FGM tends to follow the mothership's philosophy for handling green volunteers. The ones the do have some computer experience goes to loading because they already have an understanding of computers to where someone has no experience goes to deman to take apart computers and learn about them at the same time.
One would think just taking a newbie to deman could be taken as 'were just getting them out of the way'. Exactly WRONG. With the right teacher, they:
1) LOSE THEIR FEAR of computers because they are working on them from second one
2) If they break something, who cares - were recycling it already 3) They learn about recycling as they LEARN about computer components** You have to understand the components on a part to correctly deman it **
As they gain basic knowledge, they move to the eval and testing tables.
4) They learn to determine if something works or not (Eval)
5) In testing, they learn to find specifically what is wrong and repair it
6) Learn *IF* it's worth the trouble to fix or not
Finally, they move to the load tables...
7) Software... The hardest part...
7a: Software is easy
7b: Internet is crazy
7c: Teaching the difference between a hardware, software, internet
issue That's the tough part.
I do agree. Getting them in the door is the easy part. Demonstrating to them:
8) Returning the system to those in need is a good thing 9) Free Software (more importantly freedom of choice) is very important 10) Good comes from what were doing at all levels.In reference to it's easier training someone w/ experience then an newbie. That will always be true. We as an organization have to get better at taking newbies under our wings and training them. If they do not feel self worth in what they are doing, they will not return. I've been doing computers for 31-32 years now. Everyday I learn something new about them. EVEN in the old systems we work with.
*** EXPANDING THE SUBJECT ***For Tuesday (and for quite a while) Make sure your wearing clothing that you do not care if they get ruined or not. As we work through the old stuff you will get very dirty.
The primary function right now is getting 16 systems together by early February. Tom needs them for TWO classes in February and since were taking volunteers now (Yeah!) we also need to make sure were building a reserve stock to meet their needs as they reach 16 hours.
Why haven't we taken volunteers before now? Most only want to deman, load or test systems. We had to setup, prep and find everything they need to do their jobs. Chuq reported he finally found mice. That was the last needed piece to get loading going. WE STILL NEED MICE. We will always need mice. We'll probably end up buying some at some point.
Testing needs it's lights hung up and power strips located.
Evaluation needs a light hung up and power strip located.
We need to get the Internet going. (Need to remember to email Tom,
Comcrap not working again) Hey Comcast (Comcrap) Your favorite Linux
distro, Postfix, Clamav, Spamassassin <<-- Enough said! (Seems I'm
missing something there??????)
As of last Tuesday, I had ONE system capable of being wiped and installed. The drive wipe got done, it's ready for loading. There is a half a gaylord that needs going through to see if we have got QUALIFIED candidate systems for Freeboxes. The gaylord I pulled is badly mislabeled and very old stuff. Many of those systems were capable but need new CD-ROM's in them. Those are sitting on the testing table.
Deman, testing (repairs in this case) evaluation and loading positions all have something to do Tuesday.
We have pleanty of computers, monitors, power cords and keyboards. Mice are thin at best. We have plenty of spare parts to fix the systems that can be repaired easily. Basket cases go to deman.
I need to get some sleep...
Richard
On 01/17/2010 9:25 PM, Phil Goldbach wrote:
I don't think getting people to show up once is a problem, either. The hard part is getting them to come back, because we had a lot of people who'd show up once and they'd never show back up again.It is better to only have a few show up at a time because once there is quite a few people it does get a bit hard to train them all and find something for everyone to do. Not to mention we're going to have people who'd prefer to learn how to install or deman, so the extra deman table is probably going to have to be built soon if we're going to bring in new volunteers. In addition, we're probably going to have people who have little or no experience to those with experience on computers. It's always been easier to train those who do have experience than those who don't in my opinion. Although I was thinking that it might be best if we had a couple blank pieces of extra wood to mount a motherboard, AGP/PCI video cards, NIC cards, and RAM, have it labeled to use a reference in showing new volunteers. There's also the guide to installing Vector 5.9 that I wrote up that is on the warehouse server.And in case you all didn't know, the SBWD (South Bend Waste Disposal) facility on Fifth Street in Mishawaka is now into recycling computers and electronics. It's $12 for large items, like TVs. Businesses may drop off with prior permission from the district, according to the little flier. Not sure if that's something the board might want to consider as a spot to help get rid of some of our excess junk that either won't go to eBay or we can't really recycle ourselves.Phil Goldbach "Men cry not for themselves, but for their comrades." --- On *Sun, 1/17/10, john jones /<rainman121065@xxxxxxxxx>/* wrote: From: john jones <rainman121065@xxxxxxxxx> Subject: [frgeek-michiana] Re: Volunteers To: frgeek-michiana@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Sunday, January 17, 2010, 5:01 PM I dont think getting voulenters is gonna be an issue as before theres word of mouth friends are gonna tell theyre friends ect ect ect and we still may have an over abundance of people anyways,, and im sorry if somebody comes through that door wanting to earn a computer for theyre kid,or unemployment or whatever have you,, im not gonna tell them no,im gonna find them something to do to where they can earn a computer because thats what we do,, and thats what were all about............ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *From:* Phil Goldbach <shadowvar8541@xxxxxxxxx> *To:* frgeek-michiana@xxxxxxxxxxxxx *Sent:* Sun, January 17, 2010 3:03:34 AM *Subject:* [frgeek-michiana] Re: Volunteers For those of you interested, there is a projector in the works that projects a TOUCH screen! Link is here: http://www.switched.com/2010/01/08/light-touch-pico-projector-creates-touchscreen-out-of-anything?icid=sphere_blogsmith_inpage_engadget Looks pretty cool, although it's still in development and release date is unknown. I do see one or two potential problems with setting up kiosks for SJCPL. 1-Kind of obvious, but since these kiosks are going to have Linux on them, then at least one or two volunteers will have to be present to help with any questions. 2-The people filing for unemployment may expect someone from WorkOne to be able to help them, and I do believe the news article in the South Bend Tribune said there wasn't always one on hand. I'd be willing to come on a more regular basis if we get more volunteers in. If so, in order to help co-ordinate new volunteers, I do have a few two-way radios that I'd be willing to let FGM borrow. This would work out well instead of saying having to always run back and forth between the work area and storage area, also saves on cell phone usage, even though we are all basically "right there". I'd also need transportation on those nights, I'm sure I could work something out with Chuq for Thursdays, but if I'm needed also on Tuesdays, then I am sure I can figure something out for that as well, maybe I can talk my girlfriend into coming and helping, lol. Phil Goldbach "Men cry not for themselves, but for their comrades." --- On *Sat, 1/16/10, Chuq /<chuq00@xxxxxxxxx>/* wrote: From: Chuq <chuq00@xxxxxxxxx> Subject: [frgeek-michiana] Re: Volunteers To: frgeek-michiana@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Saturday, January 16, 2010, 9:30 PM Read further into the post, unless it did not go through for some reason.. So here it is: "How ever we go about advertising for volunteers I think the biggest thing for us to do is to make sure that they contact Goose or myself first so we can make sure that we do not have an over abundance of people on one night and none on the next, plus we don't want 18 people showing up at one time on any given night.. just too many new faces for us to supervise. I am trying to get a Google voice number for people to call so that way I can return their calls, and also leave some information on the voice mail about it, but unfortunately the 574 area is quite expansive and I am not finding anything that is "local" I am finding numbers for Royal Center Galveston Logansport Akron Walton which are all 574 it is just that they may be faced with a toll call but most people have a cell phone anyways. Plus we can give them an email address to reply to. I feel that is going to be the best bet. You know we can only go so far to make things easy on the people if they haveto incur a small charge to get the info then that is what it will have to be. I will grab a number and post it when it isready, and Goose if you could make us up an email address say volunteer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx </mc/compose?to=volunteer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> and give you and me access to it (and anyone else who would need it to field volunteers) or maybe have that email automatically forward the messages to us. Let me know before I pick a phone number if that sounds good to you.. The Flier once it is made can say Call, Email, or TXT us at and then give the appropriate info.. Just a thought. Once we make actual contact with the people we can then tell them the location of the building. On the flier we can put in the days and time and say that we are near Downtown South Bend, and Bus accessible. If someone wants to work on a rough draft of the flier and send it to us that would be great! We can always fill in the information needed. Printing should not be an issue, Goose has the printer at the warehouse ready to go I believe. I think we still need to find th color printer, which probably would be a nice thing to use for the fliers. Chuq" On Sat, 2010-01-16 at 20:45 -0500, Richard Zimmerman wrote:What phone numbers are these? I've noticed, they are all long distance numbers. Less then desirable... Richard On 01/16/2010 2:19 PM, Chuq wrote:I think right now if we can have 8-10 volunteers a night we will be good.. The biggest issue I see is that along with Goose and myself it would be really handy to have a seasoned volunteer in there with us so they can help with direction and overseeing... BTW Here is a sample list of numbers I found for us to use, any suggestions on it would be great! Royal Center, IN (574) 643-1FGM ** Chuq's #1 pick Galveston, IN (574) 699-FGM6 Galveston, IN (574) 699-FGM3 Logansport, IN (574) 516-2FGM Galveston, IN (574) 699-FGM9 ** Chuq's #2 pick Walton, IN (574) 626-8FGM Galveston, IN (574) 699-FGM2 Galveston, IN (574) 699-FGM4 Galveston, IN (574) 699-3FGM Lucerne, IN (574) 889-0FGM Chuq On Sat, 2010-01-16 at 10:44 -0800, john jones wrote:or they can be on someone elses puter looking for a puter,to relieve the congestion and traffic i really think we should set a par on how many voulenteres we bring in cuz more then likely as b4 once they put in theyre hours and get theyre free box more then likely theyll be gone unless of course something goes wrong with it.