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Computer Camp what's hotcable surveyDo you live or work in Seattle's Central District, Beacon Hill, Downtown, Queen Anne or Capitol Hill? Please take a few moments to complete a survey on Millennium's Cable and Internet service. The survey is available on the City's Office of Cable Communication's web page, here under "What's New." Who should take the survey? You are eligible if you are a Millennium Digital Media cable TV or Internet subscriber, have access to Millennium's services, or live in the Central District, Beacon Hill, Downtown Seattle, Queen Anne or Capitol Hill neighborhoods. Why? Your opinion matters! The City of Seattle will be negotiating a renewed cable franchise agreement with Millennium (or its successor) within the next 12 months, and your responses will help determine priorities for negotiations. The City can't promise that all of your needs and interests will be met, but your input is very important. For more information on the franchise renewal, go here. calendarDepartment of Neighborhoods
Ideas Fair NW Community Radio Summit Amy Goodman: a Celebration of Community Radio FCC Media Ownership Hearing free digital
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2006 Primary Election Seattle Tour in l.i.n.k.a.g.e
Voters’ Guide
The City of Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission has published the 2006 Primary Election Voters' Guide online, with information about the Initiative on the Primary ballot.
English or En Español
Tour a slice of Seattle on Seattle.gov's Virtual Tour. Spanish version now covers eight popular attractions and sports teams.
There is much more to be found in Seattle.gov's Visiting section, here.
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Greg Nickels, Mayor Department of Information Technology BILL SCHRIER chief technology officer BUSBONG SEARS acting director, office of electronic communications DAVID KEYES manager, community technology program staff  D.H. CASS MAGNUSKI editor |
computer camp benefits
children with disabilities
 PROVAIL camper, Ian, uses a Mercury device. |
In August, seven children with disabilities attended a free, two-week long computer camp organized by PROVAIL, a Seattle-based nonprofit agency that helps people with disabilities live better lives. The goal of the camp was to increase access to and use of computers and other digital technology for underserved children with disabilities.
Made possible with funding from the City of Seattle’s Bill Wright Technology Matching Fund, campers learned how computers, adaptive equipment and specialized hardware and software can improve their ability to communicate and be used to increase their performance in school. Some highlights from the computer camp include:
- a 12 year old nonverbal boy with multiple disabilities wrote a Halloween story to share with his friends and family using specialized word prediction software
- an 8 year old girl with limited verbal skills was able to use a track ball for the first time to access a computer. She went on to use a specialized software literacy program that improved her language skills; and
- a 14 year old boy with cerebral palsy with limited use of his hands learned to use speech recognition software so that he can access and use a computer for virtual stock trading and making movies.
In addition to the children acquiring new skills, parents and teachers of the children received customized information about the technology tools that better their lives, including how to obtain them.
For more information about PROVAIL and assistive technology services, please visit provail.org or call (206) 363-7303.
all star interns from taf
 Lenda Nguyen |
 Patrick Matthews |
 Chisom Sebastian |
When Seattle City employees called for computer help this summer, high school intern Chisom Sebastian may have picked up the call with Lenda Nguyen providing follow-up assistance and Patrick Matthews shipping up the parts they needed. They’re not running Seattle’s Department of Information Technology (yet), but this summer three high school interns from the Technology Access Foundation (TAF) provided valuable assistance while getting hands-on training. For the past few years, the department has provided internships which share TAF’s focus on development for youth of color. The internships enable us to assist the local community and develop a channel for future employees that will address the City’s need for a highly skilled, high diversity workforce.
The internships provided exposure to a range of information technology occupations. The teens came away with new software and hardware skills as well as a greater understanding of city government and how an office environment operates. All the interns felt the experience helped them feel more comfortable in a team office environment and asking co-workers for help.
For Patrick, it wasn’t exactly what he expected, but still very valuable. He who worked in DoIT’s warehouse, learning to use Chrystal Reports and other software. “My co-workers did everything that they could to make sure I left with new knowledge and a greater understanding of what it meant to be in the government workplace."
Lenda’s work on the Technical Support Services team included re-imaging PCs and handling workstation moves. In addition to gaining troubleshooting skills, she now has a clearer picture of the government technology sector. According to Lenda, "Government may seem like it has nothing to do with Technology but everything that I saw in DoIT affects many other things. Like they say, everything affects something else, and DoIT makes such a big difference in the City of Seattle."
