Though for most, this is the end of the VISTA term, I'm sticking around through at least February, which I'm excited about. Lots more work ahead. No time to be heading out. Things have been so busy that it's hard to remember exactly what this month has brought. I've done a lot of work with our summer intern, getting him trained and working hard. But also really digging deep into the thinking about planning about how we use volunteers, outreach and market to them, and how we help communities meet their goals. We're experimenting with flipcams as a tool that communities can use to document their stories and I've been working on developing language around the outreach for them. I've also been developing our archive of artistic work to make it accessible and usable for us and our constituents. As we think about moving forward into a new stage of our website, it's important to have a clean and useful database of artistic content.

This next month I'm headed out to Eureka, CA for a professional development residency in community theater. I'm really hoping I'll be able to bring back some ideas and plans for how to strategize theatrical work in our web-based project.

Since my previous field report, I have:

• participated in a discussion of how the CCTS (the org I'm serving)
  should develop its "business" in the future.
• helped the hiring process by placing ads and by participating in
  the interview of a candidate;
• studied some existing, alternative, Content Management Systems
  (CMS) not invented at CCTS, as candidate replacements for the CMS
  that was invented at CCTS;
• demonstrated a pattern for adding automated tests for the CCTS
  CMS, documenting the tests, and at the same time, documenting the
  requirements;
• investigated somewhat into how we might be able to achieve
  a cleaner separation between
  the core CMS and the customizations of it to the needs of specific
  clients;
• maintained a file server (made backups, etc.) for the office files
• maintained an environment for our software development
  (using the Ubuntu distribution);
• supported workstations running one of Microsoft's operating systems
• helped move the office;
• constructed a "sandbox" installation of the CCTS CMS for
  demonstrating its ease of use;
• contributed time to the maintenance of the CMS;
• participated in an interim edit of the old, static, CCTS web site
• taught other personnel about programming techniques and principles
  (e. g., finite-state machines).

Please keep in mind that since the purpose of the CCTS is to build the
capacity of other organizations, anything I do that helps CCTS,
contributes to capacity building in the social-profit sector.

Hola hola mundo! We have had weird weather in June so far here in Southern California.

Just finished mailing out hundreds of Wired for Wireless Reports. Thanks Stephen for shooting that email, by the way! I am continuing to send out reports. This brings me to the database. Bounced mailed reports are actually in our favor because it helps to clean the database. And so now, updating the database is of primary focus as well as using GIS tools (most likely Google Maps/Earth) to map out our network.

Also, I helped organize California Emerging Technology Fund’s (CETF) very first webcast of a new campaign they launched for Southern California titled Get Connected: Your Life Made Easier. Thanks to the Bresee Foundation who actually brought out the equipment for the press conference.

Finally, I recently got a CTC VISTA extension for about three months. I am blessed to get the extension. I enjoy working here, and there are still a few things I need to get done.

This may be the last month a few of you will be posting. I thank you for your help and your service…I am sounding like the president, jeje. Please stay in (Twitter) touch: @OsoHormiguero.

Recently I’ve been gathering requirements and consulting on information architecture for another Mercy Corps group, Mercy Corps Northwest. MCNW is doing a major site redesign; and it has been exciting to help them understand their audience (defining user roles and creating surveys) and define/prioritize organizational and user goals for their new site.

I have started wrapping up my work for MicroMentor by ramping up social media outreach. A paradox? Yes and no. With only a couple of weeks left and so much to accomplish I have been concentrating on capacity building at a strategic and tactical level, in order to provide MicroMentor with tools and research that will ease them into a social media presence.

Strategic:
Wrote SEO, Twitter, and Facebook guidelines and research docs, including tips and best practices. In the process of writing an additional report on Google Analytics.
Created a Marketing Dashboard via igoogle for managing social outreach.
 Requirement: ability to log in to one application and address social media maintenance needs quickly and easily.
 Solution: an igoogle marketing tab that includes: a bit.ly shortener, a twitter widget, a google calendar (dedicated to marketing), a Facebook connection widget, marketing to do list, direct access to delicious account for tagging, and feeds from marketing, media and related blogs. Also set up tabs for tracking news feeds about entrepreneurs, nonprofits and mentoring, to facilitate finding interesting (audience specific) content.

Tactical:
Set up a branded twitter account and am tweeting a couple of times a day – to gain followers and establish a “tweet voice”. http://twitter.com/MicroMentorOrg
Launched a MicroMentor Facebook Page and a Facebook Profile (with Causes); these pages and profiles can be further built up over time. (MicroMentor on Facebook)
Set up specific goals in Google Analytics and auto-generated weekly analytics report which is emailed to MicroMentor.

On a personal note, I am wishing the very best to my fellow CTC Vistas, now and in the future. Mary

Comment from Denise Cheng on June 26, 2009 - 1:27pm

Thanks, Mary! Your work sounds really effective! What are you doing after the CTC Project?

Work at Aspiration has been going really well. A few things are more or less falling into place for us and we've been excited to get going with a couple of projects that we've been working on. I've continued to work on developing the ANSWR site in Joomla and I'm pretty comfortable with the CMS in case anyone needs any help (I've probably run into the same problem as you have). I've decided that I don't really like CMSes but that they're a necessary evil. Regardless though, I've really taken to this whole "building a website" thing which has pretty much cemented me into Geekdom. This, proven when the last time someone showed me a website I automatically asked "what's it built in?" *sigh*

Aspiration is putting together an event that happens next week in Amsterdam (!!!) centered around Open Translation Tools. Basically throwing a bunch of people around the world concerned with translation (spoken languages) in software for social change. It sounds kind of nitchy but it's actually a pretty vibrant community with a lot of grassroots love. Other than falling into a canal, Amsterdam will have us running an Aspiration-style event for about 75 people for whom English is not their native language which should be interesting. Afterward we're going to run a book-sprint which is basicallly where you lock a bunch of experts on a specific topic (in this case translation) into a room for a few days and they churn out a book. Sounds insane. and yes. yes it is. So for the next two weeks I'll be out there doin my thang.

Other than those little nuggets of goodness, I've been working a lot more with specific nonprofits training them to use tech. Before my role was a lot more removed from the people side and now I've had a lot more hands-on experience and I'm really diggin it. Especially because many times you're saving these organization sooo much time by teaching them how to do stuff more efficiently. And half the time you're explaining how to do something really basic in Excel works. Yeah CTC VISTA capacity building! holla!

I feel as though technology training should be mandatory for any high school degree. It would be amazing if tech skills were the foundation for people's work. Think of the time saved! gah!

So that's what's up with me. What's up with you?

I'm still working on locating and updating resources in our online, resource database. I'm also working on 3 grants with Ronda, my supervisor:

* Compassion Grant
* Kennewick CDBG (Community development block grant)
* Richland CDBG (Community development block grant)

For the Compassion Grant, we're proposing to work with 50 organizations (non-profit or faith-based) to help them reach out to their communities with asset building and online, self-help resources to help at risk people get out of poverty.

For the Kennewick CDBG Grant, we're proposing to supply 20 young mothers who recently, or will have, their first baby with computers and internet access and provide them with tools for baby development and care, online education about Microsoft products (Excel, Word, and PowerPoint), resume writing, and office etiquette -- all to help them become more self-sufficient.

For the Richland CDBG Grant, we're proposing a project similar to that for the Kennewick CDBG Grant we're proposing to supply a number of at risk families with computers and internet access, online education about Microsoft products, online education about resume writing, online education about office etiquette, and online access to information about social services to help them help themselves out of poverty.

In the coming month, I'll be ending my term of service as an Americorps CTC Vista. I plan to continue volunteering for RECA Foundation and 4People.org, maintaining the online, resource database and assisting with grant writing.

