sounds familiar (Score 2)

Familiar like my job all the time, every day. It sounds like you are doing something similar to what I have done with the high school I work for in schools and orphanages in our local state, Nicaragua, Mexico, South Africa and (soonlike in a few weeks) the Caribbean.

While it’s impossible to speak to any specific instance, here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Power: Do you have electricity etc that can support the lab? If not, is there a way to get it with little cost or no cost. Is the local power in stable enough to prevent long term damage to the units? That is, are there rolling blackouts or the like that could call for preventative measures to be taken?

2. Location: This isn’t just secure from people wanting to break in and steal stuff (which can happen depending on how desperate people are. But then if the community is heavily involved, it will help prevent this or at bare minimum spark response to it). This is secure from rain, wind, sun etc? Consider the elements, they are the enemy. Is the climate humid? Hot? Does the building flood? Does it have AC in any of the rooms? Consider what implications this could have to the long term use of the units and their placement.

3. Involve the school: What do THEY want? Assume nothing. Talk with the school, see what it is they want and need. Work for them. I’m assuming you have already done this but it’s always good to check. Long ago when we were first starting to do tech outreach, one of our leaders said something to the effect of “don’t try to change the culture. Give the tools, show them how they run and let them use them how they will.” She has been dead right everywhere we’ve worked and the only exception we’ve made to this rule is demanding that at least half of the training class be female and be made mostly of students. Involve the students. They aren't idiots, don't cripple their options. Yes, give them admin power. This approach gives the school’s members a stake in the lab and learning and will also help secure the structure. It can also be helpful if you can find local organizations to participate.

4. Support: who is going to be in charge of keeping the lab up? You can’t stay there forever. Find someone (or some ones) at the school who has raw potential or somehow has an edge above the rest in the tech department and train them on how to support the units. Don’t rule out students. Teach them the fine art of “frankenstiening” old units together if parts are not readily available. Software support is vital too. Consider a base image for all of the units. Something we’ve done in the past with some of our support contacts is give them a flash drive full of resources, installers, tech tools, guides, walkthroughs, Linux isos. you know, helpful things if you don’t have a stable internet connection. Having someone on site with a greater than average knowledge of the inner workings of the lab will also help prevent the lab from becoming a china doll, so to speak. You want things to break in the lab, you want it to be a rag doll. That means it’s being used.

5. Connectivity: Do you somehow have internet there? If not, would you consider doing an internal network? If you want internet, talk to local businesses, government or charitable organizations. You might find someone willing to run you a line or point to point connections. On a similar note, mirrored sites are awesome. A local server with all of Wikipedia, Kahn Academy, a pile of common domain classic books and more sites/resources with license agreements allowing such is a damn powerful tool to leave in a school’s lab.

6. Shipping/transport: You have any idea how you’re going to get the computers into the country? I’ve flown with switches and servers in my bag before and it is doable if not a bit back breaking and a little sketch in the eyes of customs. However, if you can find a secure and inexpensive means to ship them is always good. If you do chose to carry the equipment in on your back, consider how customs is on entry. How tight are they? Are they corrupt? Will they take your stuff?

7. Take what you can get: Any desktop/laptop is better than none even including those with shitty power consumption. Sure newer is better but ultimately, the age on the unit doesn’t matter as long as it can run what you need them to run. We’ve used units recycled from our 1-1 program that have been 3 to 7 years old. I have a pair of 12 year old Compaq Armadas on my desk that are about to do service in a battered women shelter’s job training lab. Any functionality is better than no functionality or a higher cost. See if your local community has any nature of corporate recycling center that does some nature of refurbishing and redistribution. Also consider dredging craigslist, ebay, etc. for cheap older units. Alternatively, find a refurbisher and build a partnership.

8. Work your network: You work with a college/school, right? Does any alum run some nature of business that could offer up some help be it material or financial? You know the internal politics of your situation far better than I so you know if this is feasible or not. Are there any businesses in your community that could offer up some help material or financial? Look for connections with like-minded people or people looking for tax write offs. Also build a network with local (ie lab-side) businesses and charities.

9. Software choice matters: Open source isn’t a bad path if not for the ideology than for the cost. However, if you can find someone with old XP/Office licenses or the like they’d be willing to donate that could bridge the price gap and be beneficial in that the software is something the students are more likely to encounter in the working world. Either way, there is some cool stuff out there as far as educational/useful programs go. Geoalgebra, Inkscape, Open Office, Audacity, Dropbox, GIMP, class dojo, iTALIC, GraphCalc, Moodle, Step Go nuts on Google (or heck on this thread) and you’ll find even more. Have some sort of anti-malware/anti-virus on there. Seriously. If you’re more chaotic good and the lab doesn’t have an internet connection, software piracy would be an option. HOWEVER, I would avoid it personally as that can end up jeopardizing the program.

10. Pay it forward: don’t just drop a lab and leave. That’s irresponsible and stupid. Keep in touch, go back, visit, expand the project and forge bonds with the local community. Expect the people you are working with to use the tools and knowledge you teach them and pass it on into the community around them. Teach the teachers. Aim for a day when you aren’t needed.

11. Be creative: thinking outside the box is a good thing both in project ideas and problem solving. You will have weird stuff come up. You will end up holding a stack of spare RAM without an antistatic bag and feeling wrong about it. You will ask for a table to do breakdowns on and be given a card table with a fine lace table-cloth. Expect the unexpected and dish it out just as readily. Telemedicine possibilities? Mesh networks in play? Computer training for the community on weekends? How is cell phone permeation in the area, could it be used to tie into a project? 3D printing and design have some merit here? A multimedia lab so they can record their lives and share them via podcast? This is kinda your RasPi line of thought. That being said:

12. RasPi: This is a really awesome idea but I would hold off doing this on a large scale until part A of this is cemented and you have a more tech-savy base to build from. Maybe just one or two for some of the more talented individuals you encounter?

Hope that answers some questions... or makes new ones >.>