We’re thrilled that more than 40 students, MESA Advisors and parents from the MESA Washington program will join Hack for Change – Seattle on Saturday, June 1. MESA students are developing an application to address the problem of managing students’ assignments and projects. The students’ application is called “MESA Solutions for Learning” which should make managing any student tasks fun, inspiring and attainable for the struggling, as well as motivated, students.

The high-school students will also work with software developers in workshops and open-data advocates to build applications and visualizations. These applications are based on the data available on data.seattle.gov, Seattle’s open data platform. The day-long event will culminate in the presentation and judging of MESA team projects, and awarding prizes to the winners.

Register to join the MESA students at Hack for Change – Seattle at: RSVP

#Hack4Seattle

The City of Seattle and Code for Seattle invite you to attend Hack for Change – Seattle as part of the National Day of Civic Hacking.  Co-sponsored by Seattle open data innovators, Socrata, Inc., the event will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., in Seattle’s City Hall (600 Fourth Ave, Seattle).

Register for the free event at:  RSVP

If you are a software developer, entrepreneur, self-proclaimed computer geek or just an interested resident, we encourage you to join us on June 1 as we work collaboratively to create, build and invent new solutions using publicly-released data, code and technology to solve challenges relevant to our neighborhoods, cities, states and country.

In addition to working on applications and visualizations based on Seattle’s open data platform, data.seattle.gov, Hack for Change – Seattle participants will have the opportunity to attend workshops and join in discussions on civic data and engagement.

The digital book Tarikna is an amazing journey for readers and for its 14 youth authors from Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia.  Tarikna was produced through a combined English literacy and digital media program by the YTech Program at the Metrocenter YMCA of Seattle with the Seattle Public Library and Horn of Africa Services. For the 14 exceptional participants, the first parts of their journeys are the stories they share in Tarikna of leaving their home countries to come to the U.S.  The second journey was the process of improving their English reading and writing skills and digital media production skills through the program.  The stories have been published through the PugetSoundOff.org youth civic engagement web site that the City of Seattle supports.

Every Tuesday and Thursday for three months the East African youth immigrants and refugees met at the Seattle Public Library Central Branch for reading and writing exercises, followed by a technology component in the YTech computer lab.

During the English literacy program the youth:
1) drafted a college admissions essay, 2) read “The Translator” by Daoud Hari, created a resume, 3) attended a resume critique event with professionals from Boeing, Microsoft, and Slalom Consulting, 4) wrote a short essay about their experiences in immigrating from Africa to the United States, and lastly 5) created a Digital Book containing their stories which can now be viewed online at
www.pugetsoundoff.org/tarikna.

The program wasn’t all hard work. In addition to completing the rigorous requirements of the English literacy program, the youth also practiced photography skills, toured the Seattle Art Museum and met with attorneys in the board room at Ryan, Swanson, and Cleveland’s law office in Downtown Seattle to learn about potential legal careers.

Thanks to Aaron Curtis for his work on this program. You can read more about the YTech’s programs here.

Puget Sound Off is supported in part by the City of Seattle Community Technology Program with funding from Comcast.

A big THANK YOU to more than 2,900 residents who completed our residential technology survey!

Over the past few months, 803 people completed our random phone survey and 2,128 people took the survey online.  Thank you for caring about Seattle’s technological future and taking the time to tell us how we can communicate more effectively throughout the city.

Your survey responses will help guide the City of Seattle’s work on digital equity, broadband services, public outreach and engagement, cable franchising, the Seattle Channel, and the City’s web and social media.  We also hope your responses will be useful to community groups and educators, and others planning to deliver information and applications to our diverse residents.

If you’d like to receive a note when the results come out, email us at communitytechnology@seattle.gov.

THANK YOU.

The City of Seattle wants to hear from residents about their use of technology, preferences in receiving information from the City and how they engage with their local government and community.  Take the survey in English or Spanish at seattle.gov/tech/indicator2013.htm before April 19.  (Encuesta de Televisor, Computadora e Internet e comunicación con grupos comunitarios o administración municipal – Para los residentes de Seattle)

The Technology Indicators Survey covers:
•    Internet,
•    Cable TV customer satisfaction,
•    How you want to give your opinion or get info from the city
•    Social media preferences,
•    Cell phones usage,
•    Concerns about cost or security
•    High-speed Internet services

Help us also connect with non-internet users. We encourage Internet users to help others complete the survey. For those without a computer at home, the City offers public access to computers at libraries, Neighborhood Service Centers and some community centers. Visit www.seattle.gov/tech/freeaccess.htm or call 206-684-0600 for more information.

Answers from this survey will help shape the City’s strategic and engagement efforts regarding cable re-franchising, the City’s web site, Seattle Channel and public outreach.

The online survey results will add to a random telephone phone survey currently underway and a series of focus groups in multiple languages. The City expects to publish comprehensive survey results this summer. Past results have been used in decisions about the Technology Matching Fund grant program, and in outreach for neighborhood planning, utility assistance and health education programs.

For more information on the Information Technology Indicators Project, visit www.seattle.gov/tech/indicators/ or contact communitytechnology@seattle.gov.  Also see the press release.

Encuesta de Televisor, Computadora e Internet – Para los residentes de Seattle

Peter Gishuru, Yohannes Beshi and ACPNW intern Ida Goitem with students at the lab.

Peter Gishuru, the President and CEO of the African Chamber of Commerce of the Pacific Northwest (ACCPNW), was talking with a recent immigrant from Kenya, who complained of not knowing how to operate a computer. “I do not even have email,” he said. Unable to find employment, this man wanted to volunteer at a local senior center, even though manning the front desk, and thus the computer, would pose a dreaded task. Like him, many African immigrants and refugees struggle with a notable lack of computer skills.

