1)  No matter how prepared you think you are, you forgot something.

One of the constant truths about technology is that it will break down.  When we were designing our Accessability Machine we thought that we had all the pieces of software that we needed, then we suddenly discovered that Windows 7 didn’t fully cover an issue that we thought it did.  So we had to go and find a piece of software that would fill that role.  Then, when we went to Eagle’s Nest we thought that we would have all the install disks available to us that we needed for upgrading the lab computers.  It turned out that we were scrambling to make extra copies and get all the software we needed to work on done in time.  To make things more difficult, we learned that Eagle’s Nest had a much slower broadband connection than we had anticipated.  Finally, when we set up the SAM system, we thought it would be all ready to go.  However, it turned out that the network printer used a non-standard driver that we couldn’t find.  We had to defer to Martin to complete that job.

2)  When you are helping the community, others want to help you.

As corny as it may sound, our team found that deep down inside most people is the desire to help others.  When we met Mrs. Watts and learned about the work she was doing to help US Veterans who had substance abuse issues, we were moved with the desire to help her.  When we were looking for hardware and software that would be useful for the SAM system users to have, we were able to utilize our contacts to find out where to get some better deals.  Maggie was able to get information from the Alliance for Technology Access on where to obtain grants for free Acessibility software.  Even though we didn’t have enough time to apply for those grants, we were able to find discounted prices on the software we needed.  Most of all, we were ipressed by the other support givers that worked with Eagle’s Nest.  While we were upgrading the computer lab, we had the opportunity to meet the person who helps teach computer skills to the residents and the person who helps them search for jobs and other opportunities.  They were very excited to talk with us about how the upgrades would be able to help the residents and wanted to know what they could do to make our jobs easier.

3)  Be ready to take a step back so you can keep moving forward.

While we were setting up the SAM system, we often thought we would have a solution only to realize later that there was a better solution available.  For example, while Windows 7 has a built in “Narrator” feature that can be adjusted with specialized settings, we found that it was not very good at reading only a small selection of text on a page.  Instead, we found that a freeware program called NaturalReader did a much better job of simply reading aloud what the user highlighted with a hot-key combination.  We came to realize that our effort was not being wasted when we went in one direction at first and then ended up in a different place.  We had learned valuable lessons about the capability of our system and how to make it work best.

4)  You’ve gotta roll with the punches.

When setting up a computer system, things will not go as planned.  We were very surprised to learn that we would be installing Windows XP on all the computers in the Eagle’s Nest computer lab a mere week before we were scheduled to go to East St. Louis.  When we got to the lab, we were rather less surprised to discover that we were unprepared for the task.  We had been so wrapped up in the SAM system that we had neglected to plan ahead for the XP systems.  We had too few install disks, not all of the right software, and found that the broadband connection at Eagle’s nest was actually rather slow.  But that didn’t stop us from doing our best.  We immediately jumped into the task of clearing out the old system from all of the computers and installing XP on a newly partitioned hard drive.  We continued installing things as we made copies of the install disks that we needed with Adam’s MacBook and the SAM system we had set up for the lab.  In fact, everything we had learned from our previous experiences in class and our project (especially those lessons that were the most painful) came back to us.  We realized that we had the knowledge and resources necessary for success at our disposal because we had learned how to be resourseful.