Appalshop is suddenly brimming with new energy! Lots of summer interns have arrived, and all this good weather certainly is keeping everyone in a good mood!

I'm feeling good about my decision to stay on longer. I feel like a lot of the projects I've been working on all year are just now coming to fruition, which is no time to leave! And I just get busier by the day, so I might as well stick around and get some of these new ideas and concepts going!

I finished creating our work plan, which was very helpful in getting us to think about what skills and assets each of us have and how to best move forward. I'm excited to be doing more work coordinating our volunteers and helping grassroots groups develop campaigns around their own goals. I'm working with a woman in the Virgin Islands to help them develop a campaign to bring VI prisoners who are currently housed in Virginia back home to the VI and to stop interstate contracts that allow for prisoners to be shipped across the country. You can check out the blog that they've created to get some idea of the work they're doing. And the post at the top about being on the radio is how they've been teaming with us so far. We have this radio program that allows them a way to connect with their loved ones up here in Appalachia.

The migration to the CRM SalesForce database is moving slowly. Our old FileMakerPro database computer has crashed (major virus), so we're struggling to migrate all our contacts. and also trying to figure out the best way to customize the new database to fit our needs. We're still on the lookout for a consultant to aid us in this, so if you know anyone, please let me know!

The online social networking stuff continues to aid our work. I've been twittering and we've developed a pretty good following, though it would be great to have even more followers! Check us out at twitter.com/thousandkites. And I finally made us a facebook page (moving from just having a group), which is exciting because it means that people can more easily read about what we're doing. Become a fan!

Let's see. I'm also preparing for our intern to arrive next week. And then we're bringing on a new VISTA member, Andy, to start working with us in July. So a lot of my work in the next month is going to be around preparing work flow charts and organizing our lives here so that we can seemlessly move into having a third staff member.

On another note, if anyone is interested in going to a a great festival next weekend, come down to Appalshop! It's Appalshop's annual Seedtime on the Cumberland. Music, crafts, food, literary readings, dancing, watermelon seed spitting, jamming. It's gonna be a great time!

It is done! We have sent our Wired for Wireless report to the printers. This long awaited report is a best practices document that provides case studies of municipal-led wireless networks (i.e. City of Philadelphia & City of San Francisco). So, we have worked on a distribution strategy. We are thinking of using Twitter, Facebook, and IssueLab.org. You might have seen me at NTEN’s NTC distributing a one page teaser on the report. If you would like a copy please let me know by shooting me an email.

Other than that, I have been working on managing the database. I will be honest; this whole process of figuring out our distribution plan definitely placed great importance in updating our database. It has helped me to see our key holes.

Another of my tasks is to document procedures and methods to help current staff as well as setting up workshops for them to learn about useful tools such as podcasting. I am trying not to do so much so that the staff may not be overwhelmed. Three basic tools that I would like for staff to learn and continue to apply are: 1. eBlasting procedures, 2. how to podcast, 3. how to screencast (if I decide not to continue my service). Maybe how to map out their constituents through Google Earth. It is not much or too complicated as say, teaching others how to maintain a Drupal website, but I think it will benefit the organization.

By the way, it was great seeing all the VISTA peeps at NTEN. Thanks Morgan for taking us to that one neatloaf place. What’s the name of the restaurant? A lot of people are excited about going there.

I've got just about a month and a half left before my VISTA service ends. Some of my main projects between now and then will be preparing for the tranisition of my responsibilities and ongoing projects to whoever will be assuming them, training new staff members and working on documentation.

Recently I've been working on a DVD for a documentary about a four year project my HOME Inc was involved in a few years ago with several schools. We're planning to make it available for sale, so the quality has to be top notch.

I also recently edited a video shot by students who attended the inauguration back in January. Copies will be given to the students and donors that made the trip possible.

We're in the process of hiring new staff and restructuring the organization to work with new schools, with our program in the Somerville school district expanding. I've been interviewing many of the candidates for staff as well as assisting in the plannign for the summer and the following school year.