Hello Asgardians!

Civic.Asgardia is spearheading several initiatives and creating a proposal for a program that would promote access to technology, equipment, and training is one of them. The name of this program is subject to change.

Basis of the program came from a suggestion of donations of computers/computer components to people who could not own one or upgrade to the next level. People unable to upgrade their phones as the demands of mobile technology and data grows greater. Some are unable to get the basic computer training they need to acquire a better paying means of employment.

EDIT: Expanding for a clearer understanding of what this initiative is meant to be:

What is suggested is making technology accessible to those who cannot afford it. Yes, the Raspberry Pi computer is a great way to allow everyone to get a computer, the logistics and funding of that could be worked into this initiative.

However, think about the functioning computer pieces that many people have lying around their house but they did not make the move into their next upgrade. Not everyone takes it to a tech recycling place (I'm still trying to find a legit one in my city) and it eventually ends up in a landfill. Why not pass along those older components to people in their local area whom that component would be an upgrade?

An old laptop that has been sitting on a shelf after the newest one has been purchased could go to someone who desperately needs a laptop to do some consulting work. The last version of video card sitting in an old case and motherboard in a corner or closet somewhere could go to a community member who needs those components to finish building a computer to use for school or their children to use for school? Someone who's found the perfect job but they have no clue how to put together a power point presentation and the online resources are too confusing could benefit from the expertise of either in person or remote tutoring on the programming and putting together an effective presentation. Same could go for any program needed to upgrade skills or take that extra step to be more marketable or help someone actually put together that system that they've gathered peices for or troubleshooting a tricky software glitch they have but can't afford to take their system to the repair place.

Arranging a monthly/bi-monthly/quarterly 'Asgardian Tech Swap' where community members could get together with their spare components and swap them to help others out? Start a 'tech wanted' list for the community online that people could post up what they're looking for or tutoring needed and others could arrange to help.

Eventually it could be moved into a larger program where fund raising could bring computers and internet into third world village schools or community centers to help them to start to catch up with the rest of the world.

So please, try to think along these lines. Keep it simple, obtainable and of true benefit to the community.

We would like for this to promote Asgardian’s helping Asgardians as well as their local communities.

From February 1 - 28, 2017 we are opening up the floor to community input on what the program would entail.

When the suggestion period closes, we will be opening up spaces on the committee to put together the proposal for the application to be submitted to Asgardia Official for their approval.

Please keep your suggestions constructive and the discussion on topic and lively but remember to be civil and respectful of your fellow Asgardians.

Let’s hear your voices!

Kind regards,
Rebekah Berg, Lead Community Administrator, Asgardia

I don't understand, the program is about hardware needs or training needs?

Hi Soikiro!

Both actually. :)

Cheers, Rebekah

I don't have enough resources to spare but I'm glad to offer what I know. I've had a similar project in the past, it was a collection of low-cost techniques, in every field, from pc to mobile to cooking

it is easy to use (at least for all those non-administrative applications) and above all try to entice people to jump in the development of new solutions

Good evening, Earthlings.

I would suggest, to give a boost on teaching people about three technology topics that are a must know on Asgardia as a project:

1. Communication: The proper use of social media, instant messaging, and real time videochat and streaming. Also topics around wi-fi, data transmission and speed (upload, download).

2. New technologies: Basics to new materials (nanotechnology), renewability of resources, and new technologies (VR, 3D, 4K, etc)

3. Green energies: Solar, wind power, (sea waves and current). Gadgets and tech-garbage disposure, recycling.

This obbeys to teaching not only on the possibilities of accesing technology gadgets, but to know how to use them properly, with a culture and sense of responsibility.

People needs to know that Technology advances quickly, making everything obsolete before even being a trend. And also that technology is made to be familiar, to make tasks easier, and to help communities.

I would be glad to help designing a simple step by step course (even to add to Asgardia's app project) so everybody gets to know about these topics.

