Introduction to LAP:NOLA

2009-09-06T22:58:00.000-07:00

“Children are like sponges. They pick things up so fast. You set them up with a computer, and soon after they're teaching the adults. For a parent looking for a job or trying to get free tax info, imagine what a difference having a computer and a computer literate child in the home will make.” – Lynn Bender, GeekAustin

In post-Katrina New Orleans, people all over the world and we here at home, have recognized the need for many, many things. There is an obvious lack of adequate housing, an education system that is exponentially worse than before Katrina, and a general feeling of being "out of touch" with technology. One of the issues that is most obvious to our local tech community is the lack of educational tools focused on the latter: technology.

We are definitely a city of traditions and history. We celebrate old buildings and architecture, foods of generations past, and music our grandparents listened to. We work hard and celebrate harder and raise our children as we were raised. In the wake of our glorious traditions, we sometimes forget that the rest of the world continues to move forward. That computers and technology are viable tools and the skills utilized in the use and creation of these things are NECESSARY.

With this in mind, while working with the local tech community, I have been inspired by the efforts of Linux Against Poverty and Lynn Bender of GeekAustin. I came to discover this initiative through William Hurley (or whurley as he is mostly known, of whom I am an ardent fan and supporter) and was blown away by the outcome.

In early 2008, while working with Michelle Greer of the Austin American Statesman on a separate project, Lynn began thinking about how he could use his local resources (in the form of GeekAustin) to generate donations of retired systems and distribute them to needy families. Linux Against Poverty was born. In December, Lynn called upon the HeliOS Project, a group that takes decommissioned computers, installs Linux and distributes them to needy families in central Texas. The ideas were powerful, the organizers were passionate, and soon a movement was born. A few short months later, on August 1^st, 2009, Austin held its first Linux installfest, with over 300 donated machines. It was an amazing and unparalleled success. (http://linuxagainstpoverty.org/lap-austin-install-fest-success)

As I watched the progress of the initiative via LinuxAgainstPoverty.org, I could only think about how New Orleans could benefit from an initiative like this. Although the process and results would be the same, getting technology to those who are without it, our recipients would not be individual families. After much thought and a long chat with Lynn Bender, we decided the best objective of Linux Against Poverty: NOLA is to find a group, school or other youth organization (or combination of several) that would be willing to accept a donation of about 30 computers with the Linux OS installed on them.

This was partially inspired also by the results of BarCampNOLA this year, in which a group of about 25 tech types got together and created a web site for NolaSchoolVolunteers.org. Seeing how important just a simple WordPress web page was to an organization made me aware that we could, as a growing, burgeoning tech community, go much bigger and be much more effective.

Now, with the help of Lynn Bender, Joey Kelly of the Linux Users Group and New Orleans Tech’s Youth Initiative, and the New Orleans tech community, the plan to hold the 2^nd ever Linux Installfest is off and running. If you'd like to donate or get involved as a volunteer, an expert or a recipient, please contact lapnola@gmail.com and we will work together to meet your needs.

Some resources:

www.linuxagainstpoverty.org

www.geekaustin.com

www.neworleanstech.net

Twitter:

@linearb

@lapnola

@champsuperstar

@neworleanstech

Thank you for reading and please, if you can, donate or volunteer.

Regards,

Champ Superstar

LINUX AGAINST POVERTY: NOLA

Introduction to LAP:NOLA