Digital Arts Service Corps - ctc vista

How To Pick a Good Candidate for your CTC VISTA Position

Morgan Sully — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:26:57 +0000

It's true. Most of the CTC VISTAs who apply for projects are fresh college grads. While there are some folks (Boomers, even some Gen X'ers) who apply, the majority of us are fresh outta college and eager to jump in to our first 'real world' jobs. But we lack experience. We're sometimes too idealistic, unpracticed and yes, can need a LOT of support - and not even know how to ask for it. That said, we also have A LOT of skills - particularly around research. We're smart, über-connected and can learn *very* quickly. We can learn ANYTHING. With this in mind, here's some tips in selecting an appropriate candidate for your CTC VISTA position.

Things To Look For:

Connectedness
Do they have a blog? What about a Facebook Account? Twitter account? Have you Google'd your VISTA candidates?

This should be a no brainer. When you hire your VISTA, you also hire their network. Repeat: when you hire your VISTA, you also hire their network. While no VISTA is capable of doing everything alone (nor should you expect them to!), we *are* capable of achieving great things together. We do this by staying connected through various online communication mediums - email, listservs, Google chat, Skype, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook - even people in our 'offline' communities. Knowing how to do something is never more than a few keystrokes (or a phone call) away.

Tip: we love staying connected to knowledge and resources necessary for our professional development. Use this to your organization's advantage.

Previous Experience
What were they involved with before? What kinds of experience can *they* bring to your organization? Let 'em brag - and then test them on it. Have a conversation about it. Most of our experience may come from staying up late to finish papers or researching new methods, histories or tools of our academic focus. How might these same skills apply to the tasks at hand?

Tip: Learn about your VISTA's previous experience. They can draw from this throughout their year to overcome professional challenges.

Confidence in Learning through Online Social Networks
We may have our email client, chat, Facebook and Twitter accounts open, but it doesn't mean we aren't working - we're learning. We're fresh out of school and eager to test, experiment and learn more. Within the professional context of 'work' informal learning and research is the name of the game here. Encourage this.

Ask us to report back what we learn. We're sometimes in a constant 'break out session'. What are we learning? How does what we do online tie back to our offline work at the organization? Through the process of interacting online, we can listen for and test new ideas, succeed (or fail) and integrate what we learn into our daily workflow. Take advantage of this.

Tip: Social networks are the new internet (or university). For an *optimum* CTC VISTA experience, ask your VISTA how they're socializing/experimenting - and to be honest - playing with the plethora of internet tools out there. What can they scour from the big semi-open Internet to benefit your organization? What should they listen for? What things are happening online related to your organization's mission?

CTC VISTA role in their organization

Leena Silverman — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 19:07:09 +0000

I have been having some difficulty explaining my role as a vista and or CTC vista at my organization. Some of the people working there have ideas of what my job will be that do not fit the vista work description at all. Last night I attended a meeting and typed up what a Vista is, what a CTC Vista is, and my role in the organization; some people still seemed confused. Does anybody have any suggestions on how they introduced them selves and made it clear to everyone what there role is in their organization? I also, mentioned that my part is to capasity build and to make their programs better and stronger. I know that I will probably have to do direct service, but i need to make it clear that my role is so much more than that.

My quick intro blog

Karl Hedstrom — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 22:10:00 +0000

My name is Karl Hedstrom and I've been working with NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Network) in San Francisco since Ocotober. I just missed the previous PSO in September so am just now finally getting properly oriented as a CTC VISTA..

Before joining NTEN and the CTC VISTA Project, I served for 27 months in Niger, West Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer. My focus there was on community development, but I also delved into several other fields including AIDS awareness, environmental education and small income generation. This experience allowed me to see first hand the huge impact of technology in the development industry.

I graduated from Pomona College in 2002 with a BA in Physics, and while this was of little use during my time in Niger, the technical skills I picked up nicely complement my development experience as I transition into my role here at NTEN.

Outside of work I'm a big outdoors enthusiast and often follow the "spur-of-the-moment weekend trip" model to fulfill that need.

