Future Work

My experience with Planet Geek was quite fruitful and has bettered my understanding of the digital divide. A problem I thought I fully understood before Planet Geek.

I have asked Jon to keep me on the contact list for volunteers. During this summer and possibly beyond, I will gladly join more workshops and teaching sessions. I will also keep an eye out for any unwanted hardware.

I would like to thank Planet Geek for this wonderful experience.

Third Week

Today’s attendance was low, but that meant that I got to work on two computers simultaneously. This was both fun and interesting, and I was also glad that it went through with minimal bumps.

Jon also informed us that Planet Geek is in need of optical drives and three-button mice. I told Jon that I can hang a poster in my building in hopes of getting donors. They liked the idea and sent me a poster template to use in my building.

Today’s workshop went well, and I am surely looking forward to my next visit to Planet Geek.

Second Week

Today it was less crowded than the previous week. This made it possible for each of us to work on a single station. I faced some new problems working on my machine but was able to surpass them.

One thing to note is that Planet Geek only deploys Ubuntu operating system on all their machines as it relieves them from licensing issues and cuts down their cost. After deploying Ubuntu on the machine I was working on today, I had to skin the interface to make it look like Microsoft Windows XP. I thought this was interesting as it demonstrated that to most people the computing experience is restricted to Windows, and mostly Windows XP. Jon informed me that it provides the users with a sense of comfort and assurance when using their computers, as Ubuntu may be intimidating and unfamiliar to new users. Again, I learned something new today.

First Week

Today was our first day volunteering at Planet Geek. Most of us arrived on time, some of us arrived late due to having trouble locating the workshop.

It was quite crowded at the workshop as the volunteer turnout was greater than what Jon and Terry had expected for today. Due to overcrowding, all the new student volunteers were put in pairs.

We were all given a sheet of instructions to follow. This sheet thoroughly included all the necessary steps to put together a computer and test its components.

Along the day we faced some trouble, but thanks to help from veteran volunteers and head organizers we got our machines going.

After four hours of work, I can honestly say I learned quite a bit today, even though building computers is a task I have done before. I also want to say the work environment was great and everyone around us was supportive. Looking forward to next week.

Initial Meeting

Today, me and the group of people that applied to work with Planet Geek met with Jon Alexander in a building near our university for about forty minutes. Jon is one of the head organizers at Planet Geek. He was kind enough to tell us about the work they do at Planet Geek and other organizations with similar goals.

Jon talked about himself and the other head organizer Terry. He explained to us what they do for a living and how they got together to form Planet Geek. He also talked about another organization by the name of Free Geek that also caters to the same clientele as Planet Geek but at a larger scale.

Both Planet Geek and Free Geek provide free computers to those who need them. Before handing out the computers, Planet Geek teaches the new owners how to utilize their stations to meet their needs. This is one of the major issues that Planet Geek tackles aside from lack of computer ownership.

Computer illiteracy may hinder any individuals prospects for a career in today’s world. It also alienates them from other essential life aspects be it social or educational. This is magnified by the increased number of activities individuals perform on the computer and the Internet. For this, Planet Geek provides computers with Internet capability as well as lessons to teach the new owners on how to use them.

One interesting mention was the source of the donated hardware that Planet Geek receives. The hardware may come straight from donors who contact the organization, or be found by volunteers as trash outside of houses or offices. After all, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

At the end of meeting, Jon arranged with the us an appropriate day and time of the week to meet and provided us with directions to reach their workshop.

Choosing Planet Geek

Hello everyone. For those that do not know me, my name is Yazan and I am an undergraduate computer science student at the University of Toronto. In one of my courses I was required to take part in a community service that helped bridge the digital divide in Toronto.

Our professor supplied us with a list of community service partners and asked us to choose one partner to work with. On the list there were several organizations that provided digital aid to various groups that needed them. This group included those who had faced hard times throughout their lifetime, those who were unable to keep up with the digital age, and those who could not afford current technologies.

One community partner that stood out for me was Planet Geek. They are an organization that collects used or unwanted hardware to build computers and provide them to those who need them at no charge.

What really gravitated me towards Planet Geek (no pun intended) was the aspect of building computers. A hobby I enjoy in my free time. I have built several computers for friends, family, and myself and was looking forward to building computers as a service to the community.

Luckily, I was guaranteed the partner of my choice by my professor and am anxiously awaiting to hear from the Planet Geek people.