Field Reports

Updawg

Carrie Cook — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:27:58 -0600

Scene: Center for Digital Storytelling office, 12 PM

Intern Zoe: I'm really hungry, do you guys have plans for lunch?
Me: No, not really, but I'm ready to make some. Laura?

(Laura, realizing she is being addressed, takes off her headphones)

Intern Zoe: (to Laura) What are your lunch plans?
Laura: Umm, well, they would be to acquire sustenance, ingest said sustenance, and uh...to feel satisfied.

(all laugh)

Intern Zoe: I think some udon sounds good. Are you guys up for that?
Me: Udon? Do I know what that is?
Intern Zoe: It's like a noodle soup, I think you had it at that Japanese restaurant we went to with Joe.
Me: Oh, at first I thought you said updawg, like (sniffs), "Man, it smells like updawg in here"!
Intern Zoe: What's updawg?

(I am shocked that this has worked, but also overjoyed)

Me: (head swivel) NOT MUCH, WHAT'S UP WITH YOU?

(explosion of laughter)

END SCENE

Love the Commute-Aug #1

Edward Gonzales — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:46:42 -0600

This first month at California Community Technology Policy Group (CCTPG), which is a program under Community Partners (CP), was a welcoming experience. The people at CP are very warm and since most are not part of CCTPG, it has been great getting to know more about their work. Not only that, my supervisor has allowed me to go to non-CCTPG meetings so that I can get a good feel for CP. This of course, has helped me adjust to the work setting and to culture of CP.

At CP, we have had many people leave and find new jobs and so it has been very busy in recruiting for the open positions. On this note, my supervisor has been with CCTPG for less than a year and so he as well as I has been striving to make sense as to what direction CCTPG needs to go. He came to CCTPG with the database problem on his plate and so far, it’s been clearing up because he is understanding what needs to be done.

CCTPG is staffed by three people, including myself, and so recently it has been getting a bit busier. One of the things I have been working on is website issues. Our website is based on Drupal and there are some database issues that need to be fixed. I was assigned with the task of looking for a Drupal consultant. We have been looking for a few weeks and we have had some good candidates. However we might change the website platform to Joomla! (I like how they added the exclamation point at the end, you know it makes me wanna shout! Shout!...) since CP’s website is also based on it. Also, we have been working on a huge California Wireless Report with case studies on cities that have applied wireless in their communities (i.e. Anaheim). I have been editing and looking over the report. It should be out soon. I will post as soon as it comes out.

Just to give you a bit of a background on what CCTPG does: our basic push is for policy that will fund CTCs, education tech, and other technology that will contribute to workforce development and close the digital divide. We have state wide coalition, which I am attempting to manage by setting up meetings and clarifying what policies to push for (this will be one of my main jobs this year).

On other issues, my commute from my apartment to work is very enjoyable. I get to sleep in the train, read, talk to interesting people—sometimes I get to meet visitors from other countries. My supervisor is very understanding of my situation and so on the first week he declared “Edward you will not go hungry” and that same week he invited me out to lunch a couple times.

Finally, to stay updated with the newest tech/programs, I have been reading CTC emails and checking out TechCrunch. Hope all is well CTC VISTA peeps!

Freezing in August

Matthew Garcia — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:03:02 -0600

My first month out here in San Francisco at Aspiration has been cold. I'm used to humid, high 80s in August and I come here and get 50s? Craziness. Other than realizing I didn't pack enough long sleeves, my concerns have focused on getting familiar with the programs that I need to use on an everyday basis for Aspiration. As the Community Manager for our website, Social Source Commons, one of the things that both my boss Gunner (real name, Allen Gunn) and I want to do is really step up the community aspect of the website. Right now it's a place to find software tools for nonprofits but it lacks a real person to person interactivity that we really want to include into the overall feel of the site. On top of figuring out how to fernaggle more people into the site, I've also been put in charge of revitalizing the blog. In the near future it will turn toward more bug-finding, member-interviewing, and behind the scenes web work. But for now I'm content working in the broader “idea” level.

