Before diving in, there is some information with which you should familiarize yourself. Reading and learning this information will help you work smoothly with your fellow volunteers and more effectively provide opportunities to the youth and adult participants in Bworks’ programs.

byteWORKS Volunteer Manual

For more specialized opportunities, see the Project Wishlist for some ideas of what we'd like to do.

Are you a geek that wants to help your community?

Byteworks is looking for instructors for our Earn A Computer program.

We teach : Computer basics, Internet, presentation software, and beginning programming to youth in 4th - 8th grade.

Byteworks is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping youth develop their academic, vocational, and entrepreneurial skills.

Our courses teach open source software, and we award our graduates with Ubuntu Linux desktops.

If you enjoy learning new technology and teaching others the latest awesomeness in geekery, send an e-mail to info@bworks.org, or visit our shop between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on Saturdays at:

4100 Shenandoah
Saint Louis, MO  63110

• The Byteworks Mentorship Program

One of the main volunteer opportunities at ByteWorks is taking old computers that have been donated, testing them, and then using the computer or its parts in the various ByteWorks programs. The Childrens Earn A Computer program currently uses Ubuntu Linux (Hardy Heron). Windows XP is installed on computers given out through the Adult_Earn_a_Computer.

Volunteer Opportunities for Building/Refurbishing Computers:

• Obtaining computers – Pursue businesses/organizations to donate used computers to byteworks.
• Pick up / deliver computers and parts
• Test / troubleshoot donated computers.
  • Peform hardware checks and install system software.
• Build students computers
  • Prepare students computers for use by installing necessary software.

• Please see the Childrens Earn A Computer for more details on the setup/installation process for children's Machines.
• Please see Adult_Earn_a_Computer for the details of the setup/installation of machines for the adults.

We have an increasing need to set up DSL modems for our Earn A Computer graduates, both adult and students.

• Volunteers would go to customers' houses and help with installing DSL modems and configuring additional machines with Internet access.

Byteworks would like to start giving out binders with its classes. Byteworks needs a reasonable/affordable printing solution.

Byteworks would like to hand out instructions to Earn-A-Computer graduates, with basic information about the Internet.

• Plain English facts, as well as contact information for Byteworks and the various available ISPs.
• Potential ISP information (Phone numbers, basic info about DSL versus Cable etc)
• An ad for “Byteworks will help connect your EAC computer to the Internet free of charge”, or perhaps for a small donation.
• Provide basic safety rules for surfing the 'Net
• Flyer would also give the names of various anti-virus / spyware/adware software.
• Flyer could come from current Earn-A-Computer class presentation.

Byteworks has a very popular adult class with machines that run Windows. We have a high demand for someone who has or is willing to learn the following skills:

• Prepare adult student machines (hardware checks, modems, install Windows, Microsoft Office, Firefox, etc)
• Maintain the Windows partitions on the classroom computers. Byteworks uses the same computers for both adult and student classes, and the Windows partitions are often out of date and different from computer to computer.

Byteworks needs a file server to be set up.

• For tech specs, see samba file server.
• System administrators are welcome to inquire
• For requirements/purpose, see File Server Project

• Maintaining the Website

• Maintaining / Improving this Wiki

• Selling Bytworks Shop items on e-bay

• Computer Sales
• Answering the phone
• Registering people for Adult classes
• Registering people for Children’s classes
• Network Infrastructure

General cleaning and housekeeping is always needed. Floors need to be swept, mopped, or vacuumed. Bathrooms definitely need cleaning! Classrooms need to be kept clean, especially during cold/flu season. Trash cans need to be emptied. During warm weather, the flower pots outside need watering and tending.

Byteworks has two workshops that are being planned:

• Byteworks Workshop
• Photography Class

We need volunteers to perform the following tasks:

• Gather interest information in either workshop.
• Contact interested parties to begin workshops.
• Teach/assist with workshops once under way.

See the bicycleWorks link on www.bworks.org

There are also lots of resources on this wiki that can help you complete volunteer tasks like those listed below. If you learn something along the way that isn’t shared here, be sure to add it using the edit buttons!

Effective Fundraising

This page is meant to be a wishlist of TODO projects/tasks at Byteworks.

See Also Volunteer Opportunities

Perhaps it could be used as a project list for new volunteers to be able to take off the hands of existing volunteers.

• We're considering opening the computers in the lab for given time period, for example only 3:00 - 4:00 on Saturdays
• We would need adults that would supervise children and where they surf, etc.
• This pre-set time would replace the ad-hoc computer usage that we currently have.

