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Back issues of Brainstorm including techtips and linkage are now available in our online archives. Previous TechTips and Linkage are also available. Click to revisit all previous issues.
"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 |
Computer learning center coordinator Tsegaye Gebru
works with students in the new center.
rainier vista neighborhood
house technology lab opens
On August 11, Neighborhood House celebrated the grand opening of its newly-constructed Rainier Vista Service Center in the heart of Seattle Housing Authority's (SHA) Rainier Vista HOPE VI redevelopment area north of Alaska Street in the Rainier Valley. The new facility houses a computer learning lab, two Head Start classrooms and a large multi-purpose room, along with employment and social service staff. The International District Housing Alliance (IDHA) and Horn of Africa Services (HOAS) also provide assistance at this one stop service center. The SHA Rainier Vista Community Builder, Rainier Vista Job Connection and the Rainier Vista Leadership Team are also located at the new center.
Funded in part by the 2005 Technology Matching Fund, the technology lab offers 15 new computers for residents’ use. The increased capacity in the lab provides a boost for residents of all ages. “Participants will be able to do things like complete their homework, increase their employability, learn about community resources, take advantage of online information gathering, better their typing skills, and on a larger scale, familiarize themselves with technology they can access daily,” according to Amy Kickliter. The lab offers open lab time, ESL tutoring, Microsoft Office skills training, computer basics for seniors, job search assistance, resume writing workshops and more. Contact Amy for more information.
katrina aid and community tech
The community technology field has stepped up to help with hurricane Katrina disaster relief. It is also teaching us more about the importance of preparedness and the role of our technology learning centers and community of volunteers and staff.
Houston’s Tech for All has become the lead partner with the City of Houston, setting up a computer lab at the Astrodome. Computer terminals and Internet access has become critical for coordination and for families to get online and email relatives, search for missing family members, and get news. Will Reed from Tech for All pointed out that the community tech centers will be important for long-term job and housing resettlement. Local and national volunteers have acted quickly to their requests for supplies and assistance. Here in Washington, the Red Cross sent out a request in preparation for housing evacuees. Local organizations with technology labs and expertise responded quickly, though the number of evacuees coming here is a uncertain.
This experience raises the question of what role the centers play in our region’s disaster planning. At a minimum, the computer labs should promote links to safety and preparedness information. Look at where the nearest shelters are and make sure the shelter operators, Red Cross and regional emergency planners are aware of your services. Make sure you have an earthquake and emergency kit at your site and an emergency communications plan. Have your employees, volunteers and participants taken care of this at home? For a checklist and other info preparedness see the City’s Project Impact. They also have links to kid sites for a variety of ages here.
Peter Gruenbaum and Yesler teens hold cards that trigger their 3D objects and music creations.
are you experienced? yesler is
Teens from the Yesler Terrace computer lab had an opportunity to showcase their work in an interactive demonstration at the Experience Music Project Museum (EMP) on August 23rd. The students created a live music-mixing technology that enabled a camera to view a picture of a tambourine, guitar, drums or voices and then display a 3D model of the image on video with an accompanying musical track. The fun began when all the pictures were viewed at the same time, the instruments getting louder and quieter as they moved closer and farther from the camera.
To create their project, the Yesler students used Augmented Reality software, which was developed by the University of Washington’s Human Interface Lab. The teens attended two eight-week sessions to learn about the technology and create the interactive pieces. “Our goal was to get kids excited about technology, to experience new technologies and to create something new and interesting” according to Peter Gruenbaum. The creative process was energizing. “Once the kids got involved, they came up with ways to use the software that never even occurred to us” said Gruenbam.
The program also engaged the students. “It was fun making something real that we could actually use,” said Saib Mohah. They weren’t just learning ho hum computer skills, but using cutting edge technologies. “We learned the same kind of stuff they do to make Shrek,” said Mohan.
Gruenbaum will be teaching more Augmented Reality classes later in the year at the Delridge Community Center and the Neighborhood House computer lab in Rainier Vista . For more information contact Peter Gruenbaum.
seattle channel seeks community stories
Seattle is a city of many people and many stories; stories that can communicate our differences but also bring to light our similarities. Community Stories is a new television series committed to presenting the different stories of our city's diversity, a compelling and proactive reflection of the people of Seattle.
Produced by the Seattle Channel, Community Stories is also seeking input and story ideas. The series is inviting individuals, community leaders, community associations, neighborhood centers, ethnic groups, new Americans, seniors and young people to submit stories about their community and themselves.
Community Stories will premiere Sunday, September 25, at 7 p.m. on the Seattle Channel, cable channel 21. Please visit their web site, or email Senior Producer Shannon Gee a for more information and to submit story ideas.
