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How Can Techies Give Back?
KReilly asks: "As the school year starts back up for me, I have been looking for a volunteer program I could work in. This year I have been considering creating my own non-profit organization, but I still lack a clear picture of what I hope to accomplish. I have read about communities wiring classrooms for the internet in California, and repairing computers donated by businesses for schools. I would like to do this, but find many schools and libraries would deny this donation since its maintenance would be too big of an investment for them and they do not want to experiment with Open Source alternatives that would lower the PC repair cost. So my question to you is how do you, as a tech, give back to society and aid in social programs? And, any information/advice you wanted to share on my original idea would be much appreciated."
Help in a gubernatorial election campaign.
Volunteer at the soup kitchen.
Donate unused stuff to Goodwill.
Offer your time to the old-folks home.
Pick up litter in your neighborhood.
Give money to the Salvation Army.
Offer to read to children in the hospital.
Drop a few dimes into a homeless person's cup.
Buy a couple dozen Krispy Kreme donuts for your coworkers.
Start a community watch program in your neighborhood.
There are so many things you can do that do not necessarily require technology. These things are easier to give and easier to receive because people in need do not always have the means to support technological donations. It's the human touch that is important in charity.
If you are, go to a retirement community and teach seniors how to use computers to access the Internet (mail and web). You will be bowled over by how thankful they are and how excited it makes some of them.
So long, michael. Don't let the door hit you...
Look for non-profit organizations such as the local Food Bank, the American Heart Association, the Red Cross, or Junior Achievement.
Even if these organizations don't need technical help, volunteer your time and encourage friends/coworkers to join you. It won't (or at least, it shouldn't) kill you to walk away from the computer world for a few hours a week.
I don't know about where you live, but I know there's a lot of small non-profit/charity orgs in my neighbourhood (Eastern Canada) that already have some sort of net access. But what they *do* need is help in getting the best out of their often old hardware, or just getting it to work at all.
I'm not talking classrooms (afaik most classrooms around here have access to *paid* staff of some sort, no?) but more like your local literacy council, small library, soup kitchen, women's shelter, yadda yadda ...
They usually have the hardware. What they need is the (open) software, and the training. And then you've just made a difference in their operation, and their life.
Don't put salt in your eyes.
I found a small homeless youth advocate non-profit that needed a lot of computer help. Since they were small I spoke directly to the Executive Director and convinced her to let me solicit donations for old computers and fix em up. She even gave me a budget for a new computer when I explained I could use 1 server to power the desktop of all these old computers she had. Now they have 3 computers (soon to be six) running FreeBSD with no licensing costs that she can give access to these homeless kids. I networked up the whole place and setup their dsl and firewalled it with some other old computer. She couldn't be happier, but since I was a volunteer and I couldn't find work I had to move back to California to save money. I can do most administration tasks from here (thank god for ssh) but sometimes the dsl modem gets disconnected and I have to walk a kid there through ifconfig down, ifconfig up routine, bleh.
The great thing about this is now that I'm moving back they can help me find work and an apartment since I'll be a homeless youth, YAY!
I hate to get on my soapbox, but this is Slashdot and it's a slow article. Incidentally, the first half of my post is a relevant rant and the second half is my deduced idea. Ever in the Slashdot tradition, I delimit my rant in non-W3C compliant XML for all of you.
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I'm one of the many dot com layoffs. I returned to school to finish my degree. In doing so, I've been getting by as a contract programmer. It's not stable so I've had to pick up some side work. However, most non-tech businesses won't even touch me. Ever try getting a job at a wal-mart when your last salary was twice the store manager. I tend to water down my background on those applications, but they won't even look at me. So, I've been working some pretty ugly labor-intensive temp work. My co-workers (and bosses) are severely uneducated. I'm not trying to be arrogant. It's just a fact. A couple of them are quite bright, but they never applied themselves.
For instance, one coworker who I've become friends with is a perfect example. He has quite a bit of street smarts. I think he has a lot of potential. He even had a chance to go to college on a football scholarship. However, he somehow has it pounded into his head that school is impractical or completely unnecessary. (Of course given the state of urban American high schools.....) All of his plans are nothing but a bunch of get rich quick schemes. They also have a fair amount of holes in them as well. I think he also had trouble in school. However, he's been taking classes at a local community college and his grades have vastly improved.
I'm pretty much a self-taught kind of guy. On the one hand, I think college is somewhat just a piece of paper. However, I realize the relevance of that paper in attaining a job. It's an unfortunate but necessary certification. We live in an age of watered down and proliferated certification. On the other hand, I'm probably more self-educated that the average person. When I was younger I spent quite a bit time acquiring books (on the cheap) on everything from computers, mathematics, physics, etc. I didn't even own a computer as a kid and had a bit of a steep learning curve in my first CS course.
I can only imagine the digital divide is even worse. The guy I mentioned earlier wants to learn about computers. So I'm plan on helping him set up a home network with some older PCs I'm picking up at a local surplus auction. I'll introduce him to Linux. Maybe I even try to get him to learn a little about electronics and build a radio. Even if he doesn't plan to study CS, Math, or EE etc, hopefully he'll gain some insight in how to solve problems and think in a more analytical way. Hopefully he'll pick up a few job skills as well.
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Here's my idea. Try finding a community center and teach a class in programming or networking. Not a stupid intro to the web/HTML class. Offer a serious course. Get the students to open up a few machines. Set up a LAN. Throw a LAN party at the end [run Quake if the machines are too old]. Trust me, if you go to a real inner city neighborhood, they probably won't own high-end PCs anyway. Most colleges and gov't agencies sell old PCs in bulk at low rates. DON'T TEACH TO THE LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR. Try the Feynman approach. Make it challenging and throw hooks that will catch the interest of your listeners. Raise the standards of the students. Sure, some will get bored, confused, or drop out. However, there will be those one or two students who will get hooked. This is why public schools SUCK in this country. Always lowering the standards to meet the needs of the worst students. Apparently the average EdD hasn't hard of Zeno's Paradox. Let's reduce our education to an infinitesimal level. Great idea!! Anyway, personally I'd love to design a GPL type collection of books to introduce CS.
What do you mean my sig is repetitive? What do you mean my sig is repetitive? What do you mean....