Hello, and welcome to the partial list of project pages for the UIUC engagement with Salem Baptist Church in Champaign, IL.  For their official website, please visit http://www.salembaptistchurchcu.org/

From Martin:

I’ve got a total of $11,171.70 in grant funds available for Prairienet access sites. We can spend a fair chunk of that at Salem assuming their board is OK with this being a shared venture with Prairienet. I’ll work on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding that. Here’s what I could see allocating to Salem at this time:

$5000 for computers. I’d like to see if included in the computer purchase could be a laptop with docking station. Optimally we’d provide 19″ flat screen monitors with the systems. We can use the University contract with Dell to get discounted pricing.

$800 for multimedia. This would include a Canon ZR950 camcorder, a digital camera, and a wireless microphone kit. It might also be good to include at least one webcam.

$1225 for software, specifically Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 12 for each station. But depending on the video editing capability of the version of Windows installed on the computers, this might not be needed, or we might want to use it on alternate software, or a combination, outfitting one station as the higher-end multimedia station. Some of the software money might also be spent on software that could help Mo Betta Music.

$1425 for peripherals. This currently is listed for an InFocus IN2104EP LCD projector and a Synology DS209+ 1.5 TB NAS (network attached storage – essentially a file server and hard drive inclosure in a box with simplified web management tool). Not sure we need the LCD projector, given the size of the room. Or it might be valuable in conjunction with a laptop. Something to brainstorm about. The NAS is only needed if a whole lab might be doing video editing, say for a class assignment. Again, something to brainstorm about.

Anyway, that’s a quick rundown of available funding. We don’t need to spend all the funds here, either. The overall needs for tool design and the programs the tools will support should drive the decisions, obviously. But it does give some flexibility that other groups don’t have.

– Martin

Purpose of ICT (Information Computers and Technology):

For Children

Operations Excellence Program started in mid 80s

Read In Program

“Education is what we do”

Educate children First and Foremost

Also for Unity work (meeting community needs) – lack of resources in community

Scope beyond church – whole community – Programs of Interest – Music Program – Mo Betta Music – Nathaniel Banks

Others: Soup Kitchen, Prison Ministry, Church District Connections, Ushers, Nurses, AIDS/HIV

Tie into community – be available – church portal – faith based

Tie community into opportunities – commerce, finance, employment – “connectivity scene” – Get information into hands of people – make leaning and the lab appealing

Create Community database – leads to community engagement – take citizen professional skills on a volunteer basis to be voice for community to government official (city counsel and beyond) – citizen planning

Operations Excellence Goals:

Expand intermediate education (middle school) and higher education (high school)

Pilot with Broadband – to serve all educational needs – be in position so can implement or be ready to implement

Make O.S.s friendly for 6th graders AND/OR parents – create/make lab I.T. functional so no excuse

4 Hours of coverage Monday – Saturday (currently only Tue/Thur)

Lab is primarily for OPS Excellence but open to all – mix times for all to use (example 5 – 7 pm OPS Excel and 7 – 9 pm Community)

Lab has 11 machines – on average 8 in use

IT / Hardware / Software Goals:

NETWORK all machines – one master machine which can see all others

11 Fully operational and durable machines updated with DSL broadband / wifi – 1 of 11 Machines be Linux based

Arts creation – HP vs Mac?

Functional LAB for ALL

Do no interfere with Finance Office – remove from this cluster

Improve website

Peripherals adaptable

Set up old machines / recycle to new home

Timeline:

Point A: 30 – 60 days upgrade computers

Point B: January – Software Install / Begin Teaching

Point C: February – Create Section Levels / Go To Level Through Software

Point D: March / April – Broadband

BTOP Grant:
Directorship / Pilot to Portal (Hub)

Community Input Unit – 20 Hours week / 4 hour blocks / Mon – Sat

Search community needs

Membership and Outreach

Challenges:
Finances and Personal Time

Additional Goals:
Spring Practicum – students teaching

Prairie Net + Salem Baptist Partnership – Memo of Understanding / Collaboration efforts

Deliverables:

Put on paper our plan – get it to Reverend Bogan and he will get it to Pastor and church Trustees – Frame out Possibilities

From Martin:

Hi guys,

The site survey with Salem Baptist is being postponed one week. As luck would have it, I ended up meeting with Rev. Bogin for about 30 minutes on Saturday at Landscape Recycling Center in Urbana. Long story short, he is willing to work out the details to allow us to collaborate on the lab space and so it is a good fit for the DCEO grant I mentioned, which has funds to purchase new equipment. He would like for us to meet with both he and the Pastor at Salem, though, and that won’t be possible until the 30th at 11AM. This Saturday when groups are getting together to compare notes regarding their projects based on information garnered at their site surveys, I’ll take a few minutes to fill you in a bit more about the grant. In the meantime, I’m cutting and pasting the budget as it had been proposed, and also the introductory text for the grant. Ignore the last column of the budget – that’s a running total for expenses for hardware and software for all sites. We have flexibility in adjusting exactly which hardware and software is purchased, as long as it is reasonably similar in purpose to what is proposed. That’ll be part of your research work.

– Martin

Budget:

Dell Optiplex 360 w/ 17″ monitor Prairienet $674.12 7 $4,718.84 $20,474.33
Dell Optiplex 760 Desktop w/ 22″ monitor Prairienet $1,137.10 1 $1,137.10 $21,611.43
Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000 Prairienet $89.99 1 $89.99 $21,701.42
iMac 24″ Prairienet $1,953.00 1 $1,953.00 $23,654.42
Synology DS209+ 1.5 TB NAS Prairienet $749.97 1 $749.97 $24,404.39
InFocus IN2104EP LCD Projector Prairienet $584.99 1 $584.99 $24,989.38
Canon Powershot SD1100 IS, Case, 8GB Prairienet $169.99 1 $169.99 $25,159.37
Canon ZR950 Camcorder Prairienet $269.99 1 $269.99 $25,429.36
Canon MiniDV Camcorder Starter Kit Prairienet $64.99 1 $64.99 $25,494.35
Firewire cable Prairienet $10.99 1 $10.99 $25,505.34
Azden WMS-Pro Wireless Mic System Prairienet $169.99 1 $169.99 $25,675.33
Proline ST-400 Tripod Prairienet $27.99 1 $27.99 $25,703.32
Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 12 Prairienet $124.99 8 $999.92 $26,703.24
Comic Life Magiq Prairienet $44.95 1 $44.95 $26,748.19
Final Cut Express Prairienet $179.00 1 $179.00 $26,927.19

Introduction to Grant Application:

The proposed project is a partnership of four Community Technology Centers located in East St Louis and Prairienet (Community Informatics Initiative), a CTC at the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science. East St Louis is a low income community where 67.6% of students in the area are eligible for free or reduced lunch. The project in part is dedicated to expanding basic training for youth and homeless veterans. The veteran training will especially focus on job preparedness and search skills. The grant also proposes purchase of, and training on, accessibility hardware and software to facilitate network access for veterans who have returned with disabilities that inhibit digital content access. Basic training for youth will focus on common technology terminology and training, productivity tools, and Internet access. But with the increasing prevalence of higher performing computers and network bandwidth, Internet content has moved beyond static web pages and one-way interactions to dynamic, multimedia, interactive content that empowers individuals to participate in broader communities to meet both individual and local community goals. To bridge the digital divide today, it is important to provide the tools that enable multimedia and interactive content creation. Further, access to these tools, the skills to use them, and a physical environment that helps communities intersect with virtual communities are needed to most effectively meet individual and community goals. The proposed computer equipment and software will help provide such tools for the five partnering CTCs. With these tools, the general public can use the video and image manipulation software to meet their own specific goals. These range from editing home photos and videos to editing and publishing historical documents about their community to producing print and online media advocating for justice within the community. In addition, the project will focus on advanced training for youth in the multimedia arts. As a result, youth will be trained on high tech tools and applications to become “citizen scientists/journalists/ planners”. Such training is in direct response to requests by neighborhood associations for training of local residents to better enable them to provide direct technical assistance to the associations. It is the goal of the project to expand cross-generational social networking within the community which could lead to greater community development. At the same time, youth are provided with skills which they can use in future employment and/or utilize in higher education. Prairienet will lead the project and develop appropriate training modules. The local partners will be responsible for delivering the basic computer training. Prairienet (UI faculty/staff) will conduct train the trainers sessions and present the advanced training for youth media skill building. Prairienet will also collect lessons learned through implementation of these advanced training sessions and implementation of new technologies at CTCs. These collections will be made available more broadly through web-hosted technical guides providing CTCs throughout the state with better practice guidelines.