Finding a place to live in this city (on an Americoprs stipend no less) is on the same level of lottery-winning. It's ridiculous. Luckily I found a cheap place in a good neighborhood that I could afford with the stipend. Sure, the apartment itself is super sketchy and my roomies may or may not be mentally stable BUT who needs to stay home when they live in a city like San Francisco? Other than providing a warm couch to sleep on while I endlessly searched for housing, my supervisor Gunner has been really awesome. He's helped me out with everything that I could have asked for and always makes sure I have what I need. Because Aspiration is relatively small, Gunner, Mike (the operations manager) and I have become pretty close, both literally and figuratively. Luckily they are both really good at what they do. Which I would say is almost a bad thing because in reality, Aspiration could use about 3 Gunners and 2 Mikes but they both enjoy doing everything so they are constantly busy. One of the worries that I had when I first got here was that I would have to really fight to fit myself into their schedules and while that's been true to a certain extent, I feel like they do a good job of not forgetting that I have a job here that's rather separate but still important. We'll see how it pans out in the months to come.

Gunner is mildly paranoid about Microsoft and government interference, (most likely due to his affiliation with protest groups) so our office is very pro-open source. We use Open Office for all of our document needs and we'll soon be transitioning to Ubuntu as the office operating system. It should be sweet because I've always wanted to get into using Linux but never had the right push to do it. Other than working on open source programs, I use a lot of tech mailing lists (NTEN, TechSoup, Riders) and blogs (Beth's Blog, Zen and the Art of Nonprofit technology) to stay on top of the nonprofit technology sector.

Things are going well for the first month and all I can hope is that they stay good when I start getting more into the bulk of what I'll be doing. Luckily, right now when I'm still learning the ropes, my coworkers have been really helpful and the tool resources that I've come in contact with have saved the day. Hope everything is going well for everyone!

Support for Professional Online Publishing

Jack Waugh — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:12:50 -0600

I am working on a software system that can be deployed in web servers for online publications.

The system supports the publication of editions on given dates. An edition contains articles, which can have been written by various authors. Editors can plan the edition up until its publication date and upload the articles in their final versions. From the publication date on, the public can read the edition.

When the public first visits the web site, they see the current edition. If they choose, they can navigate to an index of past editions.

Readers can also see an index of the topics covered. Editors can highlight for the readers, those articles that they think especially worthy with respect to a given topic.

To justify public support via CTC VISTA for this development, let me point out its usefulness for publications covering the problems and questions surrounding the making and carrying out of public policy. Owing to online publishing's lower cost relative to the print media and television, and its better support for reader participation, it can improve the level and quality of democratic participation.

What's your Chinese name?

Katrina Kennett — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:56:57 -0600

Ni hao!

Hi everyone! I am very excited to be writing this field report – I have gotten so much done over the last month I’ve forgotten to write! Things here at the Kwong Kow Chinese School were rolling well before I arrived, and so I hit the ground right in the middle of the all-day summer program. One of my biggest and most immediate projects is getting the school licensed as an after school program (it’s been around for 93 years but isn’t officially licensed with the state). To begin, we planned, staged, and reflected on our first fire drill, evacuating over 300 people in 3 minutes and 30 seconds. In addition, I have been working hard to organize and create the extensive paperwork needed, and further on getting it translated. I have found that learning Chinese will be very helpful to this position, and thus have been sitting in on Kindergarten class as well as studying on my own (I have been spoken to in Chinese twice on the T!). The kids are awesome and when they walk by my office door every morning and afternoon for breakfast and lunch they greet me in Chinese. It’s so hard it feels like learning two languages, but I will be able to do so much with it once I’m a bit better.

