Thesis---09'

PSA

2009-02-20T06:12:00.000-08:00

Its been so long since I posted some thing on the blog..:-)

Here is the PSA that I made last semester to motivate my clients to get employed.

2009-01-26T07:26:00.000-08:00

~ The 'Bal Bhavan ' Idea ~

From December 08' onwards:

After our reviews the most important thing that came to my notice was:

- Everyone loved the idea of blogging and introducing the usage of Internet to the homeless women.

- There was a huge need for Branding this concept .

This winter I went to India and had an opportunity to see how people with minimum knowledge and means had created an amazing institute.

I got to speak to the administrator and the workforce behind it .

Let me introduce you to ' Bal Bhavan ' at Mandi. Mandi is a small district near New Delhi. I went there with an aim to understand - how to introduce the blogging concept to the poor when having an Internet connection for them is a novelty.

But when I went there I realised I was wrong and my concept did have the potential to be introduced as a global idea.

I saw small children using PowerPoint presentation software, they were writing on Microsoft word these were the tools that I have been trying to introduce at Jennie Clarke Residence and these kids already knew how to use them.

I took a workshop with them to introduce the concept of blogging and how it can help them later in life.

My journey proved one thing and that was nothing is too big or small it depends on how well its executed.

My Documentation:

2008-11-24T11:11:00.000-08:00

I have completed the documentation for my interview segment. I am also in the process of recording for a PSA that I am building for Jennie Clarke website.

Posting few pictures of my documentation and will be uploading the rough edit of my interveiw segment by the end of this week.

Also posting the storyboard for the PSA

2008-11-13T08:03:00.000-08:00

Storyboard for recording session:

2008-11-13T06:34:00.000-08:00

The schedule for my recording:

2008-10-06T20:36:00.000-07:00

I found a very exciting site on food games. These are online games and are very educational.

check it out: http://www.foodlink.org.uk/testyourself.asp#

Week two of my prototyping..!!!!

2008-09-30T08:05:00.000-07:00

My Ideas and prototypes:

1. I am currently working on the career fair. The idea has been approved and so now we have to see how many clients are ready with their resumes and cover letters.

2. Databases: Its an ongoing work that we are doing at the center, we are creating a database for every client. There are 75 units which has at least one person looking for job. So this database will help us find out who at this point of time needs special attention.

3. Back to career fair, we have thought of organizing it somewhere in october and will be inviting clients from other shelters.

4. Hopefully if this works well , we will have one career fair every month open to all the WIN shelters.

5. I also wanted to bring in the idea of games and learning. So I will be organizing a game with the staff to teach them importance of internet search engines and also usage of emails.

Now my questions:

1. I know i am doing a lot of work at the residence and it all contributes to my thesis but i am still uncertain as to what element am I missing .

2. I know everything i am doing is a part of my research , but what is the definition of a successful thesis..????

Prototyping

2008-09-21T11:14:00.000-07:00

Hi,

So i have been doing lot of stuff. I had interviewed few clients who came for my workshop last week and asked them -"why they think its important to find a job? "
There answers were eye-opening, I have uploaded them on the Jennie Clarke site : jennieclarke.wordpress.com . Also that gave me a sense of their problems and their motivations.

After our discussion in class I also felt that there was a strong need to create a safe space for them. We were completely disregarding the fact that these people have faced a lot in life and our happy with a safe cornerof their own.

So my next prototype/ experiment is - organizing a Career Fair at the center.

I have already got the idea approved and now I am calling employers who can come in and take interviews.

We have Burger King and a security company coming in. We yet need to finalize a date. I hope it goes well.

Once the flyer is up i'll have it linked to the blog.

A great achievement!!!!

2008-08-15T07:21:00.000-07:00

So the best achievement is that one of the client I was helping with building resume and finding jobs ...got a call for interview .

Also people are slowly and steadily understanding the power a technology and how easy and efficient life becomes when you know how you can incorporate it within the sphere of your demands.

