As a young professional, I have had many experiences where I have been able to see technology changing my life as well as using technology to change others lives.

Volunteering my time as a board member for a chapter of a non-profit worldwide Management Society, I have seen technology transform lives. Our society has two main goals: 1) to provide networking opportunities and promote moral and ethical business leadership, and 2) to provide scholarships to local area youth to help them attend college.

While the money given out in scholarships by our chapter does not cover anywhere near the cost of full tuition, the look on the recipients faces tells all. Throughout each year, we host many opportunities for members of our society to network and contribute towards our cause.  Technology allows us to reach out to people that we otherwise may not have had access to and communicate faster with them.

A good example of how technology changes lives is myself. I graduated from college nearly two years ago and for the last 10 months, have been severely underemployed. I have been using the management society to network, both through electronic communications as well as other forms of technology. The result has been an outpouring of help and resources around the country to grow myself during this period of underemployment. Most recently, I have received several employment referrals from members in Arizona asking if I would consider moving there to work as an academic advisor. There, I would be working for an online university targeted specifically towards military veterans and adults looking for a degree while concurrently working full-time. This position, along with serving on the board of the management society has and will allow me to change peoples lives through the use of technology.

Each and every day we have access to millions of resources to help change our lives. All I ask is that we use those technological resources to directly and indirectly benefit someones life. Imagine if everyone in the world took just 10 minutes each day to help and to serve one another using the technological resources available to them. The world would truly be a different place.

I hope and pray each day to have opportunities to make the world a better place. The opportunities are endless. May we all seek opportunities to use the technology available to us to directly benefit one another.

Well, technology affects life both in good and bad ways. However, if used correctly it is really helpful.

My story is not that long. It is about a friend of mine. He had an accident about three years ago and lost his legs. He was a college student and was going to graduate that year. But, lost his faith after losing his legs and left the college. He was staying at home all the time not knowing what to do.

Then, someday he learned about freelance jobs on the internet and started to work as a freelancer from his home. Now he is really happy and making a nice income for himself and his family.

This wouldn’t be so, if the technology was not at the level of today.

Nick Cord

Our entire mission is based on technology. The AbleGamers Foundation (501(c)(3) ) is dedicated to pushing for greater accessibility in the digital entertainment space so that the 19 million disabled people in the US alone can do what so many people now do, and escape the world via the video game.

You have no idea how quickly a child is just one of the gang when they share an experience in a game. Wheelchairs vanish when you talk about how much fun you had in WOW or some other game. For many something as simple as being in the same room with others is hard due to a disability, but to remove ones self from the bed that binds you to the battle fields of a far off land, where you can communicate with people, share an experience with people or simple make a friend is a powerful tool to the well being of many. Games are the great equalizer, I may not be able to run in real life, but in a game I can do anything.

A dear friend who is no longer with us said it best, “To begin with, when I must live in the real world, I need someone to assist me with just about everything. As you know, if you have any type of MD or disability for that matter, everyday there are many obstacles and barriers that we must overcome.

Whenever I live in the gaming world, it’s a different story. Once I am setup on my PC and in a game, I do not need anyone to assist me with anything. I have complete freedom and control to do whatever I want. I can become whoever I want to become, live in any world and/or age that I choose and cause all the carnage that I feel. This world is mine; if you are a friend, I welcome you. If you are a foe, you are still welcome to enter but just be ready to defend yourself or it will be your death. Unless, I choose to spare your life, do not expect me to though.”

Technology is presents to so many, technology is the difference between live, and living.

Thank you.

Mark Barlet, President
The AbleGamers Foundation Inc.
http://www.AbleGamers.org

Vince came into the library in March looking for work.  He said that he didn’t have much experience with the Internet, and he knew he had to apply online.  Vince said he had his resume saved, and then he handed Brandy, the Helen Matthes Library’s Information Desk Assistant, his floppy disk. 

    The first hurdle that Brandy and Vince faced together was navigating the Internet - learning to search for job openings that interested him and matched his skill set.  After a week of intensive searching, Vince found his match!  He was even more excited because the website indicated it was located in Effingham which meant might not have to move his family – a fear he hadn’t wanted to share with them yet.

    With the right job opening located, Brandy and Vince searched to find a library computer that still accepted floppy disks and opened his resume.  The resume had been created in Word Pad and wasn’t acceptable for uploading to the business website. 

    So Brandy took a deep breath and explained the challenge of updating and changing the format of the resume to Vince.  Vince was skeptical that he could accomplish this monumental task, but Brandy encouraged him to keep going.

    That evening by working together, Brandy and Vince transferred the information from his Word Pad document into a Word file which he saved.  Then Brandy asked about an email address.

    Showing Vince how to create a Yahoo email account and adding the information to his resume was another necessary step in this new “cyber” world Vince was encountering.  But Vince bravely navigated this challenge too.

    Then Brandy and Vince uploaded his resume.  They waited. Vince received his first telephone call.  The first interview happened.  Then the second interview and suddenly Vince was hired! 

    Even though it is mind-boggling to many, the obstacles that this gentleman encountered on his way to employment are not uncommon.   

    Aside from this, many families in Effingham and the surrounding communities haven’t upgraded with the technology changes necessary.  With the 100 thumb drives we recently received through a grant, the outreach librarian that we plan to hire, the HP laptop and printer we could travel to other locations in our community and impact more job seekers like Vince.

The interesting part of our story is that we haven’t written it yet.  What do I mean by this? 

We, Red Door Ensemble in Iowa City, Iowa, have just begun our work.  We are a theatre group dedicated to only producing original pieces.  Our first production is slated to be performed in mid-March and we’ll be performing what we call Red Door Shorts.  A night of previews from the rest of our season- three full-length shows and two staged readings- and a series of original skits, scenes, and monologues created by the ensemble as a whole. 

Our intent is to perform four shows a season, a few readings, and also some festivals in our area.  But we want to do so much more!  The internet is the greatest tool for nonprofit companies: we plan to use the services of the internet to blog about the process of each play and how we’re seeking to further the next generation of playwrights and plays. 

Our most interesting usage of the internet is going to start with youtube.  We are starting a network for playwrights to upload a portion of their original work in any form from fully-produced to read aloud in your living room to the internet for all to see.  Then our hope is to connect those playwrights and those pieces to producers and artistic directors around the country and around the world.  Thus putting our company at the forefront of both the use of technology in the theatre world at large and creating what we call the new canon of theatre.

reddoorensemble.com Coming Soon!
Follow us on twitter: 
http://twitter.com/reddoorensemble

I would like to address the young people, especially high school students about the issue of continuing their education. I am a mom of two sons, one age 21 and a junior in College and the other age 16 and a junior in high school. I have been lucky enough to have been able to be a stay at home mom and I have used this opportunity to volunteer in my kids schools. I began volunteering when my kids were in elementary school by helping in a number of different ways including reading to the kids, being a room mom and going on field trips. I continued to help out in middle school and now that my son is in high school, I am helping out in the College Room. We have a room set up with college catalogs, applications, financial aid information and computers to aid the kids in their quest to pick to perfect college, technical school or even armed services. We try to help the kids by answering questions they might have and if we do not know the answer, we find the answer. We currently use the schools web site to post information about college visits and scholarship that are available. I think that it would be a great idea to set up a blog where the kids could interact, ask questions, and post responses. Kids are so attuned to all of the different types of social media and it would be a great opportunity to “talk” to them about one of the most important decisions that they will soon be facing. The youth are truly the future of this country and the better prepared they are through education, the more successful they will become.