Cleveland Digital Vision
Thursday, October 23, 2003
CLOSING CLEVELAND'S DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY GAP: Digital Vision's Board of Directors met on Monday and gave final approval to our "Program to Narrow Our City's Digital Opportunity Gap, 2004-2008".
The five-year program makes concrete proposals for action by the City of Cleveland (along with the School District, CMHA, and other leaders) in four key areas: household computer ownership and network access; neighborhood technology training, support and leadership; a community-wide standard for basic computer literacy; and educating more city residents for opportunities in tech-driven sectors.
You can download a PDF copy by right-clicking here.
Friday, October 17, 2003
WIRELESS WAFFLES: Tremont Scoops at 2362 Professor Ave. is throwing a pancake breakfast on Sunday, October 26th to raise money for Tremont WiFi, Cleveland's first "neighborhood wireless network". The price is only five bucks, the Belgian waffles are guaranteed to be outstanding, and the money will go to buy more access points and wireless cards for the neighborhood. See the flyer here. And... bring your laptop and 802.11 card, if you have one, because Scoops is TwiFi's first community hotspot! What could be better?
DV DAILY LINK: If you don't know what the heck this "WiFi" stuff is about, look here for an introduction.
Thursday, October 16, 2003
COMMUNITY TECH ADVOCATES AT THE STATEHOUSE: Yesterday was "Ohio Community Technology Day", and forty community technology leaders from all over the state travelled to Columbus to participate in OCCN's "Community Technology Education Day" at the Statehouse. Digital Vision's five-person delegation managed to meet personally with Senator C.J. Prentiss and Representatives Annie Key and Claudette Woodard, to introduce the work done by community technology programs throughout Cleveland.
DV DAILY LINK: OCCN's "Resources" page features a new list of sites for older adults, along with a lot of other useful stuff. (But I have to tell them to add two Cleveland senior sites: Dan Hanson's clevelandseniors.com, and the Cleveland Public Library's SeniorsConnect.)
Wednesday, October 15, 2003
BDPA OPENS NEW COMPUTER CENTER IN LEE-HARVARD:
A Lee-Harvard neighbor checks out one of the new workstations
The Cleveland chapter of BDPA IT Thought Leaders unveiled the city's newest neighborhood technology center at the Harvard Community Services Center last evening.
The grand opening took place at the Lee Harvard Community Association's monthly meeting, complete with tours of the new center for the fifty neighbors in attendance. Featuring ten new workstations with flatscreen monitors and a wireless network, it was installed with a grant from the City Council / Adelphia Neighborhood Technology Fund.
This is the second BDPA technology center in the neighborhood; the first was opened two years ago at nearby John F. Kennedy High School. Chapter President Beverly Peterson got an enthusiastic round of applause from last night's meeting with her remark that Lee-Harvard is on its way to becoming "a technology hub."
Friday, October 10, 2003
IC3 CERTIFICATION: Representatives of six Cleveland community computer programs met this afternoon with the Cleveland School District's Office of Adult Education to discuss a collaboration to train neighborhood residents for "IC3" certification.
"Internet and Computing Core Certification" is "the world's first global, validated, standards-based training and certification program for measuring fundamental computing and Intrnet knowledge and skills". The Adult Ed office has set up an authorized IC3 testing center, and is just starting its second certification training class at Max Hayes. Folks from Famicos Foundation, Esperanza, the Empowerment Center, ASC3, the Eastside Ecumenical Consortium and CEE-GES -- along with Digital Vision and Computers Assisting People -- met with Adult Ed's Lori Brito to talk about setting up a training system that can prepare residents for the IC3 tests at neighborhood CTCs.
It was a good start, and all the participants are ready to move forward. Watch this site for progress reports.
DV DAILY LINK: Certiport IC3 page
Thursday, October 09, 2003
OHIO COMMUNITY TECHNOLOGY DAY: Governor Taft has declared October 15, 2003 to be "Ohio Community Technology Day". That's next Wednesday, when a Digital Vision delegation will join community tech advocates from all over the state for an "education day" in the State Capitol, visiting legislators and explaining what we do. Want to join us? There's room... email me.
DV DAILY LINK: Neighborhood Link at CSU's Center For Neighborhood Development... bookmark it!
Wednesday, October 08, 2003
DV DAILY LINK(S): With Microsoft looming on its economic skyline, it's not surprising that the City of Seattle has had information technology on the agenda for a long time. One result: A City Office of Community Technology that supports neighborhood computer access and literacy efforts thoughout the city and publishes a monthly webzine called Brainstorm to tell the world about them.
Our own City Hall has been thinking hard about technology for only a couple of years. Along with email for City staff and a "tech czar" to search for Knowledge Industry business opportunities, the Campbell Administration has brought us a vastly improved City web site. It includes today's second "DV Daily Link" -- the Planning Commission's interactive map of the city that lets you make maps -- of wards, neighborhoods, etc. -- with all kinds of color-coded information. Have fun!
