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Jul 13

Quit Complaining About Society. Support Non-Profits and Volunteer.

July 13, 2008 • View Comments • Social Media for Social Good

gandhiquote

I am amazed at how many pats on the back I get for trying to support Elaine Allan’s efforts to help Burmese refugees here in town. All these people, all Obama supporters. All clamoring for change. Few choose to step up and actually help out.

Awareness is great. People willing to “get their hands dirty” are so much more useful though.

I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I suppose awareness is better than indifference. But when I see a kid who is a year old who isn’t wearing a diaper because his mother can’t afford them, and I meet a man who doesn’t have a job, can’t speak English, and has sought political asylum here in the States, I have a hard time settling with awareness. I met a family that was down to six eggs to eat right here in Austin, Texas.

How excited should I really be about the new iPhone apps? Why should I follow your dogs on Twitter? I love geeky people and feel they want nothing but the best for this world. I just don’t think they quite get the disparity in our world, and how little effort it takes from each individual to fix it.

So please support Obama. Support change. Just appreciate that you, and not your government, are responsible for the change that this world needs. Whether you believe that we need to find the cure for cancer, or bridge the digital divide, or solve world hunger, you cannot rely on your government to fix these problems. It doesn’t matter how many tax dollars you throw at it. Anyone who’s dealt with the government knows that their programs are wasteful, inconvenient, and run by people who are rewarded for being tenured rather than competent. Try this on for size: I am still dealing with crime victim’s compensation paperwork A YEAR AFTER the the situation that warranted it. When I asked a woman who worked for this division to just email me a fax number, she said she was unable to do this. EVERYTHING IS PAPERWORK WITH THE GOVERNMENT, AND THIS IS A WASTE OF YOUR TIME AND MONEY.

Change isn’t just a buzzword. It is an action that we all have to take to make society better.

BTW, if you want to improve the Burmese people’s situation here in Austin, please email Elaine at borntohelp(at)earthlink.net. She will tell you everything they need.

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Jun 09

30 Burmese Refugees Bust into Anarchistic Craze at the Outta School Super FunFest

June 9, 2008 • View Comments • Events I've Attended, Social Media for Social Good

What happens when you take
1.) 30 Burmese refugees in who don’t have cars to go anywhere and
2.) Texas heat (a given in the summer)

and give those refugees 250 water balloons?

You get THIS!

Outta School Super FunFest from Michelle Greer on Vimeo.

Check out Grant Hutchins’s pics on Flickr. Too awesome!

Many thanks to Josh Seaver and Grant Hutchins for helping out. It was an entire day of awesomeness.

These refugees have led a very hard life and could use them help. We are trying to score them computers as well as internet. If you are interested in helping them people out, please leave a comment or get in touch with Elaine Allan. Her website is www.borntohelp.org.

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Apr 23

Using Linux Ubuntu to Bridge the Digital Divide

April 23, 2008 • View Comments • Open Source

I am not an “open source evangelist”. My knowledge of code does not extend beyond basic HTML. I have had offers to teach me, but I am a marketer and my career advances when I learn more about marketing, not about code.

I also dabble in volunteering. Generally, I’ve been too career driven to volunteer, but recent circumstances in my life have made me reevaluate my priorities. I’ve been helping Elaine Allen, who works tirelessly to improve the living situations of many refugees here in town. When I tell her about cool new happenings in the tech world, she tells me about people living here in Austin who often run out of money for food. These people are refugees from Burma, Rwanda, Sudan, and Burundi, who came here with nothing but social security numbers and the need to escape a horrible situation. I met a refugee here in Austin who was down to three diapers for her baby and heard stories of another man who worked so tirelessly, he is 55 years old with long hair because he is too busy working as a janitor to actually stop to get a haircut. That is what $7 an hour gets you in Austin.

What does this have to do with Linux? Austin has lost thousands of jobs in the shift to a knowledge based economy. If a person does not have basic internet skills, they will fall further and further behind in the digital divide. I can help these refugees by simply giving them the computers people aren’t using. Why is Linux Ubuntu perfect for this?

  • I don’t have to pay for it (duh).
  • They won’t have to worry about anti-viral software, which I doubt they would know much about anyway.
  • Upgrades are silly easy and also free.
  • I can accept older computers, since Linux is less resource intensive than XP, and a welterweight compared to Vista. Why spend money when I can use other people’s unused computers for free and get better, virus and worm free results :-) ? Most of the software they need is web-based anyway.

    • What do I not like about using Linux for this project?
    I generally like hanging out with people and being outdoors. This means I don’t want to be sitting and installing Flash or Gnash on every machine I get. According to the Linux Journal, I’d also have to install Java, MP3 support, DVD support, video streaming plugins, and true type fonts. People use this stuff, but setting them up on every machine I get fills my heart with dread. I just want to give computers to people who should be using them.

    Why Ubuntu is Cool as Hell
    Nowadays, software is more expensive than the machine you put it on. With Linux, there are no viruses, free upgrades, open office and gimp already part of the package. I can offer all the basics to people who need them without worrying that I’m going to get hauled off to jail or fined simply for trying to help people who have been through the worst humanity has to offer. This project would simply be too labor intensive and expensive if my only option was Windows.

    Mark Shuttlesworth doesn’t have to support Canonical or Ubuntu–he just does. The idea of consciously contributing something so useful to the community at large is truly inspirational.

    To learn how you can help these refugees, please visit borntohelp.org. To learn more about Ubuntu, a free operating system built by the developer community, visit Canonical’s website. To donate a computer, please contact me at michelle(at)michellesblog.net or ping me in the Twittosphere at http://www.twitter.com/michelle_greer.

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