September 17, 2008 at 10:03 am
Bill Nicolich (9/17/2008)
...If one was willing to do a little looking around for volunteer work locally, one might try looking at some of the essential service providers that always seem to have tight budget constraints like police offices, schools, parks and recreation - and perhaps help them automate some tasks, collect lists, etc. ...
I would also suggest mental health, foster child agencies, and programs for the homeless. These are areas where funding is limited and often gets cut first in a budget crunch.
September 17, 2008 at 10:43 am
Alan Vogan (9/17/2008)
Bill Nicolich (9/17/2008)
...If one was willing to do a little looking around for volunteer work locally, one might try looking at some of the essential service providers that always seem to have tight budget constraints like police offices, schools, parks and recreation - and perhaps help them automate some tasks, collect lists, etc. ...I would also suggest mental health, foster child agencies, and programs for the homeless. These are areas where funding is limited and often gets cut first in a budget crunch.
Developing some MySQL/PHP/Apache skills to work with such under-funded agencies could be a good thing...
-----
[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]
September 17, 2008 at 10:46 am
essential service providers that always seem to have tight budget constraints like police offices,
Hmmm...
CREATE TRIGGER INSERT_TICKET ON TICKET
INSTEAD OF INSERT
AS
IF LNAME = 'Massi'
--Do nothing
ELSE
INSERT INTO TICKET
...
September 17, 2008 at 11:40 am
that's the kind of stuff i'm hoping doesn't happen...
September 17, 2008 at 11:46 am
Yes, the market and the voters need good information and facts, such as that 9/11 was an inside job (!!!) Anyone who can think for themselfs can understand that the softening of pillar 79 in building 7 absolutely can not bring the whole (47-story) building down in free fall speed.
I am referring to the recent NIST report that says just this. Can an officefire on a single floor bring down a whole 47 -story steel building in free fall speed or is it more likely that explosives did? This is just one of hundreds of other facts that points at that 9/11 was an inside job.
... so who was behind 9/11? Why is not Usama bin Laden charged? Go and look at the FBI most wanted list and look for yourself (!!!) Among the many who wants the answers (and dont believe in the official story) are Jesse Ventura, and Willie Nelson.
September 17, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Great editorial, and a great message to inspire IT people to do more volunteer work.
However, with regards to governmental data; there are already many databases out there that average Americans have easy access to and yet do not pay much attention to - even though our taxes pay for the creation and management of them. For example, the GAO website is a great place to go and see where your tax dollars are going, but how many people visit that site regularly? My guess is few overall.
"The power in knowledge is not in what you think you know, but in what you don't know." - B. Atkinson, Columbia Univ.
When it comes to data that might enlighten our populous about what our government is doing, the problem will always be getting people to view the data and think about what it says to them.
As much as I would advocate volunteerism utilizing IT skills we have gained, I would also advocate IT folks joining citizen organizations and helping others not in our field realize there are already places they can go to get very valuable core information about how our government spends our money, and what they spend it on. After all, we IT Wizards can build lots of fancy sites and data extracts - but if no one sees them or takes the time to assess their impact in their own lives - its basically like clapping with one hand.
September 17, 2008 at 3:27 pm
There is a great deal of information from the government, but not all of it is easily used by the people who might want it. Web pages are not always a good substitute for raw data, when you want to look for correlations, or create reports for a certain group or segment of the poulation.
I would dearly love to see a database of lobbyists and who they are pandering to. No organization should be exempt (not even the environmental organizations I donate to!) An easy-to-read format would bring voters flocking to the site, I suspect, if only to check on their own congress-persons!
Steph Brown
September 17, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Great article and very well presented as JJ B and a couple of others noted.
I take no offense to building a database of lobbyists, etc... but instead of spending good tax payer dollars on tracking the buggers, I'd rather they just make it illegal. Much simpler solution... 😛
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
September 18, 2008 at 5:58 am
Stephanie J Brown (9/17/2008)
I would dearly love to see a database of lobbyists and who they are pandering to. No organization should be exempt (not even the environmental organizations I donate to!) An easy-to-read format would bring voters flocking to the site, I suspect, if only to check on their own congress-persons!
Try this site - http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/ - if you would like to know more about lobbyists. Its a good site and lets you keep track of things.
I heard a news report that there are 17,000 registered lobbyists active in Washington on any given day - dont know the validity, but then, in the same report they interviewed the President of the Pickle Lobby - yes, even Pickles get lobbyists.
This was the stuff that inspired me to join a citizens organization and be more attentive to where my tax dollars are going. So again, I say... The info is out there, its just getting people to really look at it, think about it, and then get involved.
September 18, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Viewing 10 posts - 16 through 24 (of 24 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply