IT Nirvana
It's rare when an institutional need meets a personal opportunity
so elegantly as the one that's now open to IT professionals.
About six weeks ago, some of us conceived the idea that the
Dean Campaign could enjoy what no organization has ever experienced: IT Nirvana.
What would happen, we wondered, if some of the people working on the Americans
For Dean project went up to Burlington and did whatever it takes to make
the network, the computers and the software run like a Swiss watch. Though
we'd never seen it happen, we knew that there was plenty of geekpower available
to make it so.
Have you ever
seen the flashbacks on West Wing to the early days of the first campaign?
Have
you
ever wanted
to put yourself in a position
to–just maybe–have a beer or flip a frisbee with the next Toby,
Sam, Josh or Donna?
How'd you like to experience the excitement, drama,
people and spirit of an historic presidential campaign while it's still small
enough to be personal and fun? If you're a qualified geek, you may be able
to. And as a geek volunteer, you'll have the gratitude of the people you
help, and represent the leading edge of the most important revolution in
governance since . . . since . . . well, you pick the last time power moved
away from the politicians and toward the people. My answer seems
too dramatic.
The Dean Campaign has accepted our proposal from last weekend
that Tech volunteers spend a week at a time helping the campaign with its
IT needs.
Like any organization, the campaign staff needs help with keeping the computers
running, the network up, the new Ethernet nodes installed, routers set up,
and anti-virus software kept current.
There's also the kind of stuff that turns crazy employees
into happy campers: how do I format this table in Word? How do I create new
mailboxes in Outlook? And on & on.
And there's an army of geeks around the country ready to support you around
the clock. Instead of soldiering through some software problem alone, post
the issue to the mailing list and see it jumped on by the Dean Tech Dream
Team.
Campaign HQ is in Burlington,
Vermont on the shores of Lake Champlain. Where would you rather spend a week
in August?
Here's You. There's the Plate. Step Right Up.
Think of it as an Adventure Camp for IT Pros.
The first two volunteers are invited to arrive in Burlington
as early as Sunday, August 3. We're developing a rotating schedule so that
the two volunteers share a motel room near the campaign HQ, arriving Sunday
by
noon
and leaving Sunday afternoon,
so the outgoing team can brief the new one.
This is a true volunteer project. The volunteers
will pay for their travel, room and board and expenses. You won't need
a car unless you want to see the sights. Heh. Like you'd have time.
10:24:37 AM 
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