.
Theier tasks will include:
a)providing organizing and outreach capacities for workshops organized by CDS in collaboration with local partners including Youth Uprising, Art in Action, Girls Inc., and Marin Youth Center,
b)Assisting with a youth-focussed Digital Storytelling video festival at Oakland’s Parkway theater and San Francisco’s Zeum,
c) Assisting with editorial work, continued outreach, and helping to design an online training tool to help organizations use the Stories for Change Portal, and
d)assisting with the organizing and follow-up for the Community Digital Storytelling Gathering in Tuscon, Arizona, Spring of 2007.
Project Outcome:
Laura Haddon Manages storiesforchange.net, a website for uploading digital stories and disseminating resources to facilitators of digital storytelling. She monitors the website, responds to user questions, helps resolve technical issues, facilitates content development and has implemented an initiative to broaden the steering committee and create an advisory board for the site as part of a strategic initiative to increase website utilization.
She has also worked on Center for Digital Storytelling’s (CDS) Silence Speaks website (www.silencespeaks.org) that focuses on disseminating digital stories of individuals that have survived violence and was in charge of updating content on the International Day for Telling Life Stories site (www.ausculti.org). This was an international initiative for promoting the importance of life stories, especially stories of marginalized voices, for developing solidarity and understanding in communities and across borders.
She has also participated in various CDS media and outreach campaigns, and will be involved in strengthening our internal digital story archiving system in order to better serve our workshop participants.
Impact Quote:
“They are both invaluable in terms of training staff in how to use the technology and being able to offer ideas about the potential of the technology for improving our services. In particular, Laura has been able to leverage past experience in the non-profit sector. She came to us with media and outreach experience and is comfortable framing the work of CDS in terms that other professionals in the sector can easily understand. Her leadership skills have allowed her to go to conferences and speak confidently about how digital storytelling is effective as a tool for personal healing and transformation, as well as effectively communicating new information to a variety of stakeholders, constituencies and key decision makers.”
- Andrea Spagat, supervisor
CTC Support and Assistance
Organization:
netCorps VISTA Name:
Aliya Abbasi
Program Start:
9/2005
Program End:
9/2007
Project Description:
The VISTA will provide assistance in the form of technology assessments, planning and budgeting, computer repair and refurbishing, securing new and used technology hardware and software through donation and/or purchase, assessing the computer skills of each organization’s staff and providing training to fill in the knowledge gaps, establishing computer networks, both wired and wireless, and enabling the sharing of network resources such as printers and files, setting up email accounts for staff, writing best practice computer/network/security policies and procedures for each organization, identifying funding sources for each nonprofit that will enable them to afford their top-priority technology needs, creating and updating websites, and creating new databases and improving on the data collection and reporting of existing ones. The non-technical services that the VISTAs will provide will be equally important: helping techno-phobes and technology novices ease into the daily use of technology by using a non-intimidating vocabulary and non-judgmental computer-side manner.
Project Outcome:
To date, this project has accomplished much. Aliya has worked with a variety of nonprofit organizations in Greensboro and the surrounding community, offering direct assistance with technology training, implementation and support. She has coordinated a number of trainings and outreach events, exposing a significant population of nonprofits to this project. She has made connections with other community organizations and foundations, helping to lay the groundwork for making this project a more permanent part of the nonprofit landscape in Greensboro.
Impact Quote:
Our VISTA experience, a very positive one to date, is helping our organization in a number of ways. Aliya’s placement in Greensboro is allowing us to work with organizations we would not be able to serve otherwise. She is exploring and implementing new strategies that others in our organization can now also use in their own work. She is helping to identify other community resources to take the project beyond its original scope, making sure that the organizations served will continue to benefit long after this project ends.
CTC Program Building, Outreach, and Support
Organization:
Homeless Prenatal Program VISTA Name:
Ellen-Rae Cachola
Program Start:
9/2005
Program End:
9/2006
Project Description:
The Americorps VISTA volunteer would expand our program by developing and piloting a technology class for our English speaking clients, the majority of whom are African-American. The goal is to motivate women from the HPP’s English speaking support groups to avail themselves of the resources in the computer lab. To reinforce and extend the class experience, the Americorps*VISTA will create a weblog specifically for these clients where they can share their interests, issues, questions and accomplishments. The weblog community will serve as an additional support group to these parents as they seek ways out of poverty. Through participation in classes, one-on-one instruction, and the weblog, these clients will upgrade their job and communication skills.
Our 2004-2005 VISTA developed a community web-site for homeless families and families in jeopardy of becoming homeless. This website is fast becoming a vital resource to such families and to case managers throughout the region for instant access to resource information. This years Americorps VISTA would expand the use of the website by (1) developing a workshop to introduce the website to new users, both clients and case managers, (2) develop promotional materials such as email announcements and posters, and (3) work with other volunteers to develop a separate homepage, navigation system and additional features just for case managers.
The Americorps*VISTA volunteer would expand our program by developing and coordinating a staff development program in the CTC. Since one of the best practices for strengthening a program such as ours is to invest in our case workers, we are planning to use the CTC for more staff development than in previous years. We will develop an on-line assessment tool to establish a baseline of the technology skills of all staff members. Using this data we will develop and coordinate skill set workshops tailored to staff needs that will be held in the CTC.
To strengthen and expand our job readiness program the Americorps*VISTA will be responsible for developing 5 In order to do this the VISTA will identify, contact and visit appropriate educational and vocational training programs. In addition the VISTA will develop referral protocols between these programs and HPP Case Managers.
The Americorps*VISTA volunteer will also coordinate our “Computers in the Home” Project. This project takes our capacity to give technological skills and experience to the underserved population beyond the walls of our CTC. Funded to provide 40 families with refurbished computers and in-home tech support through ReliaTech, a social venture project of StreetTech of Richmond, CA., participants receive training and, upon completion of the training, computers and periodic in-home tech support. In addition, clients who have received computers for their homes continue to receive training at the HPP’s CTC.
Finally, the Americorps*VISTA will collaborate with our partners in the Community Connectivity Collaboration (One Economy, StreetTech, ReliaTech, Canal Alliance, TechFutures), a group formed to define needs of local CTC’s and find ways to seek funding. The VISTA will attend CCC meetings and other partnering events that may develop.
Project Outcome:
I know that I speak for the entire staff of the Homeless Prenatal Program (HPP) when I say that Ellen-Rae Cachola has been a boon to our organization. As her supervisor in the Community Technology Center it has been my pleasure to work very closely with her for the last 12 months. She is highly committed, intelligent, and industrious. She is extremely productive and always looking for new projects. She is also very personable, able to interact warmly with the diverse groups of people who work in our program and who come here for services. We are very lucky that she has stayed on at HPP as a part-time employee while she attends graduate school in San Francisco.
Ellen’s duties at HPP have included maintaining two websites, teaching technology in English and in Spanish, maintaining and developing the client database on Microsft Access, as well as trouble shooting technology problems in the lab and at staff workstations. She has worked with the local cable television access station to create PSAs and informational programming. In addition she has created an online generator for our paper forms which allows staff to print forms on an as needed basis from their own computers. She has also designed and published agency literature and signage in english and in spanish.
Outreach
Organization:
Community Technology Organizing Consortium (CTOC) VISTA Name:
Sheveeta Shepard
Program Start:
9/2005
Program End:
9/2006
Project Description:
Sheveeta will further our mission by assisting with our workshops for non-profits, managing and updating our database of members, and updating our website and listserve.
Project Outcome:
The work our VISTA is doing with our database and outreach is a major function to CTOC’s mission. As a consortium, keeping in contact with our members, keeping them updated to local policies, and positioning them to network together and exchange ideas and practices is reliant on constant and continuous communication with the membership base.
Our project has completed 5 workshops which covered the topics of IT fundraising for non-profits, education and advocacy surrounding local and state cable franchise issues in Los Angeles, disability and access issues, social enterprising for non-profits, and digital storytelling. In each of our workshops, our VISTA was implemental in outreaching to attendees and presenters, updating our website information and list-serv, and follow-up on evaluations of attendees.
