 | Upcoming March 12 session on project sustainability, community champions and project value to First Nations |
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Good evening team ... I hope everyone is feeling okay about your course and the work that everyone is doing. From my perspective, it sure looks like everyone is busy looking into some very interesting opportunities. Thanks for sharing all your experiences and information in this online environment so the rest of us can learn from you. I have been invited to meet with your class on Thursday, March 12 to discuss some very important questions and issues (at least they are important to me [smiles]). In his invitation, Adam described these questions and issues as follows ... "We will be using that day to wrestle with big picture questions like project sustainability, the importance of champions, and that critical It looks like everyone is busy with their different responsibilities so I thought I would introduce this discussion thread as a place where we might share some of the challenges and thoughts being experienced by everyone around these topics. I want to invite each of you to share any comments, thoughts and experiences that you wish in preparation for our March 12 session. I look forward to the opportunity of working with you on these challenges. I am also looking forward to learning from you about your experiences, thoughts and stories. Brian |
| Getting others involved in this initiative |
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Good morning ... I just went through each of the different forums to see what people are discussing and to get a sense of where people are coming from as they approach this development project. Most of discussion seems to be among yourselves, trying to figure out what is the best way to develop this service. Another way of "seeing" this exchange is how the world/environment where everyone involved lives and works (ie. Toronto) might best be imposed upon the folks who live and work in an entirely different world/environment (ie. the remote and rural First Nations). There is no doubt in my mind that everyone involved in this work is doing something very important both for themselves and for others. But as one discussion thread highlighted, language is so important. Writing and thinking in plain english is critical especially if the folks in the north are ever going to get involved in this initiative. Just as a little test, yesterday I went to see Angie Morris to ask her about this initiative. I asked her if she has been receiving any of the messages from these discussion forums. She said no. So we looked and she was not registered in this meeting place. This fact made me wonder how the folks in the north are ever going to be able to take Ownership, Control, Access and Possession of this opportunity, if they are not included in the development process. One suggestion might be for each member of the class to take on the task of identifying one youth worker from the different communities and develop a strategy to invite and support their involvement in this online environment. That way, we might be able to double the number of contributing members in these discussions and planning efforts. Brian |
 | Re: Getting others involved in this initiative |
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Hi Brian, You make a very good observation about how this meeting place is mostly 'conversation amongst ourselves', and while that was a step towards transparency of the project, clearly we can push a bit to engage discussions with those directly in the community! Since you made your post, some of us in the class have been visiting the YICT Breeze room which has a chat function, where we are recruiting for some "Usability Consutants" in help us with the conceptualization of the web portal. So far, Chad has become interested, and we will perhaps set up a 'community usability forum' where individuals like Chad can give us feedback on our system design, and the choice of content, etc. I understand the YICT workers have two more weeks of work, and perhaps in two weeks we will have designed the meeting place to be more conductive to that kind of discussion! In the mean time... we'll continue to find ways ways where we can casually engage with YICT workers and invite others to join in on the conversation. Margaret |
| Re: Getting others involved in this initiative |
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Margaret ... Just as your course will eventually end, the Youth Employment project also will end but we are hoping that some of the workers will gain some IT or other positions in their community. Meaningful experiences and discussions can always extend beyond any project or course, if there is something of value for participants to remain active. The challenge is to make the experiences and the discussions valuable to all participants. I am glad to read that Chad is picking up on the challenges of exploring and hopefully creating a digital library service in North Caribou Lake First Nation. I do hope that other youth involved in the First Nations SchoolNet youth employment initiative will also recognize the long term opportunity for both themselves and their community by becoming involved in this ODBS initiative. Brian |
| Re: Costs and Benefits of POD or ODBS or ... |
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Another thought for everyone's consideration ... I am having trouble finding out what the actually costs are for setting up this service as well as for maintaining it. Has anyone done this analysis? Is this information available somewhere for review? Is there the possibility of doing a "phased-in" approach to the development of this service? What would be the costs involved for this approach to this project? Then there is the need for a clear definition of the benefits for having and maintaining this service in the First Nations. Along with the benefits, everyone must consider the challenges/risks that are the realities for introducing such a service in the far north. Does everyone already know how many public libraries exist in the far north? Is there a clear understanding why it is such a challenge to establish and maintain public libraries in these communities? What can be done to overcome these challenges? Just some early morning thoughts and questions that your discussions generated for me [smiles] ... Brian |
 | Re: Costs and Benefits of POD or ODBS or ... |
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Hi Brian! Answering these questions, esp in terms of resources required, about the technology is exactly what the Promo team is trying to do. Perhaps in addition to editing the introductory section of Moodle, we could create an "FAQ" section as well? We have spent a great deal of time working on "letters of intent" from each group as a deliverable for class. These letters attempt to address your questions, but have been written in a very formal manner. Perhaps what is needed is copy that serves the same purposes but is much briefer, like an FAQ. (It doesn't have to be an FAQ, I'm just saying this as an example...) |