This workshop will focus on how to assess an organization's computer resources for maturity and appropriateness, and then how to work with board, staff, computer support people, and constituents to make the system vibrant, robust, flexible, and a true support in reaching the organization's goals. Steve will focus on the data issues, Adam on the hardware, security and maintenance issues.

Participants are encouraged to bring detailed descriptions of their computer network for discussion.

Moving Forward
The Organizers Collaborative wants to help its members develop reliable, sustainable, and efficient computer networks to help them pursue their missions. To help you, this year’s Grassroots Use of Technology conference features a founding workshop—that is, a workshop intended to be the first in a series of Boston-based collaborative workshops to help participants grow their computer systems.

Our goal is to have a monthly 4-hour workshop in the Boston area where participants can work together to improve their computer infrastructure, with the guidance of an experienced computer practitioner. We have several objectives:

1. To develop a set of standards for backup, security, database maintenance, and other computer tasks. Of course each member organization will have to customize these standards to their particular needs, but having a basic set of standards will have many beneficial effects. For example, if all the member organizations use essential the same backup strategy, we can help each other maintain and improve our backup systems, encourage each other to do backups properly and regularly, and share documentation and training materials about backups. We could also share vendors and equipment, when it makes sense.

2. To have a place to discuss, in person and hands-on, computer problems and ideas, to help improve our systems.

3. To get to know people in other organizations, and build bonds of friendship, trust and mutual help.

4. To spend frugally and wisely the funds that member organizations allocate to computer consulting and training. This group approach makes access to expensive computer consulting much more affordable, since the group leaders fees are split among member groups.

5. To create a peer group that can be used to show boards and staffs what current standards are, to help encourage positive computer change within organizations. For example, an organization might be very reluctant to invest in a proper backup system, but hearing that all the other members of the group have done so can have a powerful effect on executive and board opinion.

We plan to begin this series at the 2007 conference, with Adam Frost and Steve Backman’s workshop, Helping Your Computer System Grow Up. We invite attendees of that workshop to consider continuing with us as the workshop continues in Boston over the next year. We are very open to participants joining the group by remote conference call and computer connection, so that member organizations outside the Boston area can be part of this process.

This is a new and experimental effort, and we welcome suggestions and comments. Please call or email Felicia Sullivan or Adam Frost for more information.