CTOC has made major changes to the website, moving it to a new server and expanding the previous capabilities to include membership capabilities, a discussion forum, and more resources for local organizations to aid CTOC in its networking and outreach capacities. The VISTA has helped to keep the site updated with upcoming CTOC workshops and events, as well as making the site more user friendly by changing the layout of the page and adding visual pictures. Our VISTA has also aided in managing the list-serv and adding new members.
CTOC held a local logo contest for youth. This project was suggested and created by our VISTA who wrote a proposal, created the contest criteria, and outreached to local organization who worked with youth in digital media.
CTC Implementation and Support
Organization:
Durham Literacy Center Inc. VISTA Name:
Brian Russell
Program Start:
9/2004
Program End:
9/2005
Project Description:
This has been an exciting year for our CTCNet VISTA here at the Durham Literacy Center. Previous VISTAs have laid the framework for the progress that Brian Russell, this year’s VISTA, has made to date. Overall, the VISTAs role is to (1) serve as technology integration specialist and oversee learning offerings, including: PC Basics, ABE, GED, ESOL, Family Literacy and Career Passport; (2) provide web page maintenance and enhancement; and (3) develop technology volunteer plan.
Project Outcome:
The VISTA was responsible for maintaining and upgrading all of our agency’s computers and labs in addition to assisting in making agency-wide decisions as they pertained to technology. By recruiting and supporting technical volunteers, Brian effectively juggled all of his duties. Our VISTA provided excellent leadership as the co-chair of our ad-hoc tech committee and guided us through many important decisions regarding infrastructure, training and outreach. Please see the 04-05 VISTA’s web-blog for details of some of the projects he worked on: http://www.cpcs.umb.edu/vista/blog/brian_russell/. However, only a few of his accomplishments are listed on his web log - the rest are highlighted below.
The www.durhamliteracy.org Website
The VISTA provided superb research, advice, set-up, development and, ultimately, training to the full staff team on our new website. After research, the VISTA recommended that we use a program called Civicspace.org, freeware with customizable authoring privileges and a straightforward authoring interface. The new website has already attracted funders, individual donations, a multitude of volunteers and strengthened interaction with all of our stakeholders. Each staff member has a blog and the ability to update content. After the VISTA trained the staff on the basics of the webpage and setting policy, many staff have mastered the basics and have set up more features such as discussion forums for volunteers, calendaring and soon-to-be online forms.
IBM Grant Management
As a beta testing site during this past fiscal year, Durham Literacy Center (DLC) English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) introduced the “Reading Recognition” program to approximately 130 students. While there are still some rough spots in the early version of the application, many students indicated that “Reading Recognition” helped them improve their pronunciation, listening and reading.
The VISTA coordinated volunteers to install 3 new computer labs at DLC and its partner-sites. Work included installing software and setup on servers and clients, hardware setup. The VISTA was instrumental in training staff, partners and end users on using the new computer lab and software.
Agency Policy Development
The VISTA effectively researched and gained buy-in by staff and management on best practices for creating policies and procedures appropriate for a non-profit like the Durham Literacy Center. The VISTA identified sample policies from other non-profits and counseled the management on policies to adopt. These policies include, but are not limited to the following:
• Providing donations to partner agencies
• Laptop loans
• Use of the computer lab
• Website content and authoring
The Teen Career Academy
The Teen Career Academy and the Duke Research Service Learning Project – The VISTA created a mobile lab using donated laptops. The VISTA trained volunteers and teen students on how to use the GED interactive software program and others and tutored teens in the program.
Adult Literacy
The VISTA participated in our volunteer training on the intensive reading instruction method called the Wilson Method. From that point, Brian assisted in tutoring some adult literacy students and then led an in-service tutor training activity on the use of technology and in the initial pre-service tutor training session.
Impact Quote:
The Durham Literacy Center is very appreciative of the assistance and contributions that the Digital Arts Service Corps has provided to our partners and us. Last year, 2004-2005, we were lucky to have a VISTA as knowledgeable and experienced as Brian Russell. The VISTA took our agency to a new level – our technical infrastructure, integrity and our presentation to the outside world via the webpage are all at the strongest point they have been in years.