ONGOING CLASSES, TRAINING, VOLUNTEER SESSIONS

Computer Essentials Course The course provides three weeks of lectures and hands-on training to non-techie organizers and activits from small organizations as well as individuals. The classes will teach how to deal with a number topics around how to keep your computer running efficiently and help you decide what you can do yourself verses when you should seek outside help. See here for class scheudle and details.

Tutor Training & Orientation Tutor training and orientation sessions are for people who wish to tutor in our Computer Repair Course. We review how we run the class and how we approach the tutoring process, as well as technical issues including drivers, diagnostic tools, CMOS set up, how we check out computers, and hands-on experience. We encourage former Computer Repair students to become tutors! Tutor training for the September 2004 computer repair course will be scheduled in August. Please visit us then for times and dates.

Volunteer Drop-In, Saturdays from 1:00-4:00 PM On Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00, our computer workshop is open for volunteer drop in. Come share and sharpen your technical skills and learn new ones while helping refurbish and prepare computers for social change organizations throughout the developing world. These regular Saturday afternoon sessions are intended to get computers ready for packing and shipment to social justice organizations in the developing world.  They are not meant as a replacement for the computer repair course, and people wanting to help on Saturdays should assume a level of technical knowledge equal to that of a Computer Repair Course graduate. We also have public access computers available on Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00pm.

RECENT EVENTS & PRESENTATIONS

	Independent Media Center, Uruguay Saturday, June 14, 2003, 1:00-4:00pm A speaker from the Independent Media Center-Uruguay, spoke about the development of independent media efforts in Uruguay, Argentina and Colombia, and about the struggles IMC has faced in the wake of ongoing policial and social unrest in each of those countries. Visit www.indymedia.org for more information.
	TecsChange Film sponsored by Somerville Women's Commission Wednesday, January 15, 2003, 7:00pm The Somerville Commission for Women, in association with SCALE (Somerville Community Adult Learning & Education) presented "TecsChange-Technology for Social Change" at SCALE, 167 Holland Street, Room 102, Somerville, MA (in Davis Square). The documentary was envisioned and produced by local filmmaker Lynn Weissman in the spring of 2001. The video won the Alliance for Community Media's "Hometown" award in 2002, and was featured in the Roxbury Film Festival (see below).
	2002 Roxbury Film Festival Sunday, August 18, 2002 at 12:00 noon, Northeastern University "TecsChange: technology for social change" is a hip, urban video depicting the Computer Repair Course offered at TecsChange. Produced by Lynn Weissman, a student filmmaker with the Visionaries Institute of Suffolk University, the film was featured at the 2002 Roxbury Film Festival on Sunday, August 18, 2002 at 12:00noon, at Northeastern University's Raytheon Amphitheatre.
	YouthTech: An Institute on Technology & Media Graduation, Friday, August 16, 2002 Our YouthTech summer program melded aspects of technology, media and social change. Youth from two local organizations -- Teens Against Gang Violence and Teen Empowerment -- learned hands-on how to use technology to create digital media and enhance their activism. The program, funded by a grant from the Haymarket People's Fund and the Safe Neighborhood Youth Fund, ended with a lively graduation demonstration by the ten teens who participated. Each teen showcased mock advertisements, individual webpages, and the collective webzine they initiated.
	Pastors for Peace Caravan to Chiapas, Nicaragua, and Honduras March 8th, 2002 [click for photos and more information] TecsChange sponsored a terrific send-off celebration on Friday, March 8th, 2002 at Spontaneous Celebrations in Jamaia Plain MA, for the latest Pastors for Peace caravan traveling from Boston and other U.S. cities to deliver tons of material aid to grassroots communities in Honduras, Nicaragua, and Chiapas, Mexico.  Rev. Lucius Walker, the founder of Pastors for Peace, joined in the celebration.

Alternative Energy and Agriculture in Cuba Sunday, February 17, 2002, 7-9PM TecsChange hosted two Cuban scientists for a evening presentation and discussion on alternative energy and agriculture in Cuba. Brief History: Up until 1960, Cuba’s electricity was based on petroleum, and was mostly for large cities and tourist places.  The majority of rural areas had no electricity. The revolution of 1959 led to a big push for rural electrification, and by 1989, 96% of the country was electrified. However, Cuba was importing most of its petroleum from the socialist bloc at low prices. In 1989, with the falling of the socialist bloc, Cuba could not afford to buy petroleum on the international market. They had to cut from 4 million tons of petroleum per year to 2 million. The need to reduce their energy usage by 50% led to an extreme revamping of their energy plan, and a huge push for renewable energy. Speakers: Speakers included Victor Bruno Henríquez Pérez, Vice President of the Cuban Physics Society (Section on renewable and alternative energies) and Maria Caridad Cruz, of the Cuban Urban Agriculture Program at the Antonio Nunez Jimenez Foundation for Nature and Man.  Victor Henriquez is a founding member of CubaSolar, a Cuban NGO where 400 scientists work on expanding electricity production and which hosts an international solar energy conference.  CubaSolar has installed solar panels on more than 300 clinics in Cuba’s remote mountainous region. Henriquez is also the Editor of Energia y Tu (Energy and You), a Cuban popular magazine focusing on the dissemination of renewable energy information. For More Information: If you’d like to know more about the Cuban presentation, TecsChange’s other international work, our Computer Repair Course, or how to get involved, send an email to tecschange@tecschange.org or call us at 617.442.4456.

Cesar Montes, Guatemalan activist Saturday December 1, 2001 at 2:00 PM Cesar Montes made a short presentation, toured TecsChange, and spoke about supporting projects he is involved in, for example providing education for displaced Guatemalans who are returning to their country from Mexico.  Cesar Montes is one of the founders of the revolutionary movement in Guatemala in the 60's, and is now a prominent member of the Guatemalan democratic and progressive opposition. He is Secretary of Organization for the political party-in-formation United Democratic Left (UNID), which is member of the Alliance for a New Nation (ANN), a broad center-left coalition, and the third political force in Guatemala. In 1997 Cesar Montes published an autobiographical account of his struggle, which is now in its 3rd edition. For More Information: If you’d like to know more about the Guatemalan presentation, TecsChange’s other international work, our Computer Repair Course, or how to get involved, send an email to tecschange@tecschange.org or call us at 617.442.4456.