The term e-commons was coined as an abbreviation of the words electronic commons and is based on a philosophy of shared Internet and Communication technology resources for our community.
By combining knowledge of the new technologies with principles of community development a wide range of resources have been introduced increasing the access community groups can have to great I.T.
Community resilience and sustainability encompass many things, but unfortuantey computers and internet technology are often excluded from the conversation for being too complex to relate to and too expensive to consider adopting. The ecommons project is successfully dispelling that myth!
This project is being developed by Chris Twemlow of All Things Web in conjunction with Project Lyttelton
Click on one of the services listed below for a summary of the current resources developed in Project Lyttelton
Some of these services and 'how to' information is available to community groups, for more information contact Chris Twemlow +64 (3) 328 8223 or chris@lyttelton.net.nz
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Community Computers
Computers have been donated to project Lyttelton by Christchurch City Council and also by individuals. These have been serviced and upgraded running Microsoft Windows XP or Ubuntu 9 Linux. Project Lyttelton, The Information Centre, Time Bank, Youth Centre, Community House, The Workingmans Club, Volcano Radio and other local organisations and people with a need have been given these computers. The cost to the organisation has either been free or the cost of some extra equipment and occasionally a setup fee if professional assistance is required. Web Hosting
Many organisations these days need a website to promote their activities or share information. One of the hurdles at first can be, 'How do we get started?' Project Lyttelton is renting high-quality and fast webhosting utilizing a virtual server based in Christchurch connected directly to the internet exchange. The server is maintained by All Things Web and PL pays a set annual fee. In turn PL has been offering hosting on the virtual server to other community groups at costs below current market rates. Sharing 'expertise' and 'bandwidth' in this way helps give organisations access and some security they might have had to pay more for on their own. This kind of sharing goes beyond simply scale of economies to forging healthy community relations and respect. Mobile Computer Suites
Project Lyttelton now has 2 mobile computer suites. These each comprise of 9 laptops and a projector. Suite 1 Acer Laptops running Ubuntu 9.04 with a full suite of software including open office and Picasa Suite 2 Dell Laptops running Windows 7 with Open Office & Adobe Photoshop Elements. These 2 laptop suites are used primarily for the Local education classes but can also be rented for a nominal fee in full or part for other community classes, functions or demonstrations. (enquire with PL administration for availability and costs) Content Management Systems (AKA - Websites)
There are a wide range of websites these days, most of them cost several thousand to develop and often leave clients completely reliant of web developers to update. So the ecommon project has choosen to promote and teach groups to use Joomla!, a low cost website system that allows users to login, add and edit pages and alter content using a simple word processor interface. This website uses the Joomla Content Management System with a customized template to create a look which is professional and suits the aims of our group. The same system is also being used by the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre http://www.lytteltonharbour.info. As more local groups choose to use this system a new pool of knowledge grows that also builds on the basic principles of the ecommons. Open Source SoftwareWe understand that software comes in two sorts, the same as what everyone else has and the other stuff. In building literacy in community groups there is a real opportunity to provide education and support, for open source software. Many of us are happy with what we know and we can spend hundreds of dollars thinking there are no other options. Here are some of the ones we use. UBUNTU While Microsoft and Apple computer systems are the norm, the ecommons project has also introduced Ubuntu, a free operating system that is extremely powerful, stable and loaded with software. As it almost never breaks down it is very helpful for groups who need to use it for simply accessing the internet or word processing. From a maintenance perspective it costs groups basically nothing to run and does not require all the security features of Windows as these are built in. OPEN OFFICE Open office is just fantastic, more powerful than microsoft office... and free... it comes with spell check and can save files in microsoft format and can even produce PDF files on the fly. Open office is also promoted by Senior Net. MOZILLA FIREFOX & THUNDERBIRD Simply the best Web browsing and Email Software around. GOOGLE, et.al. Google develops a wide range of software, some opensource and mostly free to use, avaliable on the net to provide tools that are perfect for community groups, gmail, picassa, googlemaps, groups....the list is huge. The range of Open Source software for windows operating system grows longer day by day, here is an excellent link to an opensource software website . http://www.opensourcewindows.org/ Web Services on a Local Server
Web Services are very new to IT and are on the cutting edge of Community IT development. If you have worked in large organisations these are becoming more common and are usually a mix of intranet(internal networks) and remote server allowing employees to use company information from anywhere. PL and the Information Centre are utilizing a range of these including;
TelecomunicationsThe cost of telephone lines, internet, cellphones faxes can become a major cost for Not for Profit Organsiations. Another ecommon solution is VOIP, what we commonly refer to as the telphone line is in fact copper wire delivering an electronic signal, it can be for phone fax, internet,eftpos..what ever. So companies like WorldxChange now provide a connection, do with it what you want. Introudcing this sytem can reduce annual costs by half, and you get all the addons like messaging, wall waiting, forwartding etc etc without having to pay extra for each little service. Another popular choice is Skype, this is a way of using the computer to talk to people around the country and worlkd for free. |