Next week, I hope to attend a week-long conference at the Boston Children's Museum, mornings spent improving Mandarin pronunciation (but taught in Mandarin too! eek!), and afternoons on thematic unit planning. I’ll be attending it with teachers from the school and will use this shared experience to help shape the curriculum I’m helping design for the school. The first draft I drew up was given high remarks by the head of Foreign Languages of the Boston Public Schools, so I brushed my shoulders off after that. Don’t worry though, it hasn’t gone to my head, despite any great ideas I may have, I still can’t explain them to the teachers, so I’m consistently humbled (and motivated) by this language barrier.

Overall, I’ve found sitting in front of the computer for about 9 to 5 a bit tedious, as I am used to running classrooms or at least sitting in them for more than the last few years (at least I have Kindergarten on M,T,R!). However, I’m becoming a masterful table-manipulator in Word, pin-yin typist in NJStar, and curriculum/resource/everything researcher on Google. I loved reading through these first field reports and look forward to hearing how you’re all doing next month!

Zai Jian!

Katrina

Wordplay 8.17.08

Abigail Wendle — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:08:07 -0600

http://www.main.nc.us/aew/WordPlay-08172008.mp3

or go to:

http://aew.main.nc.us/

and listen to it on my (makeshift/practice) blog.

peace,

abby

Yesterday had to be the coolest day on the job yet. And it was a Sunday!

Abigail Wendle — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:52:22 -0600

As part of my job as the Community Journalism Coordinator for MAIN, I will be reporting, writing and producing a local news show on our radio station, wpvm 103.5 fm. In order to prepare for this, I have been sitting in on other people’s radio programs to get a feel for the studio and to observe how to use the equipment. Last week I was invited to sit in by the hosts of a program called Wordplay, a show devoted to poetry and creative writing. I have been reading and writing poetry for as long as I can remember so, as you can imagine, I was very excited about this opportunity!
As luck would have it, one of the hosts was out for the day because of a family reunion, so the other host emailed me on Friday asking me to bring a poem along that I enjoy as well as some music I’ve been listening to. I spent Saturday hunting through the poetry books on my bookshelf trying to figure out who to read. I settled on an old love of mine, Pablo Neruda, and chose to read “Fable of the mermaid and the drunks” and “Ode to the sea.” I also picked some Paul Simon and brought a cd of some friends of mine to play.
It went really well. I was extremely nervous about being live on air, but once I got into the poetry and grew more comfortable with the headset and the mic, I really didn’t want to leave the studio!

In other preparations for our news program, I have been cultivating a small group of Ashevillians who will be community journalists along my side. I have been attending community meetings including a CopWatch meeting and a Coalition of Asheville Neighborhoods meeting, where I have given brief presentations on MAIN’s community journalism project.
I have attended various protests and vigils in downtown Asheville to test out my recording equipment and practice audio editing. I have also taught some of the core group of reporters how to use this equipment and held mock interviewing sessions followed by learning how to edit.
I have also signed up MAIN to be involved in Project Connect, an event held in Asheville to unite the homeless community with resources in the city. I will be there with my recorder conducting interviews to be compiled on MAIN’s web page, to be aired at some point in some form or fashion as part of the news program, as well as to be used by the Homeless Initiative of Asheville as documentation of the plight of the homeless in our city. We are hoping this material can be used to advocate for the homeless at City Council meetings and the like when politicians make decisions on things like housing and development in Asheville.
I have also been sitting down with one of the web development staffers to learn more about how to redevelop MAIN’s web page so as to incorporate the community journalism project. This has been an interesting process because I really have not had any of this kind of technical training or experience, but Chris has been extremely patient and supportive!
I am in the process of researching organizations that support local independent media or help to explain the phenomenon on community journalism. I have found these sites:
J-Lab : www.j-lab.org
J-Learning : www.j-learning.org
Knight Citizen News Network : www.kcnn.org
Center for Citizen Media: www.citmedia.org
Center for Future Civic Media (C4FCM) at MIT: http://civic.mit.edu
Citizen Media: Fad or the Future of News? http://www.kcnn.org/research/citizen_media_report/

other cool sites: www.wordpress.org and www.archive.org

In my down time, I have been reading a lot of local news and listening to local news programs on the radio. I have also done research on genetically modified foods, development and the housing crisis, and the ecological crisis in Patagonia (kind of off topic, but every thing's connected in the end). Part of this job has to do with rethinking how we frame stories and trying to create new ways of framing stories that help create dialogs in the community about important issues like (over) development, homelessness, the abuse of power (cop watch), but also to help empower people with information and create an awareness in Asheville that will allow people to create a better (and talk about what that means) city.

