New Digital Bridges center to promote technology use

Through a new initiative, Milledgeville is taking steps toward advancing the use of technology in the city. Digital Bridges is a new community project aiming to create technological awareness and innovation in Milledgeville by providing equipment, classes and workshops to residents.

Milledgeville Community Connections: Digital Bridges…Bringing People Together project is run through Georgia College and funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. GCSU’s Digital Innovation Group announced this past December that a three-year grant from the Knight Foundation would allow for the establishment of the Digital Bridges project.

The building, located downtown next to The Campus Theatre on 127 Hancock St, has a 3,500 square foot room that allows for computer areas and what Digital Bridges calls “collaboration clusters,” which are areas for small groups to collaborate. The center, called the Knight Community Innovation Center, will also hold a training room and conference room, which are both available to rent for meetings or staff training.

“We want everyone to feel comfortable coming into the center to learn basic computer skills and seek help identifying ways technology can help their family businesses and enhance their lives,” said Heather Holder, the director of Digital Bridges.

The center will also provide wireless Internet free of charge, along with computers loaded with image-editing software and other equipment, such as digital cameras, that could be useful to small businesses, but that may be too expensive for them to obtain. The conference room will also have a SMART board technology that will be used for training and meeting purposes.

With the recent closings of the Bill E. Ireland Youth Detention Campus and the Rheem Manufacturing plant, Milledgeville has been hit with some hard economic times. The Digital Bridges project aims to help those affected by the loss of jobs in the area.

“We want to encourage people getting jobs because so many people have be laid off in Milledgeville and so many industries have closed down so a big initiative is to help people get online, looking for jobs,” said Dawn Pendergast, Digital Bridges coordinator.

Not only does the center work with those looking for employment, but it also focuses on helping local businesses, both established and emerging, with implementing technology.

“People wanted to learn basic technology stuff for their businesses. Like what kind of server should I have? How often should I update my computer? How secure is the information on my drives?” Pendergast said. “People have a lot of those questions.”

Although new, Digital Bridges has found support and partnerships within Milledgeville, such as Yearwood Technology Group and Cogentes, a technology company that has helped Digital Bridges equip the center and make contacts with local businesses. In addition, it works closely with the Milledgeville Chamber of Commerce, holding monthly workshops for businesses to learn about using technology.

While one of the project’s main goals is to foster small businesses, the Knight Community Innovation Center is just as much for GCSU students as it is for the Milledgeville community.

“It’s their center too,” Holder said. “(Students) don’t have to be here in a formal capacity through class or anything. If they want to work together, this is a place they can go.”

Katie Hanna, a junior special education major, began working with Digital Bridges this past fall after receiving a scholarship from the Knight Foundation. She works 10 hours a week for the center, including teaching classes or working on her own individual project. This past semester her project involved reprogramming an $8,000 device she found at the school where she was a student teacher.

“I wanted to do it based off special needs because that was my area of study,” Hanna said. “It’d be silly to go any other route with it.”

This semester Hanna will be working with the Oconee Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support helping teachers get familiar with SMART boards.

“They’ve had the initial training, but that initial training doesn’t make them comfortable with the technology they use,” Hanna said. “That’s my goal in education anyway, to teach teachers. I’m really excited that this next project’s going to let me help teachers with their projects if they have issues.”

Not only will Hanna and two graduate assistants be working with the initiative, but so will Renee Fontenot’s small business class. The class will meet at the center for consultations with 10 small businesses clients, teaching about the different ways technology can help improve businesses.

While the facility is not yet ready, Digital Bridges is working hard to get everything completed. There will be several events leading up to the grand opening, which is scheduled for sometime in March.

However, those interested don’t need to wait until March to experience what Digital Bridges has to offer. The center should be open to the public by the end of January, according to Holder, and it currently holds classes, such as one on basic computer skills, at the Mary Vinson Memorial Library located at 151 S. Jefferson St. In addition, it also holds lessons for small businesses at the Milledgeville Chamber of Commerce located at 130 S. Jefferson St. A list of current classes offered is available online at www.thedigitalbridges.org.

Posted by Allison Bramlett on Jan 22 2010. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry