On the way home from We Are Microsoft, Doug and I determined we had to create an event in Kansas City modeled after the Dallas event. We ran the idea by John and he was 100% on board. One week later, we have started the site, thanks to Telligent for letting us use the Graffiti CMS product. The name of the event is Coders 4 Charities, with the corresponding domain coders4charities.org. What do we need? Everything thus far, except a web site, but we are not quite ready. First thing we need to do is...
What a great event! I want to thank everyone involved and wish all the charities good luck with their new software. If you haven't listened to the shows yet, I highly suggest it. You will be compelled to look at your work with the community and see different ways you can help charities with your development skills. Here is a list of all the shows we recorded during the event, please help spread the word about these so others can get involved in their local areas either by themselves, as a user group,...
In our final podcast, Doug and I speak with the Executive Director of Texas Response Unit Search & Rescue, Shannon Blackwell. This organization assists local, state and federal agencies in the recovery of lost, missing and abducted persons in urban and wilderness or natural and man-made disasters while proactively educating response agencies and the community. They were looking into implementing a testing module that will certify individuals such an volunteers and police officers. This module...
The Volunteer Center of North Texas is an organization that provides a link between volunteers and volunteer agencies. They network with about 1,800 agencies in the Dallas and neighboring northeast Texas area. Doug Butscher and I spoke with Dana Riley, the Associate Executive Director of the VCNT, and Bruce Harlan, the Director of I.T. The organization needed to improve user access to their information, and they were assigned several developers to help accomplish this task. Listen to the Volunteer...
I was amazed that we could staff an entire band for several hours on Saturday night. One of the easiest positions to fill was singer and that is NOT normal. Anyway, Doug and I had a blast rocking out with the Dallas crew. Watch the video and you will LOL when you see what Fernando on bass does. Technorati Tags: We Are Microsoft,Rock Band,Dallas,Charity Challenge Event...
This was a really fun interview, because we had the chance to talk to Toi Wright and Amber Weiss, the two people who coordinated the event, and who we worked with closely during the event. Toi coordinated this event by contacting charities in the Dallas area, gathering their requirements and defining a selection process. She was looking for charities who were in need of a software solution, but something that could be completed over the course of a weekend. She also sent out the call to local developers...
Doug Butscher and I had a chance to speak with Tim Mitchell and Ryan Magnusson to discuss their implementation of SER Child Development Center's web site. Their existing web site was over 8 years old and was so out-of-date that they needed to remove it. They needed a new web site to inform parents and their community about current and new programs, while taking advantage of the latest development technologies available. The implementation team is using SubSonic as the CMS to manage the content on...
In this interview, Doug and I speak with Zach Young and Jay Smith from the Northwest Arkansas .NET User Group, who are part of the team helping Texas Discovery Gardens build a brand new web site to teach people effective ways to restore, conserve and preserve nature in the urban environment through the use of native and adapted plants that illustrate the interrelationship of Butterflies, Bugs and Botany. Texas Discovery Gardens had a web site in the past that was approximately 10 years old, but it...
We had a chance to talk to Dorothy, the General Manager, and C.C., the Outreach Coordinator, from St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store, who help out their community by providing low priced goods and services for their neighbors in need, so that they may live in dignity. Dorothy was a little nervous to speak with us, but as you can tell in the interview, they both did an excellent job at conveying their mission and passion for what they believe so much in. They are by far the most technologically innovative...
North Park Missionary Baptist Church mission is to seek the lost, strengthen the saved and meet the needs of the people through the teaching and preaching of the word of God. The site will be dedicated to informing individuals and families about the services and assistance we offer through our facility. One of the amazing facts about this project is that this organization's is first presence on the Internet. The team didn't just want to build the standard site, they wanted to build them something...
Our first podcast of the event was with a great organization named City House and the development team from Sogeti. The mission of City House is to strengthen the community by helping children, youth and families resolve physical and emotional crises. They provide a complementary suite of intervention and prevention services at no cost to their clients. To find out more about how this project was designed, review the proposal here. Listen to the Interview with City House Technorati Tags: City House,Sogeti,We...
Welcome to Dallas! Doug and I are down here at We Are Microsoft podcasting the different development teams and charities about the application they are building at the event. If you haven't check out the details of the event, please do and stay tuned for podcasts being released at the event from this blog. After the event, we will move these shows over to Podcast Studio. The first show we will be releasing is with City House and Team Sogeti. Technorati Tags: We Are Microsoft,Charity,Sogeti,City House,Dallas,Podcasting...
This weekend, our team will be down in Dallas podcasting those who are involved in this unique event. We Are Microsoft is a charity challenge where developers will be matched with a charity to develop an application based on their needs. At the end of the 3 day event, all of the participants will vote of the apps and proclaim the champion. Check out their site and if you meet their sponsors, thank them for helping out with this awesome event. Keep an eye on my blog for the shows. We will start publishing...