This fall, the Seattle Public Schools has begun implemention of
The Source, an exciting new web-based communications portal that will provide
parents, students, teachers and school administrators with vital information to support student achievement and parent involvement in
school. The Source is funded by the Buildings, Technology and Academics Levy approved by voters in 2004. For parents and guardians,
the Source provides easy access to information that will help them
collaborate with teachers and school staff to help students succeed. This includes same-day information on attendance, lists of homework assignments, due dates and support materials, grades, scores on standardized tests and more. The same is true for community workers who provide support for at-risk students. J.D. Leza, at South Park Community Center's Technology Learning Lab, works with some of the lowest performing students in the district. Helping students and parents access information on student homework assignments, attendance and overall academic progress for participants in
his after school programs will help him coordinate
technology learning in the lab with academic achievement in schools.
Technology center staff will be able to more quickly identify when students
fall behind, help failing students earn school
credit in the lab, and help families increase WASL test scores through test
preparation workshops. "The increased communication and coordination
between students, parents, teachers, principals and our lab staff will better serve the youths overall," said J.D. Efforts are being made to make The Source available to everyone. It will be translated into Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese and Somali. In addition, the School district will provide trainings to assist students and families who do not have a computer to access the system at community technology centers and libraries. For more information on
The Source, contact Ramona Pierson or or
Mike Donlin at the Seattle School District.
The Source will be launched in the next month for middle and high school students, then rolled out for elementary schools.
may the source be with you
d.o.l.l.a.r.s
City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods
Small and Simple Fund
Deadline: October 3
Funds a broad array of neighborhood-initiated improvement, organizing or planning projects.
Race and Social Justice Fund
Deadline: October 28
Funds Seattle community groups that demonstrate grassroots efforts to improve race and social justice in the city. The fund is intentionally broad to allow for creative, community driven projects. Projects using information technology to work with community can definitely meet Race and Social Justice program goals. Feel free to contact our community technology staff at 684-0600 or communitytechnology@seattle.gov for help with your ideas.
CTCNet Youth Visions for Stronger Neighborhoods
Deadline: September 30
Provide funds that give youth and community technology programs the opportunity to use multimedia tools and training to engage in community decision-making to strengthen their neighborhoods.
Deadline:October 18th
Federal funds to improve results for children with disabilities, support educational media services activities to children with disabilities and provide support for captioning and video description.
l.i.n.k.a.g.e
volunteering web sites
Volunteermatch
VolunteerMatch is a leader in the nonprofit world dedicated to helping everyone find a great place to volunteer.
United Way of King County
Search their volunteer listings or complete a personal profile that will notify you when opportunities matching your interests are available.
Idealist
Individual and even family volunteer opportunities, home and abroad.
Seattle Works
Their programs range from team-based volunteering to board training to community dialogue.
t.e.c.h.t.i.p
the future of floppies
Are Floppy Drives over? The Floppy Disk Drive (FDD) was the primary means for transferring data to a computer for about 20 years until the CD-Rom came about. A floppy drive reads and writes data to a piece of metal coated plastic similar to an audio cassette tape.
The floppy disk drive was invented at IBM by Alan Shugart in 1967. The first floppy drives used an 8-inch disk, later called a "diskette" as it got smaller, which evolved into the 5.25-inch disk that was used on the first IBM Personal Computer in August, 1981. The 5.25-inch disk held 360 kilobytes. Today's floppies have a 1.44 megabyte capacity. The 5.25-inch disks were dubbed "floppy" because the diskette packaging was a very flexible plastic envelope, unlike the rigid case used to hold today's 3.5-inch diskettes.
Today, systems are being sold without the floppy drive. The use of compact disks and lately, DVDs (digital video disks) have become common. Most users are switching their data sources over to Solid-State Storage systems like Memory cards and Thumb Drives, which allow for easy transport and file saving and deleting. This media has a storage capacity of 2MB to 2GBs. Memory cards can be small. The thumb drives plug directly into USB ports and the memory cards can be used in a variety of devices and plug into an internally mounted storage reader or external reader that plugs into the USB port. CDs are still cheaper than thumb drives for distribution or long-term archiving. That may not be true tomorrow. So long floppies; you’ve been great!
Currently, to make sure your data is truly transferable to any newer computer, it's better to use one of the Solid-State Storage devices. Floppies may be found in systems for another two or three years, but their usefulness is in question.
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To subscribe or unsubscribe to Brainstorm, please email us, and we'll add you to our email notification list, or subtract you per your request. If you have ideas for future stories, please let us know and we'll try to accommodate them. We encourage you to visit the City of Seattle's Community Tech pages, seattle.gov/tech.