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New Youth Commons what's hottechnet seeks
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Spring Cleaning? E-Cycle It! Have old electronics that need a new home? Dust piling up on the old computer after you upgraded? In a joint effort to raise money and awareness of proper recycling of electronics, the RecTech Coalition and InterConnection will be hosting an E-Cycle event at Rainier CTC. Recyling fees range from $5 for your CPU to $25 for your TV. For more information and fees see the event website. Donations of working computers and monitors are tax deductible.
Where: Rainier Community Center, 4600 38th Avenue S.
Date: Saturday, May 19th, 2007
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Get directions here.
Proceeds from the event will assist the RecTech Coalition and InterConnection in their efforts to steward the environment and provide computers and technology training to underserved communities in Seattle and throughout the world.
newcomers fair
Discover Seattle:
Newcomers Fair
Date: Saturday June 9; 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Where: Seattle Center Fisher Pavilion
Admission: Free
Discover what makes Seattle a great place to live, work and play. This is your opportunity for Seattle residents, whether they've been here for two weeks or two years, to get valuable information about the broad range of services, programs and resources available in the City of Seattle. There will be demos, discussions and workshops, hands-on children's activities, celebrity appearances, live entertainment and so much more.
The City of Seattle Community Technology Program will have a table. We're happy to display brochures from Seattle community technology centers. Contact us if you're interested.
browser stats
What browsers do people use when they come to Seattle.gov? Seventy-percent use Internet Explorer, 15% use Firefox, and 15% percent use Netscape, Opera and other unknown browsers.
This represents a large leap towards Firefox. Internet Explorer has run at 95% for a long time.
Browser stats for the month of April from The Counter, a web site for webmasters, indicate the following: MSIE 6.x took 56%; MSIE 7.x had 14%; Netscape users were 12%; FireFox had 12%; Safari had 3%; MSIE 5.x had 1%; Opera had 1%; and another 1% was unknown.
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q&a |
free internet
Free cable broadband Internet service is available for organizations providing technology training to community members. The free service is offered in the Comcast service delivery area and within the Seattle city limits, based on the City’s cable franchise agreement. For more information and to download a short form to make application, go to our tech web. If you have questions, email Derrick Hall or call (206) 233-5061.
search & earn
Many web sites earn money via click-through advertising. GoodSearch has taken this concept to help nonprofits. Now nonprofits have some potential for earning money for their organization at no cost by steering traffic to GoodSearch.com, where users use the Yahoo search engine and designate their charity. GoodSearch donates 50 percent of its revenues from advertisers to charities and schools designated by its users.
archives
Back issues of Brainstorm including techtips and linkage are now available in our online archives. Previous TechTips and Linkage are also available.
sub/unsub
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.
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Greg Nickels, Mayor Department of Information Technology BILL SCHRIER chief technology officer BUSBONG SEARS acting director, office of electronic communications DAVID KEYES manager, community technology program staff  D.H. CASS MAGNUSKI editor |
Students from the University of Washington Center for Communications and Civic Engagement have begun conducting focus groups with youth to get input on design and features.
coming soon:
seattle youth commons
What would it look like if all Seattle youth could gather online to discuss hot topics, express their voices, share art and their media creations and find youth events and opportunities? Could this also be the place for politicians to come to youth for advice?
This summer, a small team of youth will begin to build and name the Seattle youth commons. After they build the frame, youth journalists and artists throughout the area will be able to contribute. The Seattle Metrocenter YMCA is beginning to accept applications for the summer team. For more info, contact Chris Tugwell for more info.
Initial funding for this project is being provided by the City of Seattle through an agreement with Comcast. Students from the University of Washington Center for Communications and Civic Engagement have begun conducting focus groups with youth to get input on design and features. At the Youth Summit and Mayor's Town Hall meeting on April 28, a roundtable of youth had a chance to review other web sites such as Youthnoise.org and start to create their own digital youth commons. Contact Toby Campbell for more info on the focus groups.
new cttab members
The City recently appointed three new members to the Citizens Telecommunications and Technology Advisory Board (CTTAB).
Matt Towers is a software engineer and search pilot for Washington State Search and Rescue, where he has also been advising them on technology mapping upgrades to aid in searching. Matt has also been active in Seattle Wireless Networks and provides a free wi-fi node serving his neighborhood.
Vicky Yuki is a Service Coordinator at Seattle Housing Authority, where she has helped provide computers and Internet service to resident councils and helping residents obtain access and training through computer labs at Seattle Housing Authority communities, including seniors at Westwood Heights, disabled residents at the STAR Center at Center Park, and the Neighborhood House lab at Rainier Vista.