On an odd note, I found myself with a pen and a beer in my hand at a friends house, ripping apart a local magazine advertising all of the beautiful mountain top, golf course, huge housing developments surrounding Asheville. It's really cool to have a job that encourages me to read the fine print and tell other people about it!

Hope everyone else is getting along well. Finances aside, I'm pretty happy at this point.

p.s. I'm figuring out how to get the WordPlay media in here. It will probably be in an above post.

Abby

The New Job...

Mira Allen — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 11:01:25 -0600

My how time flies! I just realized it’s been a month here at the 119 Gallery. I’ve spent it settling in and getting to know a whole new community. While it’s safe to say I miss my island home, it’s nice to be on a bigger piece of land. Lowell is a great town. There are a ton of artists here, a ton of non- profits, and a ton of interesting people.

Last Thursday a feature writer from Artscope Magazine came to interview Mary Ann about the ‘Mask’ show happening in the first part of September (you can check it out at http://119gallery.org/news/mask_nr.pdf). We’re all pretty excited about it because Artscope is one of the top two art mags in the area so it will be great exposure. We realized that if we can get into Artscope, we should be setting our sights higher. I’ve started scouting around for bigger regional and national art press contacts, so if any of you out there in cyberlandia have any suggestions, send ‘em! I’d be totally stoked!

On Friday my boss Mary Ann and I ventured into Cambridge to check out the Papercut Zine Library. The gallery is hosting a zine exhibition in October (I'm attaching the press release) and we’re looking for more local artists to bring on board. It was pretty impressive to see how many quality, unique zines are produced right here in New England. I browsed publications on subjects ranging from The Worst Poetry In The World (that was the actual title) to transgender comics to anarchist manifestos. We left feeling elated at all the possibilities for the show.

I have been working with a great marketing consultant named Deby Baker from Jericho on the marketing plan for the last three weeks and she’s been a huge help. We decided it's time to give the member database a huge overhaul (it’s largely unfiltered and needs to be organized into member interests and demographics so that we can reach our constituents in a more targeted fashion) so I’ve been playing around with Salesforce in preparation of migrating our info over by the end of the month.

Before we move all of our info, Deby and I are working on putting a survey monkey together to get a better grasp on our contacts’ interests so that we can make sure to minimize superfluous emails. We plan to ask people about their preferred form of contact (email, text, facebook etc. etc.) and interests. This is because we are way more than an art gallery in terms of events and we want to make sure the right people know about the right events. In any given month we have everything from dance performances, art receptions, heavy metal bands, experimental noise or sushi battles.

I’m pretty stoked on the new job.

I Have a Degree in Liberal Arts; Do You Want Fries With That?

Loveta Wynn — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:11:52 -0600

So I'm down here in Miami, talk about hot or should I say blazen every day has been 90 degrees or hotter I 'm not sure why I even look at the weather channel. Yesterday was my one month anniversary. I have had the pleasure of working between two organizations The Collins Center for Public Policy and YeTech (Youth Expressions Technology Center) I am a split Vista the other chick didn't show so I'm doing work for two people. At first I thought it was the best of both worlds but now I'm praying many times a day to keep my sanity. I've come to realize that some people here have unrealistic expectations of how to increase capcity and get grant money.

The Collins Center is my main source of resources they have quite cubicals, air conditioning, phone, internet, and printers. YeTech has non of thee above but they need mad resources and grant money. Question: How am I going to do research and build capcity for them with out a phone or internet?

