Looks very cool!
Free Geek Chicago
Check out the website: http://www.freegeekchicago.org/
Description from their website:
FREE GEEK Chicago is a not-for-profit community organization that recycles used technology to provide computers, education, internet access and job skills training to the underserved communities of Chicago in exchange for community service.
FREE GEEK Chicago was founded in August 2005 as a collaboration of NPOTechs and Logan Square CTC to recycle computer technology and provide low and no-cost computing to economically disadvantaged individuals and not-for-profit and social change organizations.
FREE GEEK Chicago does most of this work with volunteers. The volunteers disassemble the donated equipment and test the components, which are either recycled as electronic scrap or recycled into refurbished systems. These refurbished computers are then loaded with Open Source Software, such as GNU/Linux, Open Office, and other Free Software.
We are proud of being a democratically-run organization, and use consensus in our meetings. Our policy decisions are made by a group of volunteers and staff called the council, and those policies are executed by our staff collective.
Anyone can get involved! Donate used equipment… volunteer your time… support a grassroots community organization!
edited to include a hyperlink to the FGC website instead of just the text of the url
I arrived in Portland last night for WikiVanning to WikiSym in San Diego starting on Sunday. I’m now in Oakland after a very full day. Too tired to try to synthesize other than to say that the connections are amazing on so many levels. Here are the notes.
Edited to paste in an email I just sent to the OSList (open space technology practitioners):
I’ve never had a day quite like yesterday.
I live in Chicago, flew to Portland, OR Thursday night and yesterday, spent from about 8am until 11pm in open space with 3 other people without the normal “breaks” for meals and such. Clearly a lot of times meal times at a conference are continuations of the sessions and topics from the conversation. This felt different. Let me back up. We’re on our way to WikiSym, a conference (non-open space) in San Diego that starts Sunday. We wanted more face to face time in open space so we decided to do this drive.
So leaving Portland, we got out some mailing labels and put our topics on the dashboard of the van! We drove to Eugene, about 2 hours away, and stopped for brunch at the Walnut Street Cooperative, a house where 9 people live. The brunch was hosted by two people and several others also joined in (those here are the right people!) and there were some really amazing conversatons and beginning friendships and collaborations there. After brunch we wanted a photo of all present so someone went to get another housemate to take it. When he found out who the travelers were and what we were doing, he asked if we had 5 minutes to hear about his stuff. We agreed and he blew us away for another 20 minutes and Peggy Holman’s name came up as one of his collaborators. Connections!
Then back in the van, just stops for bathroom and fuel (we had provisions with us in the van so didn’t need to stop again to eat) and we worked through topic after topic from the dashboard. I’ll have to get a photo of the dash uploaded, but in the meantime, here are our notes: http://wiki.wikisym.org/space/WikiVanning
What a day!
peace,
ted
–
Humanize the Earth! http://tedernst.com
I’ve posted before about composting in Chicago. Tonight we had a workshop at the Hub given by master composter Melody, also of Chicagoland Bicycle Federation fame. She was awesome. We learned all about composting outside and inside. She was also able to troubleshoot our two active compost bins. We need to drill some holes in one of our bins and add more “browns” (shedded newspaper, dead brown leaves, etc) to the other one. Cool.
Was just reminded by Sam:
On that note, we’re hosting Critical Mass Happy Hour on the 9th of September. You’re all invited. It’s going to be a sort of pre-housewarming party. You should come! It’ll be fun!
I concur. Come on over. :-)
From Portland Indymedia: Co-ops making history! World’s first open-source POS system at People’s Food Co-op:
This past weekend People’s Food Co-op in SE Portland made history. During a conference with tech and IT folk from co-ops around the country these über-geeks assembled and successfully rang out items on the world’s first entirely free, open-source point-of-sale system. A point-of-sale system (or POS) is the software needed to run a cash register and manage the pricing of all the items in a store.
Let’s face it, I like food. And I live in a housing co-op. And I’m a new convert to the church of open source. This article is way cool and signals the slightested tightening in corporate control. Woo hoo!
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