 |
 |
| Low Income Networking and Communications | |
|
|
| Low Income Networking and Communications | |
Support our work with a |
This article is derived from an email originally sent to members of the ebase v2 team to describe the challenges of using the current version of ebase. I was in Miami in October of 2000, installing a modified version of ebase for a group called Miami Worker's Center (MWC) that brought up some interesting issues on how a small group grapples with having a robust piece of software delivered to their doorstep.
First of all let me tell you about MWC. They organize largely in an area of Miami called Liberty City with a particular focus on a housing project called "Pork and Beans". They're members are largely african-american women on welfare. They recently staged a number of actions and were able to get the city of Miami to set aside 3 million dollars to provide child care for parents transitioning off of welfare to work. They are currently strategizing around how to combat the Hope Six HUD initiative which will turn "Pork and Beans" into moderate income housing and displace many of the residents. As many of you may know - Miami is pretty devoid of any current Community Organizing and has very little organizing history - even as much as labor, etc. So they're really facing an uphill battle down there. However, MWC is getting quite a bit of attention from around the country and they are participating in a few of the coalitions that we're helping around TANF reauthorization. That said, you should know that MWC currently has one full time paid staff person. This is an organization where the members ARE the organization - most of the organizations we work with have this kind of ideology but there is some distinction in staff vs. members in the roles they play in building the organization. Because of the resources available to them at this time - MWC is actually a pretty pure version of this ideology. Their members must perform functions often reserved for staff in order to keep it alive. So when I arrived they informed me that they had arranged for at least 3 solid days of computer training for members while I was there. This led me into some real challenges with modifying ebase to meet their needs but also helped me to see how ebase already has some features that are excellent for a group like this. My biggest challenge (and still is!) is trying to configure some sort of membership status function that takes into account members activities along with some minor dues requirements to show their development in the organization. They use a couple of different criteria to judge a members level in the organization, such as attending events, conducting meetings, performing phone banking and volunteering in the office. They would like ebase to keep track of status for them. I posted a message to the support list for ebase to see if there was a way to do tfis easily and the best response I got was from Clif from ebase suggesting we translate all transactions into monetary values and conduct the status that way. As much as I appreciated Clif's thorough and quick response to my querie, I knew that this was not going to cut it for the group. First of all, they're trying to combat the damage that capitalism has done to their community and second their members contributions can't be evaluated into money. I remember Marshall from ebase talking about using something called transactions, which almost cuts it but again this is putting a monetary value on something that shouldn't have a monetary value. So we're still trying to figure it out - I think I may just develop a calculation field of my own and use that but it's definately something we would like to develop as a module for V2.
OK so the thing about ebase that got me really excited while I was there was the aility to use the notes in conjuction with assigning tasks to staff members. When I first got to Miami - the organizer with MWC talked about this great idea he'd like to see developed where you could use the database to assign tasks to various organizers to do outreach to members and how he wanted our help in developing this. I didn't realize this was a feature already built into ebase and when I was taking a poke around the notes section I was quite pleased. Unfortunately this blew some of the steam out of several funding proposals that MWC was beginning to formulate to develop such a thing. However - that clearly needs some work, especially when members need to be assigned tasks in references to other members. They loved the ability to use source codes to track contact information and the ability to track actions etc. And finally - my biggest challenge: Training members to do data-entry with ebase who had never touched a computer before. Wow, that was a big one. We started from point one - using the tutorial built into Windows for people new to PC's and worked our way up. The hardest part was trying to explain what a database actually was. Thank god there was a filing cabinet in the room that saved me from having to rewire my brain to think to a time before I had ever touched a computer. The data entry screen proved to be a bit overwhelming to someone entering information for the first time. But we got at least three members up to speed by the time I left and I felt that was pretty remarkable. I'll also note that there was an overarching strategy for the members to do data entry aside from the labor aspect - since the database is the backbone to the organizations functioning then in order for the members to be really intouch with how the organization operates then they need to know what the database does. I left Miami feeling like I had really helped increase the capacity of this group and ebase was a big part of my success. Just wanted to share that with you all. If they can have wins like the one on childcare with out a database, imagine what they can do with ebase and with V2 no less. You all can now turn your attention back to the other big events happening in Florida!! |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Contact LINC |
Site Map |
Credits
