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I N S I D E
"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 Mayor Greg Nickels has nominated Bill Schrier as the new chief technology officer and director of the City of Seattle's Department of Information Technology. Schrier has served as the department's director of operations since 1999. "Bill will be an outstanding chief technology officer for the City," said Nickels. "He brings experience, depth of knowledge and a keen ability to get things done. Everyday, more people use technology as a tool to keep them informed about City government and how to access City services. Bill is the right person to make sure this tool is helpful and up-to-date." Schrier's appointment is subject to approval by the Seattle City Council. He will serve as Acting CTO until Council confirmation. Schrier has been an operations manager in information technology with the city of Seattle since 1992. His responsibilities have included the city's data center, electronic mail system, public safety radio system, telephone network, and data communications network. In Schrier's first week as Acting CTO, he lauded the department's community technology programs and recognized their importance in meeting the Mayor's priorities of increasing job opportunities and closing the digital divide in many Seattle communities. The Department of Information Technology provides technology leadership for the city of Seattle, including technology governance, planning, policies and IT security. It develops common standards, architectures, and business solutions, and manages the city's technology infrastructure. The department also promotes technology literacy and public access to government information through its web site and municipal cable television channel. Currently, the department has a 175 person staff and a $33.3 million operating budget. Brainstorm wishes to thank and acknowledge Sylvia Shiroyama who served as Acting CTO for more than a year. She brought experience and skills in both technology and business planning to DoIT and to citywide IT. Shiroyama has moved to the Department of Finance where she will work on development of a six-year funding plan for major technology initiatives across the city and compilation of information on deferred technology investments. Lunch on pizza the third Tuesday of each month and discuss the technical challenges and issues attached to running a community technology lab. To register, send an email to register@psact.org, or call Delia at (206) 233-2751. Parking available. Free for PSACT members and first-time attendees, $5 donation for non-members. Not a PSACT member? Become one. Find out how on their web site. Here's calendar of upcoming events. November 18 December 6 DiscounTech is a tech product philanthropy service for nonprofits. Through them, vendors donate products or lower their fees to benefit npos. Orgs are eligible for software donations once every two years. All software donation requests within the United States are handled by their nonprofit partner, TechSoup. There is no membership fee to access TechSoup, but a small administrative fee from TechSoup will apply to each order. For details, go to the TechSoup web site. Wondering when the next public hearing is scheduled at City Hall? Curious to know which local news makers will be interviewed this week on City Inside/Out? Want to have The Seattle Channel’s weekly on-air schedule delivered directly to your email account? All this and more is available each week in Tune In, The Seattle Channel’s electronic newsletter. To subscribe, write to talkback@seattle.gov with the word ‘subscribe’ in the subject line, or go to seattlechannel.org and click on "talkback." The Children's Partnership (TCP) recently released
a benchmark study, "The Search for High-Quality Online Content
for Low-Income and Underserved Communities," that examines how
various fields such as health, education and web site usability
identify "quality" in online content. Among its findings: less than 10 percent of guidelines included characteristics that address the needs of low-income or other underserved
communities, reflecting content in more than one language, and the
literacy level of the text. Find more information and resources at the Contentbank web site.
Get a library card online. The new Seattle Public Library web site has recently gone online. If you haven't seen it yet, we urge you to visit www.spl.org. It offers, in addition to its eye-candy appeal, a user-friendly navigation system combined with a compelling new color palette will help Library patrons quickly find information they're looking for on the content-rich site. What site visitors won't see is the streamlined back-end technology that makes it possible for Library staff to much more quickly and easily update content and post the most current information and bulletins about Library programs and services. The new content management system means Library staff members don't have to know HTML coding or Web design to contribute information or graphics to the site. First launched in June 1995, The Seattle Public Library Web site currently receives well over 7,000 user visits per day, averaging 17 minutes per visit.
A decision has been made to host CTCNet's 2004 Annual Conference in our region. This 13th annual conference will be held June 17-20 at the Doubletree Hotel at SeaTac. Volunteers are needed. To get involved or for more information, please contact Stephen Quinn. Get more work done with these keyboard shortcuts. For a full list, go here. Windows Program
archivesBack issues of Brainstorm are now available in our online archives. Click to revisit all previous issues.
