Coordinator's Report August 2006
General News_
It has been a busy three months or so, I'm still trying to catch up. :)
I went along to the Linux Users of Victoria meeting in May and did a
talk about what we got up to in 2005. This was well received. I have a
copy of the presentation if anyone wants to see it.
Community Media Services (CMS) came and filmed a short interview for a
new local issues documentary called 31 degrees. The Tektime interview I
did is now on the web as a podcast, there is a link to it from
http://vic.computerbank.org.au/Members/kylie/tektime
A group called Tiny Ants have contacted us about having people recycle
USB keys at Computerbank. Tiny Ants sell decorated USB memory sticks. In
return for being able to do this, Tiny Ants will promote our work and
donate a proportion (5%) of any profits they make.
We got the Melbourne Town Hall for our Software Freedom Day event this
year. It should rock. Visit our planning wiki at
http://vic.computerbank.org.au/wiki/SoftwareFreedomDay if you want to
get involved.
In July one of our early technical volunteers, Frank Copeland, died in
an accident. Frank always came along to our working bee days and
developed our first distribution. He had a big hand in building our
first servers too. He was a real likeable guy with a big mop of red hair
and a great smile. He was revered by geeks across the world and
constantly being bothered by Scientologists. His commitment and passion
around digital divide issues was not only evident through his volunteer
efforts at Computerbank, Frank went on to work for InfoXchange and made
a great contribution to the Atherton Gardens project. Frank will be
missed by many folks.
Big thanks to everyone who has helped out over the past few months.
Special mention to Norm who had to resign from his role as treasurer.
Norm's ocker approach to life and volunteering will be missed around the
place.
_Computers Out_
May: 33 + 2 sales.
In May two computers were given to Narre Warren Senior Citizens group.
Similar to Hampton Park, this group will also use the computers for
training purposes.
June: 29 + 6 sales.
We did not provide any computers to groups during June.
July: 32 + 5 sales
In July we sent computers to Halls Gap. Errol will redistribute the
computers to needy kids.
Aug: 12 to date
We sent a laptop to the remote community of Lingarra in the NT so they
could hook up to a Satellite internet connection (see comments at the
end of my report). We also gave two computers to the Western English
Language Centre.
Year to Date: 223 + 28 shop computers = 251
_Waiting List_
There are around 19 people waiting for a computer. The average wait for
a computer is 3 weeks. 19 people are booked into training or are
scheduled to pick up their computers. 22 applications require some kind
of follow up or are missing information.
_Donations_
We received some really good donations over the past few months. We
received some computers from TransUrban, Arup (engineering firm), GHD
and ODL (accountants). TransUrban will now be giving us all their
decommissioned computers. We also have a couple of larger donations on
our radar.
Many other good quality donations were received from individuals.
_Projects_
Projects currently active include:
* CBV Distro (main build)
* CBV Lean (light build)
* Database Project
* CD Project
* Laptop Project
It'd be great if folk working on these projects, could write a summary
of where things are at (if they have not done so already).
_WFD Project_
The WFD project is running well although attendance and participant
numbers are quite low. We have 16/23 people on the project and only see
anywhere from 4-10 people attending on any one day. The general lack of
referrals is occurring system wide, I am working on direct recruitment.
WFD participants have been busy helping with software builds, sorting
laptops, recycling, data entry, testing printers, modems and other
devices and items.
_New Volunteers_
A few new volunteers have joined us since my last monthly report. Big
welcome to Mark, Thao, Martin, Julian and Rohan.
_Finances_
Looking extremely healthy. It looks like we may have done it...we have
been able to cover our core expenses with our own income. =
Viability/Sustainability. Woot!
We submitted the BAS for June and sent off all our PAYG and Workcover
reports. I am currently in the process of trying to organise our auditor
to look over our accounts.
April Income = $2424.22 w 163.72 ING interest
May Income = $4092.01 w 135.31 ING interest
June Income = $6088.85 w 120.11 ING interest
July Income = $4438.35 w 107.80 ING interest
Aug Income = $ 2107 TD
Account Balances as at 14/08/06
ING = $19,698.41
WestPac = $1625.00
Total: $21323.41
Outstanding Accounts:
WFD Final project payment (due at end of August): ~ $7590
E-waste Invoices: $several
Linux Australia grant: $700
_Last Thing_
Sorry if I have forgotten to mention something, if that's the case, let
me know what it is, and I can add an amendment to the report.
Some comments from Lingarra:
> The lap-top you sent us had made a dramatic improvement though out
> here
> for people. About half a dozen people have come over and I have
> assisted
> them to register for internet banking so they can do online banking.
> A
> few have had several tries at surfing the net as well....
>
> The lap-top has also of course meant that we can communicate with the
> outside world via email which has made a huge difference to the way
> that
> we are able to do business. It has also caused a change in the way
> that
> we are being serviced by our grantee organisation. An email trail
> makes
> them more accountable when it comes to unmet requests for goods and
> services to be delivered to our outstation community. All of these
> things are making small but significant changes to the way people out
> here see themselves and the world around them.
