Teaming for Technology: A Connectionist Approach to Making IT Happen

November, 2001
By J.C. Dwyer Teaming for Technology, Chicago

The following is an excerpt from an article that appeared August 6, 2001 in Digital Divide Network, discussing why Teaming for Technology makes sense as a nonprofit model.

You might think it redundant to speak of making connections in our increasingly wired world - especially when the subject is the digital divide. Isn't that what we're all about? Crusading to connect those without access, linking the power to the people? Surprisingly, the crusade to close the IT gap has gaps of its own - at best it must be described as a pocketed movement. And, as the market events of last year demonstrated, simply possessing and using technology is no guarantor of success, or sustainability. The digital divide movement might do well to take these cues from the business community. For example, those business efforts that survived the bursting of the virtual economic bubble did so with a steady eye on collaboration. Take AOL, or Yahoo!, Inc. - the rampant success of these ventures was fueled by their ability to connect users to every option, every service one might desire. By becoming portal sites, these companies were able to create integrated, front-to-back relationships with each customer, making every Top-5 hit list in the past three years. Building Relationships The model that Teaming for Technology emulates is based on this principle. Itself the product of a relationship between IBM, United Way and the Corporation for National Service, Teaming for Technology (T4T) has grown in the last four years from organizing small computer recycling programs to developing nonprofit databases and portal sites all over the country. By taking advantage of the tendency for technological change to occur at points of connection, T4T has helped hundreds of nonprofits and disadvantaged communities increase their technological capacity.

A local example of T4T in action is the recent cooperative effort between Pfizer Inc and the Queens Child Guidance Center facilitated through UWNYC's T4T team of AmeriCorps*VISTAs. As part of the larger United Way/Pfizer Technology Showcase, Pfizer's IT department designed, implemented and donated components of the Local Area Network (LAN) to the Queens Child Guidance Center for its operational and training purposes. The contribution enables the Center's staff to share information about agency functions while its new computer lab provides the opportunity to train members of the community. The UWNYC VISTA member assigned to work with the Queens Child Guidance Center facilitated the process, serving as the "connectionist middleman." The Center designated one of its staff members to serve on the T4T implementation team which also included members of the Pfizer IT group. Now, the Queens Child Guidance Center is saving valuable time and effort through the streamlined technology provided by Pfizer in conjunction with UWNYC and the VISTAs working on the T4T-NYC team.

A widely recognized example of T4T's work as a middleman between corporate, nonprofit and governmental spheres is the excellent resource Techsoup.org. Originally partnered with T4T-San Francisco, today the Techsoup site incorporates nonprofit resources, communication tools, technology "straight talk" and advice from IT professionals. The idea grew from T4T, national resource Compumentor and several for-profit corporations, and now offers comprehensive help to any nonprofit.

This is how a connectionist philosophy succeeds. To date, T4T sites across the U.S. have provided thousands of dollars of equipment, taught innumerable classes, created Web pages and databases, given round-the-clock tech support and helped hundreds of NPOs develop sustainable technology plans.

But a connectionist approach can also have drawbacks. It might be argued that overemphasizing resources like a warehouse is ultimately antithetical to real human connection. Resource providers must therefore take care to be more than an endless, shallow collection of 'hotlinks.' And even if structure is added, a program may risk becoming just another ambiguous 'consultancy' whose mission, mumbled under only duress, is to 'provide solutions.'

Real products, real change, for real people.

This is the challenge for those of us working in an environment largely populated by 1s and 0s. To meet this challenge, T4T has stressed its role not only as a relationship facilitator, but as a resource in itself: a conduit and source of tech know-how. Each T4T team makes sure not only to provide indirect services, but also to create opportunities for people - particularly youth - to expand their skills and leadership into the digital age. This has been done through the creation and maintenance of computer labs, as well as extensive classes for both children and adults.

A connectionist model to bridging the digital divide works, not because it parrots best business practices, but because it mirrors the structure of information technology itself.

Further, T4T's members are culled from the Corporation for National Service's VISTA program, and are largely post-collegiates with a feel for computer technology. This is not to say that we are techies. But as a result of our generation's upbringing, we have internalized the metaphors of the information revolution: even if we can't tell one circuit from another, we understand how IT works.

How to do it?

Technology is not machines and wires and DSL access. Technology is a system of thought and action, in which mechanical tools and human users play equal parts.

Another danger of the connectionist model is the amount of potential bureaucracy involved. Imagine, if you will, the amount of red tape - the sheer volume of meetings - held in each of the commercial, nonprofit and government sectors. Now combine them. In dealing with these disparate elements, T4T has opted to pursue a loose organization at the national level. Allowing each site to act as an autonomous cell, local T4Ts work to create their own character, methods and best practices. This has served the national program well.

Of course, the final hurdle is always sustainability. T4T works with each agency over the course of a single year. By providing services and resources every step of the way, we might be accused of hand-holding, or worse: flooding the digital divide with information instead of with knowledge. This problem pervades every aspect of the IT industry. How can we connect our resources into a coherent whole; how can we make a sea of options meaningful?

The connectionist approach partially solves this by fostering partner-building as an ongoing attitude. An agency that has received grants from the government, equipment from computer recycling programs and expertise from a corporate volunteer is much more likely to form relationships with these resources, establishing a firm yet flexible footing in the technological world. As a result, agencies that wouldn't have hired IT personnel, maintained Web pages or known where to start an innovative project before T4T are sure of themselves long afterward.

Achieving Sustainability
But the real key to sustainability is end-user ownership. An agency must feel a sense of place in their own technology. Towards this, T4T asks each of our agencies to complete a detailed tech plan. Many resist this process, assuming that all that is needed to arrive in the 21st century is a computer and an Internet connection. But to achieve sustainability, users need to participate in their own technology: in essence to become part of it.

To recognize this, T4T's tech-planning process compels our agencies (at least temporarily) to adopt a connectionist mindset. Our outlook provides them the flexibility to move at the speed of change, and essentially become part of the technology that they will use. By connecting to each other - mirroring the nature of information technology - we can provide the knowledge that they lack, and close the digital divide as nothing else can.

You can contact J.C. Dwyer at jdwyer@uwonline.org.