Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tori Hatch on January 14, 2011 at 7:29am

I have messages in to ETHOS and community servings asking for references for people who need shoveling services.

 

The one glitch I see is that it isn't much fun or rewarding to go out to do a job and find it has already been done.  I'm not sure that sending folks out on their own is such a great idea without some way for them to report what they've done so that the map is updated. 

 

Cheers,

Tori

 

 

Permalink Reply by Joseph Porcelli (Chief Neighbor) on January 14, 2011 at 10:41am

Tori, thanks for reaching out to the Ethos and Community Servings!

Thanks for the feedback. I'm collecting all of it and will re-present the aggregate in a few days. 

Permalink Reply by Betsy Cowan on January 14, 2011 at 9:45am

Good morning all! 

First, it was great to share with you all at the haven wednesday evening!  I might have been one of the few people in the city who enjoyed the snow--it at least gives us an excuse to meet our neighbors!  That day, I visited the businesses in Egleston, was given free hot chocolate, a huge breakfast, caught up on the local news, met new folks and was even given a ride home.  All because of the snow:) 

Feedback:

1.  Groundcrew system:  I have to admit that I didn't use this!!  did fill out the form and email folks re: shoveling up in Egleston, but the day of, I used the old fashioned phone call which worked perfectly!  

2.  To prep for upcoming storms, I've talked with the folks at TE, the YMCA, and Spontaneous to see if the youth would be interested in doing this. 

3.  I would imagine that a lot of people who could have benefited from this aren't connected to NFN, due to lack of access to the internet, language capacity, different networks, etc.  So, perhaps it would be a good idea to spread the word through the Gazette, flyers, send word out to Ethos and other elder care networks, etc., that this service is available?  Also, perhaps it'd be good to tell someone at the City in case someone calls the City asking for assistance in JP. 

Thanks all!  Enjoy the weekend...and I'll just put in another plug for shopping at your local business--they got hit hard on Wednesday, so your support today will make a HUGE difference!

Permalink Reply by Joseph Porcelli (Chief Neighbor) on January 14, 2011 at 10:43am

Betsy, so glad you joined us!

Awesome feedback - thanks.

I'm in touch with the City and we trying to figure out how to work together!

Permalink Reply by Joseph Porcelli (Chief Neighbor) on October 2, 2013 at 9:14pm

Betsy,

Three years later your feedback is still being considered and added to our 2014 planning. BTW - This year youth will be involved and will be compensated. Stay tuned!

Permalink Reply by Bob Dizon on January 14, 2011 at 12:08pm

OK, I interpreted the above instructions as telling us to leave feedback by commenting on the blog post.

 

Early in the day there was a message saying that we'd shovel between 4 and 6, but when I got a request to shovel much earlier in the day, I went out soon after. Actually the first job was already done, the second one I did myself, and the third one too. I figured that multiple people were out doing jobs at the time. I then thought that the meet-up at Joe's was to do a nearby job and then rehash how everything went. Was this actually when the bulk of the work got done, as was originally planned? This jibes with the google map, which I discovered at about 3 when I came home after my jobs, and noticed that my jobs were updated, but no other jobs indicated that they had been started. Is this what happened?

 

I would have preferred to meet the group, shovel in teams, and join you all at the Haven, but by then I had to do the job-related work that I had planned for the day and was too tired to head back out. I don't regret shoveling earlier, the home-owners clearly appreciated it, and had I/we come later they may have done it themselves or gotten someone else for fear of not having it done at all.

 

I think all this speaks to the larger question of adding better communication of scheduling, commitment, and completion of jobs among volunteers and "customers". Given the variance in technology owned by everyone, the low-tech telephone might be the best technology for day-of-event logistics.

Permalink Reply by Joseph Porcelli (Chief Neighbor) on January 14, 2011 at 12:34pm

Bob,

My instructions were not clear. I modified them, thanks for pointing that out. 

 

When we first sent out the message about 4 to 6, we did not take into account people would be home and available. 

 

When we sent out the first mission, around 2, I think, you were the only person who responded. 

 

In the future, I think we should only dispatch in groups.

 

Also, we're thinking of allowing people to adopt objects. Behind the scenes, we've been working with city hall and code for america to get an overlay of the fire hydrant, and drains, which also need to be shoveled. Our plan is to let people adopt them on the map. I'm exploring using SeeClickFix.com for the adoption piece. 

 

We'd then us GroundCrew to triage what needs to be done and coordinate our SnowCrew - or something like that. 

Your point out fear of not having it done is real. I got some calls from folks saying - "no one has showed up yet" -  we're going to need to manage scheduled AND expectations. 

 

Thanks,

 

Joseph

Permalink Reply by Francesca Gordon on January 15, 2011 at 5:40pm

What do people think about using some sort of google-based ap to manage all of this? Here are the advantages:

1. Google calenders are pretty easy to create/maintain so snow crew members could sign up for time slots in which they are available during the next big storm.

2. People who need shoveling assistance could then access the system through several ways: e-mailing a central gmail address (eg JPsnowcrew@gmail.com), calling someone, or getting in touch with the group via the NFN site.  They could then log onto the google calender, which can be made public, to see who is coming by to dig out their house/car, how to get in touch with them, and when to expect them.

3. People's schedules change so both a shoveler and a shovelee can easily change times without too much hassle.

 

Curious what y'all think..