OnPoint by Keith Ng

Current projects include a tool to browse the web anonymously, a computer hub set up in an inner-city soup kitchen, .

good idea

City is dead.

I'd commend this. I would have given it more time myself, but I have too many other projects on.

I'm particularly keen on the idea of making the use of VPNs more accessible.

Wouldn't mind coming, but got work 'till 4pm. And RPGing all day straight after. Schedule clash fail.

Yeh its a fantastic idea to provide a web pc in the soup kitchen. It's a crime that Blanket man can't review the quality of food on dineout.co.nz while he's there.

Library, duplication etc...

Occupy Wall St has 250,000+ Likes on Facebook.
Just sayin'.

It’s a crime that Blanket man can’t review the quality of food

I somehow doubt much of that would go on.
But even if he does, so what! and Library pc's arent anonymous.
You obviously havent been poor, it is debilitating in ways you wouldnt know.

In Nashville The Homeless Guy who blogs from public PCs has already linked to NZ Labour's policy launch on homelessness.

Library pc's arent anonymous

Is that really a big problem?

Library, duplication etc...

We're definitely not trying to duplicate anything that's already there. We're working closely with Wellington ICT (who is running computer hubs in Council Housing) and other groups such as Computers in Homes. Our aim is to fill gaps, and any resources and materials we develop are being shared back with those other groups.

We've also talked to soup kitchen guests to find out if they do have access and where, and what they need most. One of the things we found is that it's important to go where people are. The CBDFree wifi is great, but requires people to have a computer or other wifi device, which is a huge barrier for most. Of course, it's not enough to just put a few machines in a room; this needs to be supported with mentoring, training, resources, etc. There's much good work already out there but often people don't know about it, or they work in isolation, so part of the effort is to better connect some of these disparate groups.

Anyway,we've written about the project in a lot more detail on the Retake the Net website if anyone's interested in getting more background than a half-sentence in an article. :-)

the Lattice Day Saints...
Good luck with this project...
Access to tools is what builds communities
Other destinations for useful old(ish) computers:
McPhail Foundation Charitable Trust in Chch
and Molten Media also in Chch
sadly the St Albans Community Centre has been demolished and I'm not sure what happened to their community access computers set up, but it was a great initiative...

I wouldnt say big, perhaps barrier says it better.
And thanks to Sibylle for answering the duplication issue.