Angela's blog

Part of my role in OneCommunity's BTOP (Broadband Technology Opportunities Program) project (called Connect Your Community) is to figure out the curricululm for the participants. Having assisted community technology centers for so many years and seeing how each center seemed to create their own curriculum, I was certain we could keep the cost down by finding bit and pieces of existing curriclulum. I was partially correct. There is A LOT of curriculum available for free, either posted online or for the asking. The challenge we encountered is that some of what we wanted to teach was so new, either the curriculum didn't exist at the level we needed it (for beginners) or what we found was outdated. The easy ones to find were the topics that didn't change much and are super popular - such as Microsoft Word for Beginners or Keyboard Basics. Viruses and Spyware had to be created from scratch, as did Online Identity.

We discovered three libraries with particularly well thought out training materials posted online for new computer users. I contacted them and 2 of the 3 not only gave me permission to revise their materials but also emailed me original files to make the editing much easier. I promised to send them the revisions for their use. (We won't talk about the 3rd library.)

Hibbing Public Library in Minnesota - Provides lesson plans online as PDFs including slide presentations and handouts. All are available under a Creative Commons License.

Indian Prairie Public Library in Illinois - Provides lesson plans online as PDFs including slide presentations, quick reference cards and exercises.

We will be posting all the Connect Your Community training materials with a Creative Commons license. Since the funding is from the federal government (stimulus money), seems like making the materials freely available is the right thing to do.

Below is curriculum to guide social users of social networks into professional use. We've created a Participant Guide, a Facilitaor Guide and a Slide Presentation. All three work together.

We are offering all the materials freely, under a Creative Commons license welcoming others to share or remix our work, with the understanding that Shinydoor will be credited, the materials will not be used for commercial purposes, and the remixed materials will also be made available under the same or similar license.

What have we been up to the past couple of months at ShinyDoor?

Most important - we have a new ShinyDoor partner! Josephine Ann, born June 1, 2010.

Thanks to sponsorship from the Appalachian Regional Commission, Laura taught Facebook classes in Alabama to small businesses.

We created professional social networking curriculum for INROADS.

Angela assisted the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition and the New America Foundation writing a proposal for Broadband Technology Opportunities Project funds.

Angela is assisting OneCommunity and its many partners with implementation of the BTOP funded broadband adoption project Connect Your Community.

It all started with a backed up drain pipe in my basement. My husband tried snaking the drain but it remained clogged.

Plumber #1: We called Rescue Rooter who snaked the drain ($248) as far as they could (which was not far enough). They sent a camera down (free) and determined our sewer pipe had collapsed. They provided a quote of almost $5K to repair the sewer pipe. The dude from Rescue Rooter seemed more like a sales guy than a plumber guy, plus he had a Chicken Little kind of attitude (don't flush toilet paper!) so we went looking for a 2nd quote. I searched online for sewer repair reviews (of which they are few) and asked my network for referrals (online and off).

Plumber #2:Online searching came up with Calhoun Plumbing. They ran a camera through the pipe ($255), gave us a dvd of the video, determined the sewer line had collapsed and said they would provide an itemized quote within a day. I asked for an off the top of their head quite of estimate and was told $7K.

At this point, I am wondering how much a first born child goes for on the black market. (Kidding. Just kidding.) And we are taking all showers and doing laundry elsewhere as we are afraid to end up with something terrible arising from our basement drain.

Plumber #3: I had been relaying all our drain drama to my networks via Twitter and Facebook. I received multiple suggestions of plumbers. Most of them do not touch sewer repair. One of my Facebook Friends (a previous client) suggested Muetzel Plumbing (which does not have a website). They sent a rep to provide a quote. I told their rep my story, including that I had become distrustful of his industry. He sent a camera through our sewer drain. He then asked me "How do you know you have a collapsed pipe?" I said "It was snaked and then I was told it was collapsed". He said "Did you see the video?" I said "Yes, but I had no idea what I was looking at, plus the 2 videos I have seem looked entirely different." He was not convinced the drain had collapsed. He suggested they run a power wash type of tool called a Jetter through our sewer pipe for $253. I said "do it". Anything to avoid putting my first born on the black market. Can you guess the end of this story? The Muetzel Plumbing power washing tool worked! Turned out it was roots! He then showed me on the video how my drain was clear all the way to the main sewer. He even found a few roots left in the sewer pipe so he ran the power washing tool again! Honorable. FINALLY. A skilled and honorable plumber.

The skilled and honorable plumber was found how? Facebook Friend. Who is actually a colleague. And my network comes through again.

March 26, 2010

RIO GRANDE — Representatives from Gallia County businesses, both large and small, learned how to use Facebook to boost their businesses during a Social Media Workshop hosted Thursday by the Gallia County Chamber of Commerce.

The seminar took place at the Bob Evans Hall at the University of Rio Grande. Attendees were taught step by step how to use and utilize Facebook to enhance their business.

Gallia County Chamber Director Lorie Neal said the chamber was thrilled to have the opportunity to provide such an important service to local businesses.

“The attendance today proves business owners are interested in utilizing social media, such as Facebook, to promote their businesses,” said Neal. “This event is just one example of what the chamber does to assist businesses.”

Fred Deel, director of the Governor’s Office of Appalachia, opened the seminar with a few words. Deel attended the seminar as a representative of the Appalachian Region Commission, which was a major sponsor of the event.

Included in the seminar, headed by Laura Rees of ShinyDoor, were basic Facebook set-up and navigation, basic marketing concepts and how to set up and use fan pages and groups.

ShinyDoor is a company that specializes in social media training and consulting for both small and medium businesses, non-profits and government agencies.

(On the Internet at www.shinydoor.com.)

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