[SlugBug] community computer cafe

[Gareth Coleman]

HYPERLINK "mailto:andyd at lug.org.uk"andyd at lug.org.uk said:

 

> But what you're doing is devaluing the work of commercial computer

> repair people.  This is dangerous.  I'm sure it's not your intention to 

> take a means to earn away from local IT shops, but this is precisely 

> what you risk doing.

 

Wittier souls than I have responded already – I’ll try a straight bat with
this one.

 

I’ve given a fair amount of thought to this one, as I also fix computers for
local organisations as both a volunteer and for money (through a social
enterprise). Although in the community context the point is often made that
the poorest people just can’t afford to get their pc’s fixed and this is
largely true, it is also true to say that if people value what a computer
does for them highly then they’ll pay full the going rate to get it fixed.
However, I see the real value of our community service is to spread the
understanding that computers bring power – google alone makes my computer
the most useful object in my house. Whilst people don’t appreciate what they
could do with a computer – how they can collaborate with Peru or find a
local plumber etc. etc. – then they won’t be bothered to get them working.

 

With organisations I am often told ‘there is no budget for this’ – so I
spend time as a volunteer configuring free software, struggle to get old
hardware working etc. etc. However, I also promote taking IT seriously and
putting IT in the budget – getting people to see how it’s not just an
electronic typewriter but can help them do more effective work on the
ground. Where groups or individuals have got money to spend – I won’t
volunteer for those organisations and I won’t prioritise those individuals
in our queue. However, on a practical level I would rather do the odd job
that would really take money from a local repair service for a ‘rich’ person
than ask everyone how much money they had and then only help the ‘poor’
ones! My personal experience is that if people have money they tend to
upgrade every couple of years and then they give the old computer to family
or friends – something that I am happy to support.

 

The reality is that local PC shops should be delighted with us doing all the
hard work for them – and sending people round to them with exactly what they
need written down, and not needing much support afterwards either. The
repair that these places do is mainly to get people to the point of purchase
– when the profit from the purchase covers the repair time. So if we do the
repair and send them on for the purchase they are quids in! Plus if more
people use computers these shops can only benefit from this in the long
term.

 

For organisations, they appreciate that you get a different service from a
volunteer than a paid worker – and as soon as the organisation realises that
it needs computers to function effectively these days; and can get it in the
budget – they’ll upgrade to paid technical staff.

 

As it happens I’m going to a meeting tomorrow with a local PC shop owner who
is giving a computer to their local city farm. I’ll ask about their reaction
to our service and if they regard it as taking honest trade from them. I
don’t know of anyone who offers a fix-it service at the kind of rates that
would tempt people who didn’t currently value having a working computer – I
have always assumed because it’s not a commercial proposition. If I’m wrong
then please let me know.


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