Community work, adult education, computer recycling/refurbishing all using Linux

We’re Robyn Manning & Kylie Willison. We’d like to talk about our respective community work, in adult education, computer recycling/refurbishing, database programming, training with Linux and how others can get involved in community work or start their own projects.

Community work isn’t all unpaid work, it repays us many times over as we give the skills we have to other people and organisations. They need or want the skills we take for granted as easy and ‘the basics’.

We both teach computer skills to adults mainly on Linux based machines. The people in our classes are farmers, mums, elderly, unemployed, disabled, other staff etc. They are all there because they want to be, they want to learn how to send email, do word processing, know what the Internet is.

Recycling or refurbishing computers has taught us both lots about computer hardware & linux software. Giving someone their first computer be they young or older they come wanting to expand their knowledge. Our computers aren’t the greatest games machines because they wouldn’t have been given to us if they were. We try very hard to recycle what cannot be used into categories wire, plastic or metal.

How to Set Up A Community Training Place

• Approach a community centre
• Present them with reasons for using Linux:
• (it’s easier if they don’t already have computer training)
  • free open source software
  • students can legally install Linux on their own computers
  • no windows viruses or spyware
  • start off as a volunteer
  • look for a Computerbank or similar pc recycling program which uses Linux (they may give donations

It can start with one computer.

Date and time

15:40–16:30, Tuesday 29th January 2008, LinuxChix miniconf.

Speaker biography

Kylie Willison has been working with computers for about ten years. She’s done some study at TAFE but has mostly learnt from Robyn and from what she’s experienced and taught herself. She helped with the establishment of a branch of Teen Challenge in her local town (nine years ago) and is now one of the directors. She’s recently converted their office PCs from all Windows to 2 Linux PCs and 1 Windows. Their training facility has, for the last five years, consisted of 3 Linux PCs and 1 Windows.

Robyn Manning’s been working with computers for 19 years. She’s done some TAFE (technical college) study in Electronic Repair then Computing. She is a self taught Linux user who became a Sys Admin.