Development updates:

2008-08-13T17:35:00.000-07:00

Another development: I am in the process of introducing the blog to the clients. Have been absolutely busy in creating their resume and teaching them how to upload it on to the different job posting sites.
I will be conducting the computer training workshop every Tuesday. So hopefully people will be in the computer lab more often.
We are also introducing a blog night for the residents in which they will be formally introduced to the blog and will eventually be asked to visit it once in a day.
One response that I got form a client was via mail saying that she found her current job through the blog and she wanted to thank me!
What a great feeling.....!!!!

Another Workshop.....

2008-08-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

I am doing a resume building workshop with the clients here. Doing one to one interviews and helping them create a great resume in hopes that it will help them land into a great job.
Its amazing to see the fight some of them have face everyday...mere existence is a nightmare for some......

Meha

First Workshop......

2008-08-01T08:55:00.000-07:00

Finally took my first workshop at Jennie Clarke Residence. It was great to receive such a huge response from the residents there. Most of them were eager to learn how to use Microsoft word for their benefit. They created their resume and posted it online.

One of the client in particular was amazing to work with , she came in with the most negative attitude and left with the most positive mindset.

She came back again the next day and asked for my help in sending out her resume. And believe it or not learnt how to make Internet work for her benefit.
It was the most amazing experience........!!!

Starting The workshop!

2008-07-28T07:56:00.000-07:00

So this Tuesday i will be starting a new workshop for beginners. I will be tutoring them in basics of Microsoft word and logging in on to the employment blog.

Meha

Working With the Clients:

2008-07-25T06:13:00.000-07:00

I am currently working with some clients who have minimal education and my role is to search job opportunities for them keeping in mind their background and skills.
Also I have been talking to other hiering agencies for their contacts to update the weblog.

Next to do is: Sit with the client for one to one talk about the kind of job they are willing to do. Also boosting their self esteem, these people have gone through a lot in their life and some of them are not willing to work at all. So I need to talk to them and help them find their lost hope.

Also in my agenda is to start the workshop for teaching -basics of Microsoft Word and Internet. Which would enable them to build a strong resume and post it on to the blog.

--Meha

Updates on my thesis: 07/21/08

2008-07-21T10:07:00.000-07:00

Currently I am working as a volunteer at Jennie Clarke Residence in NYC . It is amazing to see how these shelters are working to make life easy for families living there.
After seeing the struggle these people were facing with employment search for the residents I thought it would be great to conduct some workshops teaching them how to use Microsoft word that would help them in building resume.
I also wanted to create a place where they could go and have links to employment options. Considering the fact that most of them are not so Internet savvy I thought of building a simple weblog on word press and pass on the common user name and password to all the users. This would serve as a resource for all the career opportunities that they can look into.

Link to the weblog that I created is:
http://jennieclarke.wordpress.com/

Feel free to put in some other sites and links of companies you feel require people with minimum technical skills but are willing to put in their best to learn new things.
That will really help.

Meha

Basic Idea--- " Help Them to Help Themselves "

2008-07-21T06:07:00.000-07:00

“You don’t need fancy highbrow traditions or money to really learn. You just need people with the desire to better themselves.”

-Adam Cooper and Bill Collage
My project for mini-thesis deals with the same concept , I believe that every person has a right to basic living standards like sanitation , clean water and adequate housing. And I also believe that the only thing that can help in achieveing it is education and the new technologies.

But have we really reached our goals , are the new technologies really helping people around the globe. With the kind of technologies that we have today and the mass of educated people that are in the world we should have eradicated most of the problem’s , but have we?

Statistical data shows:- Half the world’s population lives on two dollars a day,and 800 million people are malnourished in developing countries.1.3 billion people who have no clean water.

- Two billion people have no sanitation.
- Two billion have no electricity.

Now the question is why are we still at the starting line , why haven’t we seen any improvements , why half of the worlds population is still under poverty line and has no external help.

The answer is education, I strongly believe education and knowledge can bring serious change in the society. All we have to do is pass it on. Help them to understand the new technologies and let them then pass on the flame of knowledge to others

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------