Through a connection with Allan’s friend from Pretoria, Nic Marsay, we have set up a brand new web design cooperative in the township that will be designing sites for clients in a few weeks or months. It’s called Ikamva Web Development Services—Ikamva means “future” in Zulu. Nic has started a consultancy firm that helps companies comply with the broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) legislation that went into effect in 2007 (it’s pretty complicated and very interesting—here’s an article that explains a bit). By forming a web design firm in the township, many of Nic’s clients will be able to use their services and increase their B-BBEE rating, so everyone wins. We’ve just signed the initial documents and are getting things up and running, so you’ll hear more about this exciting venture in the future.

Left to Right: Sabelo, Innocent, Will, Henry, Nic, Daniel and Brenda

Filed under: General by Nathan on March 12th, 2009. Tags: B-BBEE, cooperative, Ikamva, web design | 1 Comment

The second web design class wraps up this week and today they finished their websites. We shortened the class down from three months to two, and I’m very proud of the work they’ve done on their sites. Have a look, read their stories and if they’ve included their email feel free to drop them a line.

View the latest websites from the Powerhouse Web Design Class.

Filed under: General by Nathan on March 3rd, 2009. Tags: computer school, web design | Post a comment

As you know from our post on our recent trip to Cape Town, our good friend Nate Massey from Chapel Hill, NC, came to visit for two weeks in late January/early February. We asked him to write a bit about the work we did in the computer lab while he was here.

I work with computers back in the States, so before my visit, Nate and I talked about the computer lab at the Powerhouse and some upgrades that we might be able to work on together while I was there. Nate had discovered an interesting concept by a company called NComputing. They sell specialized hardware that allows one regular computer (nothing fancy; your standard home desktop computer will do) to drive 11 sets of keyboard + monitor + mouse. Although they’re all powered by the single computer, each combination ends up acting like its own desktop computer: there is a Windows login prompt, and each user can run his/her own programs which appear only on his/her screen. From the students’ standpoint, these terminals function like 11 different computers, and it’s like a whole lab—all driven by a single machine!

The benefits of using NComputing’s power in the Powerhouse computer lab are pretty awesome. First of all, rather than having to maintain 11 different computers, set them all up identically and perform software upgrades on each one, one can just set up a single tower exactly how one wants it, and then the operating system is just shared between each of the many terminals. (Maintenance of 11 different systems is actually even more annoying in practice. The Powerhouse is dealing with donated hardware—for which the church is extremely grateful—but sometimes the systems are older, run slowly and may be in various states of disrepair. Figuring out how to standardize a dozen older computers can be a nightmare!) By harnessing the power of NComputing, it becomes feasible for one to go ahead and purchase a new, solid desktop computer and attach donated monitors, keyboards and mice… and you’re good to go!

From a hardware cost standpoint, it’s a no-brainer. Nate and I snagged a Lenovo desktop from a local electronics retailer for about $475. The NComputing hardware costs about $350 for a set that powers five terminals, so we purchased two sets at about $770 after tax and shipping. We were fortunate to have enough monitors, keyboards and mice at our disposal, plus power cables and cat 5e/6 cables. Total cost for 11 effective workstations (10 terminals plus the host machine, which a student can use as well): $1,245, or under $120 per station! Not bad at all. (Other benefits include decreased space requirements and lower power consumption.)

Later on this spring, Nate is hoping to get another NComputing setup in the lab to replace a few of the standalone computers which we are currently struggling to maintain. He won’t decide for sure until he’s had a chance to work with our first installation for a few more weeks—we want to kick the tires a bit to make sure everything’s running smoothly. But then, we’ll be ready to call our experiment a success and move forward with another! May the Powerhouse and Mamelodi be blessed by the new and improved computer lab.

Filed under: General by Nate Massey on February 20th, 2009. Tags: computer lab, n-computing, web design | 11 Comments

Something I had a chance to experiment with at my former job at WRAL.com was creating 3D panoramic images. The basic idea is, you take 6 shots around a circle, then one up and down. Using some powerful software (I use PTMac), you stitch all the images together into a cube which allows the user to view a scene from your point of view 360 degrees around and 180 degrees up and down. For more technical info on how this is done (for the geeks out there), check out this page. I hope to shoot many more of these in the remaining months we’re here, so stay tuned!

Filed under: 3D Panoramic Image by Nathan on February 19th, 2009. Tags: computer classroom, computer lab, computer school, n-computing, web design | 5 Comments

UPDATE (12/7/2008) – See the video of the graduation below where one of the students, Nelly Makhubela, gives a speech followed by singing and dancing.

The past three months of teaching the first web design course at the Powerhouse has flown by. I am very proud of the 11 students who graduate today and of the websites they created! It’s great to see how far they’ve progressed from the first class until now. Most had never even spent much time on the web, let alone designed a web page. Now they can all create web pages, including using CSS! I look forward to seeing how they use the skills they’ve acquired in the course.

Please check out the class website where all their sites are displayed. Some of them include their emails on their site, so feel free to send them a note of encouragement.

Powerhouse Graduation from Nathan Clendenin on Vimeo.

Filed under: General by Nathan on December 6th, 2008. Tags: computer school, graduation, web design | 1 Comment

For more than a month now I’ve been developing and teaching an advanced-level class at the computer school offered at the Powerhouse. The class is on web design, meets three times per week and will run through the end of November (for those interested, I am teaching Dreamweaver). All the students have graduated from the intro-level computer course where they started with the very basics (“This is a mouse,” etc.) as well as mastered the Microsoft suite, learning Word, Excel and Powerpoint and even some Access.  Near the end of the web design course, I hope to introduce them to blogging and perhaps even help them figure out a way to make some income from that.  Any of you out there with ideas, please share them.  Sometime in early 2009 I hope to start another advanced-level course in Photography.  I’ll be sharing more info with out on that soon, but start looking around for used digital cameras to donate!

Teaching the class has been a real joy.  Beyond just teaching web design, I also get the opportunity to encourage them as individuals with God-given talents and abilities.  Today we discussed their hopes and dreams and it was exciting to think this course will, Lord willing, help them in the right direction (most of the students are taking the web design course in hopes of using the skills they learn to earn income).  Some of their dreams include being a: gospel singer, flight attendant, McDonald’s franchise owner, designer, policewoman and salesman.  Some also shared that they hope they can provide for their families, own a car and be happy.

My dream? To see them succeed at whatever God has called them to on this earth.

Filed under: General by Nathan on October 6th, 2008. Tags: computer school, dreams, web design | 8 Comments