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sand point lab celebrates b'dayThe Sand Point Community Technology Center recently celebrated its first birthday and Mayor Nickels was on hand to help celebrate. Sharon Lee, executive director of the Low Income Housing Institute, discussed the importance of community technology centers like Sand Point, to improve access to technology for the residents as well as the broader community. “LIHI provides housing for the very low income and homeless population of Seattle and the Puget Sound area. We believe access to technology is a vital component of our housing developments. The Digital Divide is widening, and our residents need access to the Internet and to state-of-the-art computers and applications to compete on a level playing field for work and school,” says Lee. The Sand Point Community Technology Center is more than just a room full of computers. It is a resource center, which provides classes and training. Mondays and Wednesday evenings, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., the center is host to the Homework Club. Tutors are available to help kids with their homework. Classes currently offered include individual tutoring in Microsoft Office applications, Photoshop. In cooperation with the Mayor’s Office of Senior Affairs and program coordinator Patti-Lyn Bell, Sand Point CTC provides classes just for seniors who want to learn about the computer, the Internet and email. For a complete list of classes offered, check out the class offerings on our website, www.sandpointctc.com. Thanks, in part, to a Technology Matching Funds grant awarded by the City of Seattle, the Sand Point CTC has added classes, recruited more volunteers and publicized its availability to the surrounding community. Residents of the Sand Point Campus, and especially those of Santos Place, are the backbone of the volunteer effort to maintain the high level of accessibility at the Center. Sand Point CTC is open to the general public from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays. Please call PD Lucier, Technology Outreach Coordinator, at (206) 523-6912, for an appointment. seattle hosts leadership trainingAll fired up and filled up, they headed back across town and country. After two intensive days of leadership training, the 25 participants in the first Seattle community technology Leadership Development Institute brought the knowledge back to their centers in Washington State, Texas, California, New York and Ohio. The Institute or LDI, was presented by CTCNet in cooperation with the Puget Sound Alliance for Community Technology (PSACT). Heather Gerhard of the Jubilee Women's Center, a participant, said, "The Seattle LDI provided a great opportunity for me to learn new tools for running the Jubilee Women's Center Learning and Technology Center more efficiently and effectively. I enjoyed all of the topics that were covered throughout the conference and made some great connections with other agencies." The LDI featured hands-on workshops on leadership, effective programming, staffing, partnerships, and technology planning. Ted Lord raised the roof with a great closing workshop on fundraising where he directed us to "make it fun; it takes eight contacts to close the deal." In addition to workshop leaders, trainees each shared ideas and learned from a CTC mentor. Thanks to Katrina Cathcart and Gregory Davis at ECOM, Emerald City Outreach Ministry, for hosting and sharing their lab. The LDI provided a teaser for what’s to come next summer when CTCNet hosts its national conference here. On the trip they confirmed the Doubletree in SeaTac as the conference site and plan to have some events in Seattle. The LDI gave us a chance to meet national CTCNet staff and do some planning for the conference. free npo tech planning toolFace it. Your org needs a technology plan. It can be a key tool to advocate for technology funding. It will help you budget for technology and make cost-effective purchases, minimize technology-related crises, use staff time efficiently, and avoid wasting money on equipment that won't help the organization. No more excuses. TechAtlas.org offers a free Web-based tool that collects information about an organization, its vision, and its current state of technology. TechAtlas then generates reports that include specific recommendations based upon your entries. These recommendations can be prioritized and tailored to your specific needs. TechAtlas is powered by NPower and was developed in collaboration with TechRocks. CTCNet and PSACT developed a specific version for assessing technology in CTCs. Try out both the community tech tool and general NPO tool. firstgov provides one-stop accessDid you know that you can find the web sites of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. territories, tribal governments and many local governments from one site? FirstGov provides a one-stop front door to more than 26 million federal and state government web pages. Apply for government benefits, government jobs, and social security; get a passport application, and more. It's the U.S. government’s official web portal, providing direct access to all federal information and online services on the Web. The site lets us navigate through bureaucracy without having to know organizational structure, program names, or the acronyms of government agencies. FirstGov.gov also answers e-mail inquiries about any government service within two business days. The writer doesn't have to know which person or agency might have the answers. FirstGov.gov will direct citizens to the answers they’re seeking. It provides direct access to real-life government transactions in a user-friendly, secure environment. In less than a second, its search engine can return the precise information needed, from any federal or state site, and many local web pages.
