Innovating by accident

06/02/2013

Some of the work we will do as a group of 4 volunteers for OSSA is office based, unfortunately they were only expecting 2 volunteers, so we only have one computer to use.  It is not a problem as I have my laptop with me and a memory stick we can also use.  

In an attempt to make some space we decided to move the desk we were using slightly, whilst doing this we knocked over the CPU for the computer we were using. It hit the floor with a loud thud, and left a plume of dust lingering for a while. ‘Cheger yalem’ (No problem) they said, and we picked it up and turned it on…..but nothing happened. We fiddled and poked about and still nothing. Then I suggested that we maybe need to give it a clean, after all the dust that came out I assumed there was probably a considerable amount still in there. Our placement leader, Zelalem, took the side of the computer and this is what we were faced with: 

That’s one dirty pc! Zelalem trotted off to get an air blower, and we took the pc outside. After a good 10 minutes of cleaning, it was gleaming like new (you would have thought it was new if it weren’t for the fact there is a floppy disk drive in the front of it!).

Disaster avoided, we took it inside and put it all back together. It worked! It is now on top of the desk, rather than on the floor (which is bare concrete, very dusty and t full of holes/ cracks) hopefully this will help to avoid it getting so dirty in the future.

The next thing we knew, the other people in the office with PCs were taking them all outside, taking the backs off and giving them a good clean. Now that’s what I call innovation! They have just extended the lifetime of their machines considerably. Maybe in future they will also remember this when they have issues and consider this as a solution.

I’ve learnt, the simplest things we think of as a normal solution are actually something that may not occur to other people. It was amazing to see them all instantly see this was a good thing to do. The machines may be old, but they function perfectly so there is no reason why they shouldn’t continue their role in the office for quite some time.

Who knows what else we will come up with over the next few weeks that will help in such a simple way!

Kx