To address this gap the African Chamber of Commerce received funds from the Technology Matching Fund to implement a computer literacy program at the Center for East African Community Affairs (CEACA). Located in the Rainier Beach United Methodist Church, CEACA maintains a 15-unit computer lab that is fully equipped with Internet access, is wheelchair accessible, and offers daycare facilities for families. Centrally located and easily accessible by public transportation, Rainier Beach is an ideal location to offer computer classes to its 300 members.

The program successfully launched in November. Classes are held on Saturdays and begin with time to share coffee and doughnuts to create a welcoming environment. Volunteers work with students to teach a variety of skills, ranging from computer basics to learning how to conduct a job search online and using social media. In addition to helping students gain technology skills, a key goal for Peter and Yohannes Beshi, executive director at the CEACA is to create the instructional, practical and administrative organization necessary to continue classes beyond the life of this grant.

For more information on the project contact Peter Gishuru.

Congratulations to LIHI graduate, Tekle Haggos, at the Bart Harvey in the Cascade Neighborhood.

Low Income Housing Institute’s Computer Technology and Job Search Training program is on the move. With support this year from the Technology Matching Fund and the Solid Ground MLK AmeriCorps/VISTA program, LIHI has expanded this project from a small pilot to a growing program serving residents at nine housing sites.

The program offers homeless, formerly homeless and low-income individuals opportunities to increase their employability and career advancement options through a highly individualized computer technology and job search training program. Volunteers, including students from Western Washington University’s Extended Programs and Woodring College of Education, work with refugee and US-born tenants on technology literacy goals set by the residents themselves, including computer basics and typing, completing online employment applications and searching for community resources online. During weekly one-on-one sessions, volunteers emphasize practicing computer technology skills so that participants are able to independently use computer technology after they graduate from the program.

Thirty-five residents have engaged in this volunteer-powered program so far, each gaining between 10 and 20 one-on-one hours of instruction and practice and graduating with pride in meeting their technology literacy goals and new found confidence.

For more information on the project, contact LIHI’s Community Engagement and Advocacy Manager, Ania Beszterda-Alyson.

Hacking group Anonymous has had a taste of its own medicine, with its Twitter account hacked by little-known group Rustle League. It comes after a series of Twitter account breaches, including Burger King, Jeep and presenter on BBC’s Top Gear Jeremy Clarkson. Anonymous is best known for coordinating highly public attacks on big businesses such as Paypal and the US Federal Reserve. But the group has recently been accused of becoming lax with its own cyber security, with a report by security firm McAfee describing Anonymous’ work as hacking-for-hire, and suggesting the collective is going into decline. Anonymous’ Twitter account was down for around three hours before they regained control.
Source: http://www.skynews.com.au/tech/article.aspx?id=849422

Tech Matching Fund awards up to $20,000 in matching funds to community projects which increase resident access to information technology, increase literacy in using technology, and/or apply technology to foster civic engagement and community building.

Deadline: March 4, 2013

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn visits the ECS computer center during the Ethiopian New Year.

The Ethiopian Community in Seattle (ECS) serves all persons of Ethiopian origin by providing help to those in need,  and empowers them to live productive lives.   With support from the Technology Matching Fund last year, the organization revitalized their computer lab.   When asked to reflect on the impact of the grant, Computer Center Coordinator Tefera Gulelat shared these comments:

What were the greatest successes of your project?

“The ECS computer center has become an invaluable resource for large number of low income people in their quest to learn new technology and to better themselves. They surf the internet for job search, tutorial services, homework help, research their class projects and engaging their friends through social media. It is really heartening to see a good number of senior citizens frequenting our facility.”

What were your most difficult challenges?

“We were challenged in several fronts when we tried to procure our native Amharic language word processor. The lack of standards in their encoding (ASCII or Unicode) scheme, compatibility with various operating systems and the varying cost made it harder for us to choose among several competing vendors. There was also an issue of finding proficient volunteers in the chosen Amharic word processor. After contacting various Ethiopian individuals and organizations, with its known compatibility issues, we settled on the ‘Power Geez’ Amharic word processor.

The other challenge was getting a firm commitment from our various volunteers and keeping them engaged for the duration of the project. We have found that counting mainly on volunteers to teach fixed classes or run core activities will lead to disappointed customers. We had to cancel classes and activities during the volunteer’s absence. To mitigate these shortcomings, we reverted back to using hired hands for tutorials, computer class instructions and computer resource center management.”

Tell us about an individual who participated in this project. 

“Mr. Bosna is a 54 year old immigrant from Ethiopia who recently arrived here in Seattle. He had never used a computer before he walked to our center. He was unemployed at the time and looking for help in acquiring a skill to apply for a job.  He subsequently attended two rounds of our computer training classes. He learned how to use the Microsoft office productivity programs. He was also taught how to write in his native language, Amharic, using the Amharic word processor. He was able to prepare his own resume and edit it any time he wants.  He createsd his own email account and sends out electronic messages. He has since applied for several jobs online by attaching his resume.

“The computer center has also become indispensable for several low income families that include a family of six that arrived here in Seattle recently.  The parents brought their children for after school programs, for homework help, research and to use the computer for general purpose. We were thankful for giving a  helping hand to those with limited resources.”

Although the grant officially ended in December, the ECS computer center continues to offer beginning computer classes, ESL, homework help and resume and online job assistance. For more information contact Tefera Gulelat at tefera_gulelat@yahoo.com or visit ecseattle.org.