Project Description

The San Ramon ICT Project consists of two distinct projects:

I. The establishment of a Computer Technology Center in the town of San Ramon, Nicaragua.

II. A survey of the climate of information-sharing in the municipality of San Ramon.

I. Computer Technology Center

I assisted CESESMA in designing a computer technology center, or telecentro, to cater to the ICT needs of the children and youth with whom they work. The tech center project includes both a centralized tech center and a mobile laptop tech center. My job was to identify best practices from previous experiences found through online research and talking with local organizations, and offer suggestions to CESESMA based on this research. The immediate need that was to be addressed by the tech centers was that of computer literacy. The first goal of the centers was to provide a setting for classroom instruction in basic computation. The design of this course was my responsibility.

II. Information-Sharing Survey

When I arrived in San Ramon, I discovered that the youth with which CESESMA works had not been surveyed regarding their ICT needs. It was agreed that my desire to conduct such a survey (but on a community-wide, all-age level) corresponded well with the organization's desire to design a tech center that addressed the needs of CESESMA's constituents. I therefore dedicated the first month of my internship to surveying San Ramon County regarding ICT use and informational needs.