Computer donations

[Trent Shipley]

> Message: 12
> From: "Robert Leonard" <robertbleonard@hotmail.com>
> To: plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
> Subject: RE: Computer donations
> Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 11:30:53 PDT
> Reply-To: plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
>
> Trent,
>
> Is it dying a slow death, or suffering from a slow start?  Given the
> experience your going thru, any suggestions or things you might have done
> different?
>
>
>
>
> >In fairness, you should know that the Club is dying a slow death, but the
> >College will inherit the equipment and put it to good use --possibly in
the
> >level two UNIX class where they use Red Hat.
> >
>

Q: Is it dying a slow death, or suffering from a slow start?

A: YES!

0) Actually, the major problem probably IS a slow start.  To be honest, I
was basically unemployed back in the Fall semester, so despite the fact that
I'm trying to finish a Ph.D. in Anthropology, I could put a lot of time into
getting the club started.

The level of student apathy has been enormous.  Getting this started at all
took a lot of work --and above all arm-twisting and evangelization.
Unfortunately for the club, I got a REAL job in December.  I couldn't hang
around the campus during the day; heck, I couldn't even VISIT during a
workday.  Evangelization came to a dead stop.  Also, I was lucky to scrounge
up five hours a week to devote to the club.

Furthermore, my interest in Linux waned since I was acquiring marketable
skills on the job.  Also, I had no time for it after working on the
Anthropology dissertation, working, and tending to club administration.

Moral, if you want to start an organization make certain you can give it at
least 20 hours a week . . . and more would be better.

0.a) I am not a great people person.  The organization would have been
better served by a politically savvy, well groomed, sweet spoken leader

1) A side effect of not being able to evangelize was that the club
leadership amounted to . . . me.

2) Nevertheless, there were a core of as many as a half-dozen students who
WERE interested in working with computers and not just playing with
ready-to-run applications.  The Club was also dogged by a lack of enthusiasm
on the part of its faculty representative and staff mentors.

2a)  The sponsor was only nominally a faculty member, and was really an
administrator.

2a1) She had very little time to devote to the Club, and was not interested
in providing leadership to fill the void left by me (and other students)

2a2) She had relatively little contact with students.

2a3)  She mostly sponsored the club to further some experimental use of
College resources, prove the feasibility of alternative use of the computer
facilities, and expand the political space in which she works.  Having
accomplished this she actually wanted to drop the activities.  In fact,
widespread student participation could have spooked her political
adversaries.  Technical success let her prove her point while organizational
failure meant that those afraid of loosely controlled student access were
reassured that geeks are mostly harmless.



3)  We received VERY little support from student life (who our advisor said
she counted as her strongest opposition.  If you use an honor system,
students will violate it.  Then the Dean of Students has to discipline them,
it is nasty work.  DO NOT let students have the freedom to get into trouble.
This (quite understandably) is the policy of any competent Dean of Student
Life I have ever had the misfortune to deal with.)

3a)  They were afraid that gaming --even under supervision --would produce
behaviors that would require disciplinary action.

3b)  They were afraid that participation by non-students would result in
problems.  In the worst case, problems in the form of REALLY expensive
lawsuits.  Any open lab would need to be organized and run by students, but
needed a VOLUNTEER faculty observer.  (This rule of more than one student
and always one faculty is a major barrier to expanding services through a
student club.)

3c) Everyone was afraid of the Arizona Republic writing a very negative
story on some club activity; or even a positive story.  Tax payers want
those machines used for WORK damn it.  There are a lot of people who would
rather have them off than used for innocent recreation.  God help us if the
violence of LAN games got noticed or worse yet, someone associated with the
club was associated with pornography.  The responsible faculty and staff
would have a PR damage control nightmare.


4) No money and no stuff.

4a)  You can't ask for money without a program.

4b) You can't run even a small pilot program without at least a few thousand
dollars.

4c)  Space at GCC is precious.  No one who controls it is going to give it
to students for their control.  The only space that might be under student
control is the 6' x 10' office for Evening Student Government.

4d) Without space there are no standing lab facilities

4e)  Without resources and labor there is no program.

4f) Most potential participants refuse to join an idea.  They will join when
there are actually programs provided FOR them.  Potential leaders tend to
join when there is an organization with resources to lead.  (Hence the need
for an evangelist at this phase)


5)  I saw the major thrust of the organization as providing auxiliary
educational services to students, helping them to get hands-on experience
for their resume.  I also saw it as having a role in technology extension to
the community, and preparing a pool of entry-level technicians for Valley
industry.

5a1)  This sort of organization would benefit greatly from fosterage by
another community based organization.

5a2)  The community college system is a natural partner for this sort of
organization.

5a3) The most accessible entry to the community colleges was as a student
club.

5a3a)  Student Life was not about to let the model of a student club be
perverted as a way to start a community organization

5b)  I am told the faculty at GCC are VERY resistant to ANY program that
would pull the community colleges away from their primary mission providing
traditional higher education in the narrow sense.

5c) District rules and state laws made it virtually impossible to provide
services or do projects for anything or anyone that was not part of the
community college district.  For example, we could not have developed, and
certainly couldn't have hosted, a web site for a non-profit organization.

5c)  I had little success getting anyone else to share my vision that
college sponsorship of a technology extension and outreach program would
produce outreach to potential students, provide a working relationship with
numerous high-tech firms that could have positive (even lucrative)
side-effects for the school, and help foster development on the West Side.
(In fact, many faculty [but not administrators] wouldn't give a damn about
those objectives since they weren't educational _per se_)

--------------

When I finish my dissertation, I think I'll try again.  This time I'll start
with a non-profit charter and try to get 501c3 status.  I'm also told that
Phoenix Community College is much more receptive to community involvement,
so I might look into an institutional partnership there.


Trent Shipley