From LA> Boston

Mike Matthews — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 22:07:54 +0000

Well I arrived in Boston for the first time in life last night to a scary 15 degree climate. Cold to many, but from someone raised in LA an experienced 80 degrees on Christmas, this was just flippin ridiculous.-lol You know how your foot tingles when it falls asleep, yeah that's how my whole face felt. I missed my first plane @ 620am from LAX to Salt Lake city but was on my on the 8ish am flight with a lay-over in ATL. Goodness gracious why couldn't I have gone to the pso in Atlanta, would've cut the flight in half. Anywho, I'm havin a ball out here in Boston where the accent is apparent. So many green trees and fresh water is foreign to me. It's like a new concept when you're accustomed to a smog filled road-raged infested city. I have like 1 of the coolest supervisors ever (Martin Cheesebouroh) of The Media Aid Center. Basically we give inner-city High School kids the opportunity to learn and get inolved with the film and media industry. We teach various software & build sound stages & TV studios in schools. In 07 I'm plotting world domination! I'm still at the pso so I've gotta be brief. Who've thought I be so darn chatty with my very first Blog entry ever?? Not Mike, no sir. Gotta run. Ya'll stay tuned.

-Big Mike

NYMAP computer is here!

gariet cowin — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 18:14:15 +0000

We finally got our super-sweet computer that we will be using for the NYMAP youth video exchange. Unfortunately, I got it about 5 minutes before I left for vacation, so it has just been sitting around for the last week. But now I am back, and ready to put it to good use. Youth media swapping, here I come!

I'll post another entry when I actually have a chance to try it out, and learn more about the whole exchange process.

Good morning CTC VISTA Project

Richard T. Anderson — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 13:07:05 +0000

Good Morning,

Well, the sun is rising here in Michigan on chilly Friday. My computer is now by the window, so I can look out on the sky, the trees, the road, and the apartment complex office.

Yesterday, Jeanne, my supervisor, said, "It's the last good day for a bike ride." She was probably right. It was unusually nice yesterday and it's supposed to get colder starting today. But you never know. There could always be a 60 degree day in December. This is Michigan, after all.

Work has been keeping me pretty busy, the last couple weeks. MoLLIE was out at a school nearly every day for two weeks. Now we're settling back into a lighter schedule. And I really want to focus on developing an audio class. We don't have surveys in yet telling us that that is specifically what the community wants, but I'm starting to think I should just proceed as if we have. Not having the survey's is just a way of procrastinating on doing something that I've never done, and thus is scary.

So, I'm going to go over my syllabi (syllabuses?) from my audio production class at Grand Valley and think about what would work for a beginning and advanced class. Seems like a good starting point.

In life news; I got a car. I've been without a car since July. And it really is no good in Grand Rapids. The public transit has improved over the years, but it's still not great for much besides going to and from work, and even then only if you are on a bus route (which fortunately I was).

Having a car means I can go out some nights. Especially nights when there are open mics for me to go and play my guitar and sing some songs.

My roommate and I are finally having a "house"-warming party. Which also doubles as a post Halloween, post-election celebration. And it's seems to have a six degrees of seperation aspect as well. If any VISTA's are in GR on Saturday, let me know, I'll give you directions.

Well, I'm probably already going a bit long for a blog. So I think I'll say adu.

Peace,

Rich

You call this poor

Will Quinones — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 20:33:15 +0000

I got my first check yesterday. yea it was a little dissapointing. I thought maybe i would be better off as a migrant worker lol. The work is good. i'm not sure why i only recieved $85. Anyway i lived off less. after all i wasnt working for the whole summer. hopefully the nearby shelter will supply me with dinner until the next check.

o yea my organization is fundraising and wants me to ask you guys for donations. but please send cash because i cant claim anything else on my taxes, i mean THEY cant claim anything on their taxes. so send your money to:

help feed Will foundation

357 9st

Brooklyn NY 11215

thanks for your support lol.