Hi. I stayed after the ICES evaluation Wed., and I’m at the lab again right now finishing up the reference software installation. Is there any extra software we’re planning on installing?

Response-intragroup

I have a cd with some Google software (Google Earth and Picasa) that I will bring with me tomorrow–I think I can get them installed pretty easily on site.

See you guys tomorrow morning!

Response-Intragroup

i don’t know if we mentioned it to ty yet, but we’re meeting at prairienet at 8:30 tomorrow morning. see you all there.

Rev. Bogan,

Before we can install the computers and network connections, we need to know several things:

1. We need to know whether there’s a firewall separating the lab from the pastor’s office. If there is no firewall, we can simply run some cable up through the ceiling, but if there’s a firewall, we need to know so we can order a wireless switch.
2. Have you increased the amount of electricity flowing to the computer lab? Since the computer lab shares a circuit with the women’s classroom next door, we can at  present safely plug in only four of the five computers we’ll be setting up.
3. When can we come in to set up the lab? We were hoping to come in on Saturday, 6 May. Will that work for you?

Thanks for your help we look forward to continuing this project.

Thursday, 20 April 2006 Phone communication:
We called Rev. Bogan, who said he thinks there’s a firewall, but isn’t sure; we should call the head pastor.
6 May “sounds good” for the installation, but again, call the head pastor.
I forgot to ask about the wiring, but Rev. Bogan said something about “if we decide to have the computer lab in that room” that doesn’t bode well for the room having been re-wired.

Friday, 21 April phone message left on Head Pastor’s answering machine.

Tuesday, 25 April (during lab) left message on Church answering machine

Response-intragroup

looks like we’re on for the 6th. i think. i guess we need to set a definite time today to let him know that we will be there for sure.

Response

Hi all,
Please call me before you come out so that I can make sure that the doors will be open and I will be there. Bogan

Response-intragroup

He basically said don’t worry about it. If they haven’t done their part, we just do ours and they will have to do the rest on their own. It seemed like a good plan to us.

Response-intragroup

That’s good…What did Martin have to say after class yesterday? I guess I’ll just see you all in lab this afternoon..

Response-intragroup

I went ahead and did a little work on the wiki. I figured we probably should have something besides the description site in there. Take a look at it and please add anything to what i wrote. We still need an implementation plan (probably should have had that earlier), a log of our communications, and something about our lessons learned. The problem/solution section could also probably be enhanced.  I thought you could write about your struggle to the death with that one computer. Anyway, just some ideas.

Response-intragroup

My email said that we would be there at 9am.

Response

This is good. I will not be there at that time but I will make sure that the doors to the office and lab will be open. Please call to make sure that this does happen.

Response

Did anyone include Martin in on this info? Just so we know he can be there to help out, or be on call or something…

Hi Reverend Bogan!

It’s the team from the University of Illinois writing to  touch base with you about the computer lab we’ll be setting  up. First, thanks again for taking the time to speak with us and show us the church. We’re very excited about working with you to get the lab set up. We are hoping to come in on a Saturday towards the end of April.

There is some software we already know is available for installation on the computers. They include:

-Adobe Acrobat Reader
-Open Office (an office suite similar to Microsoft Word)
-RealAudio
-Security Software
-Various Web Browsers and Email Applications
-Mozilla Suite (which includes an email and newsgroup client,
IRC chat client, and HTML editing.)

We’re also looking for other open-source software that would be useful to the educational mission of the computer lab, like more specific web design and graphic design software. Also, if you have any specific programs you’d like us to look into, we’d be more than happy to do that as well.

That should cover it! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. Thank you!

Response

Thanks everyone for your great support in our endeavors to help educate our youth.

There are other programs I would like for you to look into: Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia and Dictionary, and any Paper Port programs you might be able to acquire. These programs will greatly help with after school research and reports. I am excited to have your help and look forward to working with all of your team.

May the Lords blessings be upon you all.