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *From:* Chuq <chuq00@xxxxxxxxx> </mc/compose?to=chuq00@xxxxxxxxx> *To:*frgeek-michiana@xxxxxxxxxxxxx </mc/compose?to=frgeek-michiana@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> *Sent:* Sat, January 16, 2010 1:18:51 PM *Subject:*[frgeek-michiana] Re: Volunteers Plus with Craig's list they already have a computer, now granted they might know someone who could benefit from FGM but I think the better idea is Toms with passing out flyer's. Chuq On Sat, 2010-01-16 at 10:32 -0500, Richard Zimmerman wrote:Thieves looking for an easy hit... Just sayin... Goose On 01/16/2010 10:20 AM, Tom Brown wrote: > I think advertizing for volunteers on Craigslist is an excellent idea. > I also think it is good to coordinate with Chuq and Goose. > > We might want to pass out flyers about FGM at the public library on > Sundays as well. There are a lot of unemployed people who might be > interested in volunteering to have something productive to do and > obtain a computer and training in the process. > > Tom > > john jones wrote: >> I can put an add on craigslist but i can almost guarenttee you when i >> do theyre gonna be lined up at the door mostly because of the >> unemployment computer crisis thats goin on,at the other warehouse it >> was pretty easy because we had unlimited space,unfortunately we dont >> have that luxury at SBWD so if we get 20 volunters what are they >> gonna do? we really should prob wait until at least Feb when we are >> cleanned up and have internet and a gameplan,its really up to yall, >> though is open for input.................. >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> *From:* Tom Brown<tbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxx </mc/compose?to=tbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxx>> >> *To:*frgeek-michiana@xxxxxxxxxxxxx </mc/compose?to=frgeek-michiana@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> >> *Sent:* Fri, January 15, 2010 11:15:53 AM >> *Subject:* [frgeek-michiana] Re: Warehouse Report >> >> Hardinfo >> http://hardinfo.berlios.de/HomePage >> >> I don't think hardinfo is bootable so you would need a live CD with >> hardinfo installed. Perhaps DSL live, RescueCD or Slax could be a >> base, the lighter the better. I'm not sure how hardinfo reacts to >> proprietary OS's. >> >> If you want to see hardinfo in action, boot up VL 6.0 Std, click on >> Menu> System> System Profiler and Benchmark. Or check out a screen >> cast athttp://wiki.hardinfo.org/Screencast. >> >> Tom >> >> Chuq wrote: >> > Well tonight was a pretty good night.. Present were Phil, Dan& >> Chuq. Kevin stopped by with a donation of 2 hard drives. >> > Dan hung the lights over the deman table. >> > Dan, Phil and myself searched for mice, and we found some.. found >> more that were ball-less though! >> > Phil& I started sorting through stuff.. We have a gaylord that is >> declared Ebay for everything that we are not going to use. >> > Phil& I started sorting through the optical drives and getting >> those organized. >> > We then started working on hard drives. >> > We managed to locate the VL 5.9 disks and the deban disks, so we >> now have 6 sets for the load table. >> > I am going to look into the floppy disk assest manager program that >> has been tossed around the board for a while (hint if Mike or anyone >> else has the link readily available please send it) so we can start >> cataloging the systems. >> > We need some more volunteers! We are ready to start loading. >> > Ideally I think we need 1 person on loading, 2 or 3 on deman and 2 >> or 3 on organizing and possibly another to go through some of the >> stuff in the storage area. >> > So if anyone knows of some people ready and willing to volunteer we >> sure could use them! >> > >> > Chuq >> > >> > Ohh BTW we need some TP for the warehouse... it seems that someone >> used the last of it and did not replace the roll! >> >> ** This list is PUBLICLY archived. ** >> PLEASE don't post personal or sensitive information unless you wish >> for it to be in the public domain. >> >> To visit the main website for Free Geek Michiana go to >> http://www.freegeekmichiana.org >> >> To post to the list send email tofrgeek-michiana@xxxxxxxxxxxxx </mc/compose?to=frgeek-michiana@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> >> <mailto:frgeek-michiana@xxxxxxxxxxxxx </mc/compose?to=frgeek-michiana@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>>. >> The archive is available at >> //www.freelists.org/archives/frgeek-michiana/ >> >> You may unsubscribe or change your list settings by going to the list >> website at//www.freelists.org/webpage/frgeek-michiana >> >> > > ** This list is PUBLICLY archived. ** > PLEASE don't post personal or sensitive information unless you wish > for it to be in the public domain. > > To visit the main website for Free Geek Michiana go to > http://www.freegeekmichiana.org > > To post to the list send email tofrgeek-michiana@xxxxxxxxxxxxx </mc/compose?to=frgeek-michiana@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>. > The archive is available at > //www.freelists.org/archives/frgeek-michiana/ > > You may unsubscribe or change your list settings by going to the list > website at//www.freelists.org/webpage/frgeek-michiana-- Richard "Goose" Zimmerman, ke4ritMishawaka, IN
-- Richard "Goose" Zimmerman, ke4rit Mishawaka, IN