Chisom helped employees with technical problems at the service desk: “I developed good customer service skills by learning how to answer the phones correctly. I also learned a lot of troubleshooting and at the same time, how to remote control into computers.
And for Lenda, the last words: "It was far more than what I expected. It’s like you have a different family. You come to work, once you hear a 'Good morning,' you feel like you don’t even need coffee." Thanks TAF students; see you again next year. For more info on TAF’s Technical Teens Internship Program, go here.
Looking for a way to showcase your work? Open Screening is an "open mike night" for video and digital media arts, and an open forum for filmmakers and digital media artists, ranging from amateur to professional. Discussion follows each screening. How it works: Bring your DVD or VHS, disc/tape. Make sure it's cued, maximum ten minutes in length or less, first come-first screened. Open Screening is held the second Monday of every month at 8:00 p.m. in the screening room at 911 Media Arts Center, 402 9th Avenue N., Seattle. For more information, go here. There is a new historic totem pole standing at the crest of Admiral Way Point in West Seattle. Duwamish wood carver Michael Halady created this 65-foot story pole that tells the story of the Duwanish tribe, Seattle's indigenous peoples, and the first pioneers who landed at Alki Point in 1855. Halady, a fifth generation descendant of Chief Seattle, and member of the Admiral Community Council, who worked many years on replacing the current pole, hopes this first Duwamish-made pole keeps alive the continuity of West Seattle and the Duwamish and celebrates the history of our City's first community. See it online or on cable. For streaming video or the cable schedule go to seattlechannel.org and search for Community Stories. Helping Link, with a grant from City of Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods, and in partnership with Seattle Public Schools Student Services, and City of Seattle's Tech Matching Fund, has produced a landmark bi-lingual textbook covering computer basics in parallel Vietnamese/English. In addition to the basic skills material, the book also covers the installation and use of Vietnamese Font, VPS Font and VPSKeys software that adapts the standard keyboard and display for Vietnamese phonetic characters (the Western character set augmented with diacritical marks that guide pronunciation). The outer cover folds out into a convenient reading stand for hands-free reading while doing keyboard/mouse exercises. Test copies of the book have already been distributed to many partner agencies. For more info on achieving wider distribution of the book, contact Ms. Minh-Duc Nguyen at helpinglink2003@gmail.com or call (206) 781-4246.
Harvest Foundation Tiger Woods Foundation
City of Seattle Neighborhoods Small and Simple Fund If you’ve checked out a book from Seattle Public Library, you’ve used an RFID or Radio Frequency Identification Device. They’re visible as circular library tags affixed to books and read on the book check-in stand. Why is this of community technology interest? RFID is a rapidly growing field of applications, one which learning centers could potentially use for their own identification purposes, and expose students to a potential career exploration. There are also exciting developments in accessibility using RFID and potential student project opportunities. Some have called RFID 'barcoding on steroids.' It is used in new US Passports, for toll passes and for a lot of inventory tracking. Passive tags function like barcodes; active tags contain a small power source and transmit their signal. Active tags can project information like temperature, identification or information about a building that is being passed. Currently, the smallest active tags sell for a few dollars and are coin-sized. Harry Hart III, one of the Seattle’s Citizen Telecommunications and Technology Advisory Board (CTTAB) members, has been developing an RFID system that relays sound or visual announcements to people with disabilities. By placing a reader at the ferry terminal, in stores or on buildings within the system, people with disabilities carrying tags can receive announcements when they are in range. This can help clarify location, share the next ferry time, tourist information or other service or product info. There are also long-term concerns about how RFID may be used, with legislation proposed to prevent people tracking and requiring RFID implants. For more on RFID, see: open screening at 911
community stories:
west seattle story polenew bi-lingual textbook
available from helping link
d.o.l.l.a.r.s
Deadline: October 15 Letter of Intent
Funds organizations that promote economic self-sufficiency through education and training of youth or families with children. Also supports groups that serve the elderly by providing services to help senior citizens live independently. Other areas of interest are arts programs and teacher training in technology and curriculum development.
Deadline: November 1
Provides opportunities to underserved youth, ages 5-17, for programs that enhance the learning process for youth and for year-round mentoring and/or tutoring programs. It primarily funds organizations and programs that are based in urban America.
Deadline: October 2
Funds a broad array of neighborhood-initiated improvements, organizing or planning projects. Download more info [PDF].t.e.c.h.t.i.p
have you rfid'd?
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