While Information Technology (IT) does not officially fall into any job description I currently hold, circumstances have necessitated that I not only stay familiar with current IT trends, practices and procedures, but also participate in planning sessions, administer servers and users, and find usable software solutions for both clients and employees (normally at a sector limited budget). I have a long history with both mac (squeezing Apple Talk cables together (to keep them from shorting) so we could finish printing our high school newspaper, Doc Brown style) but also am well versed in the love-hate-hate relationship of not only being a PC user, but building them up from their component parts.
In recent years we’ve also branched our departments support functions to operate independently of the organization in order to support mac environments for designers and give coding and other higher-level users easier access to systems, resources and permissions that are normally more restricted. This has given our department vastly increased levels of productivity and allowed for flexibility and innovative thinking when approaching new and complex prjects.
On a higher level, we’ve made large strides in our efforts to provide advocacy through an increasingly diverse platform of technologies. With our launch of the National Dating Abuse Helpline and the introduction of our Live Chat feature in 2007, NCFV took the lead in reaching out to teens through an entirely unique medium. This was our first foray into interacting with clients and victims through something other than a traditional voice line, and it was a learning experience for all parties. As we continue to adapt and refine our methodology we are also exploring additional methods to reach our constantly evolving audience, including SMS to chat which, at the Request of the White House and as a part of partnership with Break the Cycle, we are planning to role out in the summer of 2011.
