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Re: Coming Soon - Computerbank Sydney

Title: The following notes spell out points for discussion, which when resolved should get Computerbank NSW off the ground
Hi John,
please keep me in the loop.
 
I am a trifle worried that I may have previously overstated our capabilities to assist, however we will do the best that we can.
 
cheers,
----- Original Message -----
From: John Coote
To: alanorr@hotmail.com ; predator@cat.org.au ; LANGFO@integral.com.au ; m.waldron@melcoa.com.au ; kavanaghnswb@bigpond.com.au ; Cathy.Preston-Thomas@swsahs.nsw.gov.au ; workskil@tig.com.au ; piersdd@yahoo.com ; lisa@nswactieu.labor.net.au ; computerbank@lists.linux.org.au ; announce@slug.org.au ; basil@nlc.net.au ; terryc@woa.com.au
Sent: Friday, 25 August 2000 6:29 PM
Subject: Coming Soon - Computerbank Sydney

Dear All

Hi my name is John and I've taken on some sort of role
in getting computerbank NSW up and running.

You are receiving this message because you are either
on the computerbank mailing list, the SLUG list, have
contacted computerbank in the past or your email
address was in a mail that ended up in my inbox.
If you want to be involved in Computerbank in Sydney
please reply to this email. If you don't I'll never
pester you again ;)

******************************************************

To become more than just a good idea there
computerbank sydney needs people willing to do stuff,
and not just twiddling with linux. The attached
document lists what *I* think is needed to get the
ball rolling. I plan to hold an "inaugral AGM" at

The Crystal Palace Hotel
(near Central, opposite railway square)
8.00pm
19/9/00

At this meeting we WILL formulate a plan of how to go
forward and people WILL get a specific task or tasks
to execute in order to put together the bigger
picture.
If you would like to be involved
Read the attached notes
Think about what you could do to help
Think about *solutions* to potential hassles
Come to the meeting and volunteer for one of the
"comittee" "positions"


Regards
John Coote


PS a lot of the numbering in the attachment is a bit
all over the place


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The following notes spell out points for discussion, which when resolved should get Computerbank NSW off the ground. The numbered points refer to what I consider to be the most pressing issues, in order of priority. Many items within the main points are discussion points that could be resolved by the "Steering Committee" defined in Point 4.

This agenda / set of notes won’t be revised before the inaugural AGM, I’m sure there’ll be plenty of opportunity to fine-tune it then.

 

 

 

  1. Aim of Computerbank

    To prevent individuals and communities from falling behind due to a preventable lack of technology.

    1. Plan of Attack

To refurbish obsolete computer equipment for use by disadvantaged groups and individuals, and groups doing "charitable" works.

Computerbank shouldn’t give directly to individuals, but rather should take instructions from organizations more qualified to assess need.

Computerbank shouldn’t get involved with organizations that are

 

 

  1. Premises

Listed below are minimum criteria for premises.

Possible places to look include: STARTTS, Northern Sydney Waste Board, Old Hospitals, Army Buildings, Scout halls, Schools etc.

APPOINT A HOUSING OFFICER

 

  1. "Sales" / Shipping & Despatch of Refurbished computers

    Define what makes a "suitable" recipient of a computer

    Find suitable recipients

    Advertise the service

    Formulate some sort of Distribution policy

    Organizations potentially interested in having some computers may be Work Skills Training Inc and STARTTS.

    APPOINT A "SALES" / SHIPPING & DESPATCH OFFICER

     

  2. Steering Committee

Define the nature of regular meetings

Define the goals of a working day

Timetable for getting things happening

Define a quorum for getting things decided.

Incorporation: Now / Never / One Day ??

Funding??

Will we do one off jobs or follow up with service of any kind?

We need people to be responsible for specific areas,

Without people to look after all of these roles, things won’t happen. If one person looks after too many of them, things won’t happen well.

 

  1. Demo Network

A demo network would be great for demonstrating the benefits of what we do to

It would be a good spot to train volunteers and recipient organizations

 

  1. Collection

We need to come up with a strategy of where / when / how donated hardware is collected.

Will we collect if there are more than a certain number being donated?

Will we refuse to accept machines below a certain specification, or will we remove for suitable disposal for a fee?

There are supposed to be loads of people who are willing to get rid of old computer stuff. Two are

APPOINT A COLLECTIONS OFFICER

 

  1. Technical Group

    Decide on useful applications and minimal hardware specifications (for example)

    Network Server

    Must Run : SAMBA / NFS / Print Server / Apache / Squid / etc

    Must have as minimum: Pentium, 32MB RAM, 1Gig HDD, Monitor, NIC, Modem

    Low end Client / Terminal

    Must Run : Telnet / email client / browsing / etc

    Must have as minimum: 486, 8MB RAM, 500MB HDD, Monitor, NIC

    Workstation / Standalone

    Must Run : Star Office / CAD / GIMP / email client / browsing/ etc

    Must have as minimum: Pentium, 32MB RAM, 1Gig HDD, 15" Monitor, NIC, Modem

    Decide on suitable distributions / application bundles to meet the objectives

    I also believe it is very important that clients / standalone machines should be useable without any "under the hood" tweaking being required. Refer to Simple End User Linux for details : http://www.seul.org/

    APPOINT A TECHNICAL OFFICER

     

  2. Volunteers

    Obviously people who are willing to volunteer their time and effort to computerbank. To keep people interested enough we need to

    Fill key positions

    Delegate work effectively

    Establish a framework for regular events

    APPOINT A VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR

     

  3. Other Points for Discussion