[Computerbank] Updates, News and Events in Victoria

[Kylie Davies]

Hello all,

Welcome to the new folk who have been just subscribed to the 
computerbank list. All of these folk (and there were 10! which brings 
list membership to 173!) are based in Melbourne but are set to make 
great contributions that will benefit us all. :)

There's a bit of talent in human resources, monitor repair, electrical 
issues, the law, software development, teachers, and networking. Welcome 
to all these great new people!

With the new look Computerbank Australia - Victoria is hoping (and has 
started) to restructure it's volunteer program, we are getting greater 
numbers of volunteers and there needs to be better co-ordination and 
room for volunteer skills development.  Have you completed your 
Computerbank skills-audit yet?

We are running regular induction days in three streams (for now), 
although ideally I would like to see 4. These are Technical (all 
technical stuff inc hardware and software), Training (Includes 
documentation), and Administration.

 I would love to see a separation of hardware from software (induction 
wise). Anyone interested in tackling this one? Any hands?

The last induction days were a great success, they occurred at the start 
of March. :) The technical and trainer induction sessions were fully 
booked. :)

Okay - Induction is on again, for those that haven't participated in an 
induction group - now is your chance. :)

Saturday April 6th - 1-5pm: Technical Induction - KDE - Debian 
distribution installation and configure

Wednesday April 3rd - 7pm-9pm: Trainer Induction - KDE, generic computer 
skills and lesson plans

Tuesday April 2nd - 1pm-4pm: Administration Induction - all things 
admin, talk to people, greet people, work on policy and process, get 
familiar with the way we do things.  

This one is in the afternoon for a reason; we really need admin 
volunteers during the days as it really can get quite busy during the 
day. The phones ring, people drop in for support or peripheral 
configuration, there's plenty of mail to sort and lots of paperwork to 
file. There's also room for innovation here. :)

If anyone is interested in coming along to any of these days please RSVP 
to me 1 week before the event. If the sessions are full I will advise. 
:) It is quite important that you get in early.

Along the lines of volunteers at the moment cai-vic has a real need for 
someone who knows their way around a spreadsheet and doesnt mind doing 
some book keeping on a regular basis. If anyone is interested please let 
me know.

Some news: Projects Past at Computerbank

Did you know that last year CAI-Vic distributed around 400 systems to 
people living in metro Vic (~50%), regional/rural vic (~45%) and 
overseas (~5%). There are computers all over Victoria.  

Some success stories to note; an older user is new hip with a nephew 
because they have linux, they talk more now. A person with literacy 
issues is a pretty well accomplished web designer,  some housebound folk 
are able to fill their time with positive learning on the Internet, big 
monitors and big font/cursor customisations are a good thing with some 
of our vision impaired users, plenty of people wanting to come back for 
more training, plenty of people with computers that now regularly 
volunteer. :) All good news.

In 2001 the Victorian team sent computers to Fiji, Sri Lanka, and East 
Timor (twice).

This year we are working on several overseas projects with the Christian 
Blind Mission. The current project is for Liberia (12 computers) and 
then later in the year we will be shippng computers to the Ivory Coast 
(where the world's most impoverished people live!).

All these systems all over the place made me think of a "Web Mapping 
Project" where we could get a map of the world and put in the 
co-ordinates of people with computerbank computers. Great PR (potential 
sponsorship) stuff. Can someone pick up on this - I obviously dont have 
the skills or time - If there is interest - please get in contact with 
me. :) Please...

Other projects currently in action at Computerbank...

A fundraising project on may fronts; a)  we have got a few people 
looking into selling some of our more exotic hardware. b) we are looking 
into holding a geek trivia night (smaller style on a regular basis with 
a big annual one plus auction). c) We are looking at the idea of an 
afterhours / out of core use hours open-access training/net cafe to be 
promoted to our service users and to the wider public.

Anyone interested in assisting the folk who are working on these 
fundraising projects - should email me or this list. :)

Other non fundraising projects happening at Victoria include the Green 
Office Project - like it says - looking at how we can be a more 
environmentally friendly office (we are mostly but we can do much better!).

Tied to this project - there is the Recycling Systems Project, currently 
our work for the dole team are looking at that - but if you think you 
would like to be involved - get in touch - the more the merrier.

On that note, the work for the dole project at Computerbank has just 
rolled over into a 3rd project with a great crew of people. :) If you 
are interested in doing work for the dole at computerbank get in touch 
as there are a few vacancies on our project and they tend to fill 
quickly. :) Our project's for last year (1st/2nd one)are being nominated 
for the WFD Activity of the Year Award. :) For other states looking at 
wftd funding - be sure to mention this. :)

Anyway - I guess I have said quite a lot and covered a lot, if there are 
any questions or suggestions arising - post them to the list so all can 
see. :)

Cheers,

Kylie
Victorian Co-ordinator