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What Are We Up To? |
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Drupal: The CTC VISTA’s New Best Friend |
| What is Drupal? In his weblog Dave Chakrabarti wrote that a content management system (CMS) such as Drupal is “the perfect solution to most organizations' website development problems.” He’s been working on several projects with Drupal at CTCNet Chicago Chapter, and documenting his experiences at Dave's Drupal Tutorials and his own blog, Digital Raindrop.com. |
Google Maps |
| Web communities are great, but people don't live solely online. Seeing things in the physical world is just as important and a lot more fun. Thanks to Google Maps and a couple of late nights, VISTA Ben Sheldon ’s also been working on providing an easy way to present information geographically.
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| The Project is taking advantage of his work to present the VISTAs in a novel way: check it out at http://www.cpcs.umb.edu/vista/google-map/. And of course his project wouldn't be complete without a Drupal implementation as well. Contact Ben if you need help mapping something out. |
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| Dave’s also working with Civic Space, a form of Drupal for community organizing. Dave writes on the VISTA’s VISTA blog: “CivicSpace is like Drupal on steroids...it's a content management system that does everything you could possibly imagine, from managing your website content, collaborative authoring, blogs, RSS aggregation / syndication, online community forums, mailing list management, and even constituent relationship management (CRM). And all of this is accomplished via a very non-technological interface, directly through your website...allowing administration of your organization's online presence without needing a background in website development or programming. “ For more information, visit Dave’s Digital Divide Network blog on CivicSpace or Contact Dave if your interested in joining the effort to promote Drupal / CivicSpace use among nonprofits. |
Service Speak |
| But Drupal’s not just for work...it’s also for play! Ben Sheldon, serving at Lowell Telecommunications Corporation, is working on a website for current AmeriCorps and VISTAs to find each other, socialize, and share resources, http://www.servicespeak.org/. Users will get a chance to start a blog, discussion group, upload photos, submit resources and more. This site is also using the Drupal Content Management System, so this is a perfect opportunity to play around with a practical application of it. If you are interested in testing it from a user's perspective, contact Ben at bensheldon@gmail.com. |
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| Morgan Sully, serving at the San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender Community Center, will be holding a small digital media workshop for transgender youth in January, based on the success of his Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Digital Media Toolkit/CD-ROM. The Toolkit started as a customizable, cross-platform CD that included a small collection of free creative tools/software for youth to manipulate images, record sound and upload/share their media. The tools can be used on their own or with the tutorial and resource links, including iMovie and Windows Movie Maker (for assembling video projects). The beauty of the Toolkit is that the main menu is a simple HTML page that other VISTAs and/or digital media for youth professionals can change to fit their own programs. The Toolkit is available at Nettrice Gaskin’s priority area Digital Media with Youth Portal in the Ideas section.
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| “I stood on the equator!” Nikki is down in Ecuador, after connecting with some organization leaders using digital media to connect cultures and promote awareness…Check her blog at the end of January for more updates! |
Media That Matters at UTEC |
| Thanks to the efforts of VISTA Cara Powers at United Teen Equality Center (UTEC) and Lowell Telecommunications Corporation (LTC), there held screenings of the Media That Matters Film Festival in Lowell, MA on January 11 and 12, 2006. The film festival is produced by MediaRights, “an organization dedicated to maximizing the impact of social-issue documentaries by connecting filmmakers, educators, nonprofits, and youth.” These free screenings, open to the public, were shown at (and also sponsored by) the Pollard Memorial Library, the Revolving Museum, and the United Teen Equality Center, over the course of two days. The films were grouped according to theme (including youth and politics, youth in the information age, gay, lesbian, and transgender youth, and youth and the environment) and followed by discussions. For the full press release, check out http://www.acmeboston.blogspot.com/. |
Digital Storytelling |
| This fall, several Boston Metro area VISTAs got the chance to participate in the digital storytelling “train the trainer” program, Spreading the Stories in partnership with MassImpact and Creative Narrations. The intensive training combined multimedia and storytelling/writing instruction with the intention each organization will integrate digital storytelling into their programs. Participating organizations included Home Inc (Dean Gransar) and Somerville Community Access Television (Christy Park). Finished stories from these workshops will be posted soon on http://www.massimpact-ds.org/default.aspx, or go to Dean Gransar or Danielle Martin’s CTC VISTA blogs to see more. Danielle also plans to hold a two-day training for interested Massachusetts-area VISTAs in February at UMass Boston, as well as work on a module for an on-line training for folks throughout the country. |
Christy Park's End of Service Reflections |
After a somewhat rocky VISTA start at my original site, Home Inc., I relocated to Somerville Community Access Television (SCAT) where I began to teach the summer youth program, a class of eight youth who worked to produce documentaries, public service announcements, and music videos. I was really inspired by the work that the teens completed. Now, I have also started an afterschool club for youth at the station. I have also started my own television series of programs about art issues in the Somerville area which has helped connect me to the community and taught me a lot about the process in developing a new media effort.
Since I started working at SCAT, the staff has changed. A position opened up for the person whom I worked closest with during my time as a VISTA. I met with my boss and discussed the possibility of moving into this position after my term as a VISTA was complete. I spent much of the last few months continuing my VISTA work and learning the duties of the Membership and Arts Coordinator, my current full-time position. I am really pleased with the path this year has taken. It has not been easy to live on small pay, especially in Boston, and I have faced several challenges work related and otherwise. At last, I have found great satisfaction in the completion of what is now my second year of service work and now have a more clear definition of what it is I desire from my career. |
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Wall of Video |
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Shannon McCue at Project HQ posted the video footage from our Pre-service Orientation last August, including video summaries of the priority area coordinator’s presentations! Also be sure to check out videos from the blogs of:
Roxanne Johnson
Dean Gransar
Danielle Martin
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Blog Bits |
Sheveeta Shepard, Community Technology Organizing Consortium
“I think it surprises me how much my organization is involved with the community…the work we do at CTOC is less direct service to our constituents. The services we provide are more of a collaborative effort. THIS I enjoy, because after working with the housing department at school, and many other organizations on campus, I find a collaborative effort much more effective in the grand scheme of things than anything else. What is also surprising is that even though my project area is community organizing, my job kind of covers every single aspect of PSO training.“
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Ellen-Rae Cachola, Homeless Prenatal Program
As part of her work at HPP, Ellen-Rae is closely following the progress of TechConnect, San Francisco's WiFi project. Here are a few of her thoughts on the future of community technology centers, especially on their role of connecting education to the community: “If everyone gained a computer from the successful execution of this plan, the role of CTC as technology access providers would no longer be necessary. However, in foresight of this possibility, CTCs must learn to evolve with their communities. It can begin to collaborate with schools and bring an innovative way of learning: schools in the streets…The idea is to change the whole environment of the learning experience so that the student can explore what their neighborhood is like and think about what its condition means to them.”
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| Taylor Hales – Photos from Neighborhood Technology Resource Center |
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