Week 1

Anne Jonas — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:56:26 +0000

I keep telling myself to post a field report and then it gets pushed under the table, because like Claudia and others I have not found very much down-time! So I thought I'd go ahead and post some stuff I wrote up in my first few days with a few updates.

I've jumped right in to my work here and have hit the ground running (or at least I'm trying!). In my first couple of days I worked on getting up to speed on Miro and Miro Community, and trying to do a little bit of research on tech-related stuff that I'm less familiar with, like CSS, so that I can know the vocabulary that's being used. My supervisor and I spent some time brainstorming ideas for language simplification on the Miro Community sites, and also coming up with more long term things we'd like to see - I've been doing more of that this week as it becomes a priority to develop features for the sites. I've been getting introduced to PCF folks and sitting in on a few related meetings to get a sense of the context of our work, and to learn to explain what I'm doing!

One of the first things my supervisor suggested that I do was decide on a community that I could make a Miro Community site for, which I could moderate and build so that I would be able to get a better sense of what's needed and how things work. I guess this is a little like running through a curriculum in order to know how to improve it, except that in building up the site I'll also be leaving behind an infrastructure that someone else, or ideally many someone elses, can take over when I'm gone. I came up with a bunch of ideas for communities (this is why the Miro Community project is so cool - it has so many potential applications!). A few that I considered were an Americorps site (there is a surprising amount of Americorps video out there!), a site having to do with poverty and community programs, and one related to groups I've been involved with, like the Lesbian Herstory Archives and the NYC Grassroots Media Coalition. However, I decided that for this it would be best for me to focus on something I'm pretty familiar with and could really dig into, with the idea that more could be built later. So we agreed that I would focus broadly on feminist video, and within that I would particularly focus on the practice of fanvidding, hopefully working with the Organization of Transformative Works. This is something I'm really interested in, and while it doesn't directly contribute to the "end poverty" mission, I think it will be a space where I can learn a lot and get a lot of more widely applicable ideas. I also see a lot of potential for coalitions and partnerships, including ones related to poverty. So far I've reached out to a couple of contacts about this and they're excited - it's starting to come together in a way that's really energizing.

Things move very quickly here, and I'm a little worried that I'm not getting enough done/ not keeping up well enough. But I'm trying - reading up on some blogfeeds my supervisor suggested and really just jumping in on developing the Miro Community sites. I tried to set up a call with one group and have been a little disheartened at the lack of response, but we'll keep trying. My supervisor and I met with several groups last week about building partnerships, and it was really valuable for me to hear what their concerns were as well as the potential uses they saw for the project. One thing we heard a lot of, especially from the Public Access folks we met with, is that their supervisors are very wary of new technology until they hear about it externally (so, they don't get why they might want a site like Miro Community but they're really into Twitter because they're heard about it in the news). There's also a lot of concern about adding extra work and anxiety about prioritizing core functions because of the financial crisis. One thing I feel we really need to focus on with these folks is the importance of building sustainable systems so that they can come out of this recession stronger than ever, otherwise I think this could be a near-fatal blow.

I also decided it would be beneficial to attend the NAMAC conference and am working on setting that up - has anyone else heard from the volunteer coordinator? I found Bolt Bus tickets NYC-Boston for $1.50 each way, so I'm pretty happy about that.

Well, I think I should get back to work now, but that's a taste of what I've been up to so far! I've loved hearing about how things are going for you all, too - keep it coming!

first two and a half weeks

Rebecca White — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 00:20:49 +0000

I guess I've been here two and a half weeks now; it feels so normal now that I'm wondering what to say about it.

I get the impression that my organization (the California Coalition for Rural Housing, CCRH) is very different from most of the others. We're a suite of offices rather than a community center, and I haven't yet had any contact with the population we serve. Scratch that; our audience is the affordable housing community, rather than individuals. We work with groups like other affordable housing nonprofits, town governments, lobbyist groups, and tenants' associations. So in terms of the people aspects of our work, sitting in on conference calls and going to meetings is where it's at (though hopefully I will be involved in some GIS trainings later in my service).

I'm pretty much treated like a regular employee here; my title is "Community Technology Specialist" <brag>and I've got business cards to prove it.</brag> I've got an office with a desk, filing cabinets, and a computer, though I generally use my own because I'm more comfortable with its tools.

During the first few days I met everyone who works here (or five of the six; Rob was out of town) and talked to them about what they work on. I read a few grants, and sat in on some meetings. And then my supervisor Darryl and I started talking about the website, which is my priority right now. It's currently a jumble of static html pages, most of which are broken and out of date. I'm really excited about the ideas behind the redesign, and I'll definitely be blogging about it.

Also, I went to apply for food stamps on Monday. For Californians on food stamps: there's a "customer service" number on the back of the EBT card; to talk to a person when you call that, don't enter your card number when prompted, just press #. And then press it again when it prompts you again. I was suprised that noone gave me any information on what I can and can't buy with food stamps, or a list of local stores that accept them, but supposedly I can get those questions answered at that customer service number. (Since when are we "customers" of the government...?)

Digital Arts Service Corps - first week

Week 1

first two and a half weeks