Peg Achterman is currently a doctoral student in technical and political communications at the University of Washington. Most of her career has been spent as a news photographer at King 5 TV. She is particularly interested in net neutrality issues, fiber and youth journalism and media.
Fran Clifton is the Technical Support Manager for Seattle Public Schools and has been involved in the Carkeek Park Advisory Council. Fran brings a great deal of knowledge about the requirements and challenges in technology education.
You can hear more about these new members' experiences and visions for use of technology in Seattle on the video from their confirmation hearing with the City Council's Energy and Technology Committee from March 27. Go to the Council video list and click on the Energy and Technology Committee 3/28/2007 link.
Seattle teens create resumes at the Rainier CTC.
spring youth employment
& career fair attracts 300
On April 10, more than 300 youths and 60 recruiters came to the Rainier Community Center for a Youth Employment and Career Fair. Held during Spring Break, the event was designed to help youths, ages 12-21, find gainful employment.
The Rainier Computer Lab, managed by Rectech, was a key resource for the students at the fair this year. The CTC staff helped the students create cover letters and resumes, practice interview skills and fill out online and paper applications.
"More and more employers are requiring online submission of resumes," said Christina Arcidy of the Rectech Coalition. "It's crucial that we help our youth learn these essential job skills as early as possible," she said.
The staff found teaching the students to be very rewarding. "Many youth showed up as early as 8:00 a.m.," said Kendra Acklin, assistant center coordinator. "It was great to be part of an event where the youth are so motivated," she said. The Career Fair was sponsored by Seattle Parks & Recreation, Seattle Human Services and the Seattle Housing Authority. For more information on the event at Rainier, contact James Bush (206) 386-1919.
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spl's nextreads
Too many books, too little time? Try NextReads, a Seattle Public Library online sevice which automatically notifies you about new books in your favorite subject areas. You will receive an email of a short annotated list of titles every few weeks, with links to the catalog so you can place items on hold. Sign up for as many subjects as you like. The service is completely free.
Whether you love suspense, romance, travel or something else, The Seattle Public Library has ideas for what you can read next. For more information visit the Reader's Corner.
t.e.c.h.t.i.p
communication software
In the world today communication is an important part of our daily lives. We communicate through email, and most people have cell phones with Short Message Service (SMS), and many of us use Instant Messaging (IM).
Instant Messaging is a form of electronic communication offering immediate correspondence between two or more users who are all online simultaneously. One of the cool features that is now available with most IM programs allow you to do Voice over IP and Video over IP using Peer-to-Peer (P2P). What this means is you can now connect to your friend's computer in China and see them as well as talk to them live.
Variety of Choices:
Some of the common programs that you can install to do this are call Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, AOL messenger, Skype.
All of these programs allow you to do the basics, which are to type to another user and use video and audio to communicate. But the items below show a few differences in software. These are all free.
Yahoo Messenger:
This program allows you to separate your video from your text window. So if you are doing video and audio, you don’t have to have your text window open.
MSN Messenger:
This program has a faster frames per second support which allows your video services to almost be in real time. This service also blends into your MSN/Hotmail accounts and allows you to smoothly use the other services from Microsoft.
AOL messenger:
This program comes standard if you have an AOL account. If you don’t, you can still download it at the URL above and set up an account, and communicate with other users who use AOL.
Skype:
This software allows you to connect a regular phone (with phone attachments) to your computer and communicate with others. They do charge if you try and call a land line number, so be aware.
Although there may be other software that allows you to communicate with video and audio, make sure your computer and Internet connection is capable of doing what you would like. Most services work if you have broadband.
d.o.l.l.a.r.s
MetLife Foundation Partners in Arts Education Project
Deadline: May 25
Support community schools that improve teaching and learning in the arts by advancing high-quality, sustainable partnerships between community-based arts education organizations and public schools.
City of Seattle Small and Simple Projects Fund
Deadline: July 9
Funds a broad array of neighborhood-initiated improvement, organizing or planning projects serving Seattle residents. Offers grants up to $15,000.
Safeway Foundation
Deadline: Ongoing
Supports a variety of worthy causes in the following four key areas: Hunger Relief, Education, Health and Human Sevices, and Special Needs.
l.i.n.k.a.g.e
asian pacific american heritage month
Smithsonian Education
Educational resources celebrates Asian Pacific Americans that have been selected for their relevance to classroom curriculum and national education standards.
Facts for Features
US Census Facts 2007 for Asian Pacific Americans
Asian Americans and Seattle's Civil Rights History
Resources for exploring the civil rights activism of Asian Americans in the Pacific Northwest.
A History Bursting With Telling: Asian Americans in Washington State
Essay demonstrating how Chinese, Japanese, and Filipinos came to Washington, struggled against discrimination, labored to earn their living, and created distinctive cultures and identities.