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CHI*ATLANTA : EVENTS : 2003: Technology Service Day, March 15


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For a second straight year, members of CHI-Atlanta (CHI-A) joined hundreds of other volunteers in giving back to the metro Atlanta community in a unique way by participating in Hands on Atlanta’s Technology Service Day.

CHIA at Technology Service day On Saturday March 15, 2003, two volunteers from Kurt Salmon Associates and five volunteers from CHI-A worked one-on-one with parents from Decatur’s Even Start program. During the half-day activity, volunteers taught basic spreadsheet fundamentals required to build and maintain a household budget. Volunteers also instructed parents on how to use the Internet as an educational resource for their families. In the course of these activities, CHI-A members got a firsthand glimpse at the needs and capabilities of truly novice users that have just recently started a computer literacy class offered by Project Even Start.

According to CHI-Atlanta’s Outreach Chair, Tim King, "one of the stated goals of Technology Service Day is to bridge the digital divide, and as professionals in the field of Human Computer Interaction, our members are well-suited to observe and respond to user needs. Volunteering in events like this is not only personally fulfilling, but contributes to our day-to-day roles as interface designers by exposing us to underrepresented users in the community at large and putting us in closer touch with their needs."

One overwhelmingly positive aspect of this volunteer activity was that the parents who took part said such good things about the workshop that the parents who did not attend are asking when the next class is scheduled to take place.

CHIA at Technology Service Day Technology Service Day is an annual volunteer event that brings technology workers throughout the Atlanta community together. Organized by Hands on Atlanta - a local "non-profit organization that helps individuals, families and corporate and community groups find flexible volunteer opportunities at more than 400 service organizations and schools," Technology Service Day focuses on addressing the technology challenges of schools and nonprofit organizations in Metro Atlanta.

Decatur Even Start is a family literacy program operated in conjunction with the City Schools of Decatur, which began operation the summer of 1993. The program serves families with children up to eight years of age. It is based on the belief that children's early learning is greatly influenced by their parents; that parents must develop and value their own literacy skills in order to support their children's educational readiness; and that parents are their children's first and best teachers.