http://66.225.205.104/JR20110615a.mp3
About 25 Charlotte-area nonprofits got some free tech support Wednesday from an army of IBM workers. In a "Tech Day of Service" organized by the nonprofit consulting firm N-Power, 75 volunteers fanned out to defrag hard drives, remove viruses and rig routers for nonprofits that often struggle to keep up with changing technology. At the Carolina Raptor Center, volunteers worked to get one of the center's most popular attractions back online. A visit to the Carolina Raptor Center is pretty low-tech. Dirt trails link bird enclosures. Printed signs explain what's on display. The reading's up to you. But Raptor Center executive director Jim Warren says more and more visitors seem to expect digital flash. "People want real-time everything," says Warren. He frequently sees visitors using their smart phones to call up more information about the birds they're watching. "That information needs to be coming from us, not online somewhere," says Warren. And don't even get him started about the Eagle Cam. "We've created a monster basically!" he laughs. Five years ago the Carolina Raptor Center set up a web cam so people could watch the bald eagles lay eggs and hatch their young. Warren estimates half a million people logged on last year. "People are constantly going to it - checking every 10 minutes - going 'Did you see what the bird just did?" says Warren. He gets emails from people watching the eagles online and he's pleased so many people are engaged in the center's work. "But when you can't provide a reliable experience then it comes back to bite us," says Warren. Case in point: About a week ago, the Eagle Cam crashed. Warren says it was on the blink for awhile, and without full-time tech support to troubleshoot, he was at a loss to satisfy the thousands of frustrated eagle watchers unable to get their online fix. That's where the IBM volunteers come in. Half a dozen or so showed up for a day's work as part of a city-wide service event organized by N-Power Charlotte Region. Getting a professional opinion on the Eagle Cam was a top priority for the Raptor Center. Inside a small observation room, IBM employee James Schweitzer crouches at a window. On the other side, just a few feet away, seven bald eagles chatter and screech. Schweitzer quizzes a Raptor Center staffer about the current set up. An internet cable runs from a router near the edge of the eagle habitat to a $100 web cam that frequently needs re-booting. Schweitzer's thinking much bigger picture. He suggests the center use wireless internet. In fact, wi-fi is on the Raptor Center's wish list, along with an app that would let people call up fun facts on their smart phones. IBM volunteers are also building a portable solar panel so a web cam could show raptor rehabilitation work that's usually off-limits to visitors. These are the kinds of projects that are easy for nonprofits to push aside because they lack the expertise, the funding or the time to tackle them. And yet, Warren says nonprofits like the Raptor Center find their fortunes increasingly tied to how well they use technology. Take the Eagle Cam. When it's down, people get frustrated, Warren says they're less likely to come visit or make a donation. "They think that maybe we're not doing as good a job with other aspects because we don't have our camera operating 24 hours a day," says Warren. "We maybe don't have the time to run out to the aviary to reboot a camera all the time. The birds are fine, everything's good. The camera just needs to be reset." With the help of volunteers from IBM, Warren hopes to have a more reliable camera up and running by December when the center's bald eagles are ready to nest.