After doing a community needs assesment I was ready to work I figure that I would use The Collins Center to do that since they all work together. Jokes on Loveta...that is sort of hard to do. So I have a co-worker Post Vista who got hired on after her year of service to show me the ropes..

What people do with a little bit of power? So its like I am the servant I do stuff that has been past due for four 4 months. Might I add that I have only been a Vista for 1 month and a day..So my first mind is whose problem is that. But I am not that assertive or disrespectful I have a little bit of tact.

I love to help but being pressured to meet deadlines that are past due isn't my style of work. Mean while I (we, me and her) travel to many other community organizations daily doing communtiy needs assesments and tech atlas. Oh yeah using my car and I get 10 dollars for the tank if I show frustration.(Ooooh)
Now if I didn't drive my "HOOT RIDE" 1200 miles then how would we get to the community organizations? Mean while you have the Supervisor whom I've only seen twice telling me that I should sell my car to cut down on expenses. That sounds realistic to someone who comes from a middle class background who has lots of support. But not for me you know one of those "Poor People" we wanna help to overcome poverty and besides I won't be able to effectively do my job in the community.

So I do alot of traveling though out Miami that includes all parts and all under served communities. I sort of like though because by me not being from here I am being exposed to alot all the different kinds of people different languages all of the free lunch dates at expensive resturants (these people are sort of like CTC they will feed you and only the best foods)

Oooh I almost forgot yesterday I met with one of the biggest local funders of the community can you believe that? It's like being behind the scene of non-profts and guess what they loved me. They liked what I said and they are looking forward to working with me and showing the rope. As a matter a fact we have a meeting Tuesday at 1:00pm Can you believe that? I knew it was a good meeting because at the end the wealthy funder the woman gave me a hug and one of those smooches kisses on my cheek. They looked really cool and fun to look at the guy reminds me of Ben with the stylish button, jeans, and chucks. The woman was professional but sort of rock starish kinda like Nickey. So I blended right in with them the Executive director I attended the meeting with was nervous and shaky. I on the other hand was calm and cool. I didn't even sweat.

I started classes at Miami Dade College for grant writting and I am learning alot. Also while visting a non-profit we were asked if we were Techies post-vista said no we are not. I said what do you need help with they lady's printer wouldn't print so all I did was add the printer for her I showed her what to do it was so simple. It was then I realized that digital literacy is a very important factor in reducing the digital divide.

So far this has been one experience thats priceless I'm looking forward to the next 11 months of kaos.

I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.

Bowl-a-Rama

Amy Simon — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:21:04 -0600

Down here in Austin, TX it’s been hot and crazy. When I arrived at the Mobile Film School, I learned that we were planning our first annual fundraiser for Aug. 9th. “The Mobile Film School Bowl-a-Rama,” was held in a biergarten and historic six-lane bowling alley. Companies put teams together to bowl in the historic alley where free drinks and food were readily available, while general admission played Wii Bowling, listened to live music, and munched on BBQ. The two full-time employees of the Mobile Film School came up with this idea a mere 7-weeks before the event was set to take place. So, we were on the fast track to a really big event with a really small staff.
In order to do my part in helping get this event off the ground, I needed to jump in quickly. I began where their previous graphic designer left off. Ideally, I would have started a month earlier and conceived all of the ideas myself, but I had to start with the logo and flyer he designed and make the rest of the event a seamless match. After countless emails to our sponsors begging for EPS files, I was on my way to designing my first large signs. Begging for files turned out to be the easiest part, as I was about to get my first lesson in large corporation communication.
One large printing company, that shall remain nameless was horrible to deal with. Although the event has already passed, I’m still receiving emails about filling out the proper legal documents to use their logo. (Not to mention the only reason we used their logo was because they gave us a discount, so we in turn wanted to promote them) This nameless company also printed large orders late, wrong, and lost files.
However, my time here has been fun. It was great to get so involved in an event and get to see the results so quickly. ‘Till next time…