We need a volunteer to handle taking surveys from the previous one or two graduating classes.

Need an easy way to refresh the student desktops at the beginning of each new Earn-A-Computer class.

It would be very cool if the instructor could show one of the students' screens on the instructor's machine. Since the instructor's screen is shown on the projector, the student's screen would then be projected for all students to be able to see the cool accomplishment that the student has.

A technical setup has been detailed here: vnc.

Requirements would be:

• VNC would be easy to start, (perhaps on bootup). The instructor only need to tell the student to click something, or issue a simple command.
• Secure - If VNC is always running on student computers, then the bad guys should not be able to get to the students computers and control them.
• Instructors would be able to easily know how to show a particular student's screen on the projector.
• When new classroom machines are created, the software for sharing the screen should be installed along with the new classroom machine.

Byteworks has a database application that can always be improved.

We need a mail-merge type way of printing the Diplomas. The diplomas are in PowerPoint, and should be fairly easy to merge the current EAC class student names and create a certificate for each student that's graduating.

• Create a basic search screen where the user can easily query for students/parents.
• Easier data entry for parents / students. Some of the fields are not as easy to type numbers into as they could be, etc.
• Automatically save the name of the Bworks volunteer who entered a student/parent's information

During student registration, we print a call list, and verify the information on the call list when we actually talk to the parents during registration. Sometimes, the information needs to be updated.

If there was a “call list” screen in the student database that had only the 30 people who were on the latest call list. You could then more easily find people who's information needs updated.

When enrolling students in a class, the program should use check-boxes. Currently it uses a list box where you have to hold down SHIFT when selecting all the people that need to go into a class.

We should also switch the order of lastname/firstname on class assembly screen, as well as on the parent/student subform.

• Take photos of each student with the instrutors and their diplomas.
• We also take a group photo.
• Print these pictures
• Figure out which students are on each picture
• Send the family a copy of the pictures.
  • Addresses of the students who graduated can be retrieved from the database (Ask Nate)
    • Future Have a cover letter with Byteworks info, and notice of a follow-up that we'll be doing in 3 months.
    • Mentorship program notice

• Get digital pictures taken @ graduation
• Get any digital pictures that were taken
• Use GIMP to fuzz out names, etc
  • E-mail the student a copy of their picture.
  • Should be easy to have a form that takes data from the student database, and creates cover letter and envelopes.

• List computers and various other parts that are donated to Byteworks.
  • Computers may not have enough profit margin to be viable, but we get other miscellaneous parts that are donated (switches, routers, etc) that might be very valuable to someone.
• Responsibilities would be listing/selling some of the equipment that we get on Ebay, as well as maintaining communication with shop volunteers so that we don't sell something that we don't have
• See also Ebay Guru

Our front office could use a re-arrangement. If we had someone who were to head this up, we could really improve the look of the front office.

• Use better shelves, etc for the “on sale” computers.
• Better placement of file cabinets (even move them to basement?)
• Better placement/display of demo computer
• Make all printers, envelopes, stationery shelf easily accessible.
• Byteworks Phun Screensaver

If anyone hasn't seen the “Phun” program, it's really cool.

You can animate objects, and make them bounce off each other and do crazy things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bL6pOr_UpY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bL6pOr_UpY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H5g9VS0ENM

I would like to have a competition to see who can make the coolest video using the word “Byteworks”, “BicycleWorks”, etc. and then play that video for the kids in the EAC class.

• All entries would be played in a rotating fashion on a computer that's for sale in the Byteworks Shop.
• Use one of the 20” CRTs for displaying this.

Perhaps we could use a whiteboard in the front office to advertise help wanted?

The Byteworks flier needs updated. A creative person is needed to create a lively, cool looking flier that advertises Byteworks current programs.

We need more business cards, preferably with a colorful Byteworks logo on it, and a more lively message.

Open Office has great documentation on its website. There are PDFs available for Writer and Impress.

Byteworks could bundle these documents with our EAC computers. Some things to consider:

• Make documents easily accessible. Put a link on the desktop, or better yet, in the “Places” or “Help” or “Applications” main menu in Ubuntu. If links are put on the desktop, they will probably be deleted when the kids customize their desktops. If we put links to the documents in the Menu, they'll have a better chance of persisting, and also being easily accessible.

We could get ubuntu to gather a specific package in Byteworks' specifications, and add a meta-package to their repositories!!!!

There was talk of building a “Tron” like game where you could control the computer using bicycle handlebars, etc.

• See Bicycleworks Byteworks Collaboration

• volunteer opportunities draft