need $4140? you can e-fileWould you like to help low-income individuals save money? I-CAN! is looking for CTC and community partners. Learn how to help clients file for this credit online in your lab using the web-based I-CAN! Earned Income Credit Program. This system helps taxpayers complete tax forms easily and for free. It is written in English, Spanish and Vietnamese, and at a fifth grade literacy level. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a refundable tax credit worth up to $4,140 for some families. Families and individuals can get additional money from the EITC if they are eligible. Families that have worked at all in 2003, have children and earned less than $34,692 may be eligible. Individuals who earned less than $11,060 and do not have children may also be eligible. Even if they worked part time, only part of the year, or are unemployed now, they may be eligible. But they must file a tax return in order to get this refund. To find out who qualifies, download the checklist here. delridge doing oral historyThe Diaries Project is bringing together neighborhood organizations and schools, along with current and past residents of Delridge, to create a historical, living history documentary on the Delridge Community. Students at Chief Sealth High School participate in primary source research, filming, editing, interviewing, graphic arts, public relations, publicity, and marketing. The project includes a 30-minute video, interactive CD, multi-media presentation, photographic and historical exhibit to be showcased in two public presentations in the Delridge community. The voices of the community elders who were interviewed lend authenticity and originality to the history project and are an important legacy for the heritage community. For more information, email Kate Stannard or call (206) 923-0917. The intent of The Diaries Project is to capture the stories and memories that weave a community together. The Diaries of Delridge received a Neighborhood Matching Fund grant of $10,000 to the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association, and an $8,000 Heritage Cultural Education Grant. new faces on cttabThe Citizens' Telecommunications and Technology Advisory Board (CTTAB) studies and makes recommendations to the City regarding telecommunications and technology issues. The board is composed of 15 members; eight are appointed by the Mayor and seven by City Council. Learn more on their web site. Richard Salway currently works as server administrator and tech support for The Stranger. He formerly ran the computer lab at Real Change Homeless Empowerment Project, which produces the street newspaper in Seattle. Richard earned his BA from Colgate University in Hamilton, New York in 2002. He double-majored in Political Science and Philosophy. His interests are the digital divide, the proliferation of CTCs, WiFi, sustainability, and social justice issues. Richard comes to CTTAB through the Get Engaged: City Boards and Commissions program, created in concert with the YMCA to encourage an ethic of community service in young adults ages 18-29. If you would like more information about the program, contact Jessica Levy at (206) 382-5013 ext. 3853. Damien Koemans is manager of the Student Access and Computing Group at the University of Washington. He has been very involved in issues of the digital divide, including working on the Smart Tools Academy, a program that trained principals throughout Washington on enhancing technology in the classroom, and community technology centers in Seattle and eastern Washington. Koemans is also interested in video and web streaming and has been a producer at Seattle community access station. Koemans has a Bachelor's degree in music theory/history from the University of Washington, and coursework and/or certification in audio engineering and various MCSE programs. Pwint Phyu Htun is a management professional with more than seven years experience in the software, wireless and telecommunications equipment industries. Her education includes a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Washington and a Masters of Engineering Management from Northwestern University. As a refugee from Burma, Ms. Htun is interested in promoting technology use among refugees and minorities in Seattle. She is also interested in encouraging girls and minority children to pursue the study of science and engineering. Michael Daum has served in the Clinton White House as National Economic Council Agency Representative in Washington, D.C. He has been variously employed with Microvision, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and Martin Marietta. He holds an MBA in marketing from the University of Rochester, and a BS in optics from the University of Rochester School of Engineering. Ann Robinson is self-employed and brings to CTTAB 15 years experience in the fields of information technology, mergers and acquisitions, recruitment, project management, systems integration, strategic planning, financial management and new business development. She has worked for King County, AT&T Wireless, and Boeing. Ann holds a BS in computer science and and MBA in engineering technology from City University.
and the winner is ...Center for Digital Government The Seattle Channel web site, the City of Seattle's Democracy Portal, took first place for Best Government Applications in the Center for Digital Government's Web Sites awards. The awards were announced last month by The Center for Digital Government, a national research and advisory institute providing government, industry and education leaders with decision support, research and educational resources to help them effectively incorporate new technologies in the 21st century. NATOA In September our Democracy Portal (the Seattle Channel and its web site) were recognized as national leaders by NATOA, the national organization of government TV channels and cable regulators, with the following awards:
And NATOA recognized Jill Novik for commitment and work on customer service. community tech networking:
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