That's a good idea, to merge mobile project and "tech for everyone" project. We can do a dedicated browser with personal asgardian accounts, containing search engines which point at trainings and knowledge (and as browser goes easy in the market)

Greeting Asgardiano, here had suggested some topic that still in space can be implemented, I believe that a way to help and have short-term income using technology to our reach is to help the students and our president together with the managers make a proposal To countries to create a platform to help students live online. And that this the country pays to where it is going to implement. Thus thousands of Asgardians integrate us to help in that sense. And we all won ... https://asgardia.space/en/forum/forum/economics-72/topic/what-to-work-in-asgardia-1323/?post=5772#5772

Mod Edit I have edited this post to make the link clickable

We can make a kind of assistant tutor, an app that can be used for learning and training. The content may be uploaded and revised by asgardians with recognized knowledge of the areas like, engineers, medics, pharmaceuticals, biologists, IT technicians or maybe put our fellows asgardians directly in contact with others that can teach then and make a more united and friendly community.

Greetings,

I would be honored to help and support this initiative. both through fundraising and know how as an IT Professional Currently i'm still in college for my second bachelors degree in Teaching

Kids are the future and everyone should have the same opportunities.

I would focus on the kids aged between 8-12 and 12-16. Especially in less developed countries or poorer parts in the communities teach them how to program how to solder howto use technology

Not only technology from an IT standpoint but also technology from a broader perspective welding woodworking metalworking,.....

Focus on creating something with the things they have available getting them into learning and exploring that should be our primary focus.

RebekahBerg said "We would like for this to promote Asgardian’s helping Asgardians as well as their local communities."

My first thought is that if Asgardians are in their communities teaching technology, like a sort of local outreach type of thing, and along the way they're introducing people to the idea of Asgardia, then Asgardian's should know HOW to teach about Asgardia. While we may know about it, and may even be able to discuss it intelligently with our loved ones, that is not the same thing as introducing it and teaching it to strangers.

For anyone not owning a computer, I'd suggest a Raspberi Pi Zero. At £4 it's remarkably affordable. It's only £4 of computer, it's not massively impressive, about the power of a mid to low range smartphone, but it is cheap, and it's remarkably functional. The GPU alone would of been considered a supercomputer in the mid 90's but obviously at £4 it doesn't compete with more expensive solutions. HDMI - most people already have a TV - cheap USB hub n slap in a keyboarad and mouse(if you need a display, keyboard and mouse to operate a computer), cheap USB Wifi dongle - It's also got capablility to solder in pin headers and then build computer controlled equipment - the project was about teaching small children how to interface hardware, most people just abuse it as a cheap media renderer/smart-TV upgrade. And they can be clustered, making for relatively cheap upgrades in processing power.

Latest and greatest games, heavy video processing and or 3D rendering, crunching "big data" and such uses aside, most users don't need upgrades to the hardware, they just need software that isn't so wasteful. Anything multicore should be more than usable - but something like puppy on an ancient 386 museum piece can be amply responsive. User's of phones with restricted datawidth, ie: 2G, should be thankful really as they're on much older hardware with a much older generation of exploits with much lesser capabilities.

For actual teaching in this specific direction, software like git(think that was in the collaborational tools request) can make that easier, as would a wiki as much as individuals use of software like fritzing(free, open source) - which makes some pretty graphical circuit renders in a nice drag and drop environment - allowing easy replication - and readily converts to technical diagrams, and allows export of circuit diagrams that are easily converted into industry standard gerber files for having boards printed.

I really don't think "introducing people to the idea of Asgardia" is too clever to promote - they should be able to find it on their own, as you do when you have interest in something. Most others did. You certainly don't want to be going and finding strangers to do so. It's not some sort of religous cult that requires to desperately expand its follower base.

I'm glad to offer what I know.

One moment, Asgardia needs a lot of money and a way for everyone to collaborate with this great project (Asgardia) and in turn collaborate locally (in their country) and use an attractive medium such as Internet technology and the best we can Handle it up since Moon. I propose to work with the students because I have helped them for more than 12 years and I know this area very well at least in my country. But it can be diversified.