Day OnIt's a day on, not a day off.

Why did we create Day On?

Day On was inspired by the idea of MLK Day as a day of service rather than a day of rest: a day on, rather than a day off. The idea came out of the community around the Legion of Tech, which seeks to grow and nurture the local Portland, OR community through free, educational, community-run technology events. This year, MLK Day falls on Monday, 19 January 2009.

Our first idea was to hold Geeks Day On in Portland, OR, as a one-day event for nonprofit organizations to connect with geeks—people with skills and experience in technology and Internet communications. It would be like when builders visit those special places where manual laborers congregate, looking for the right people to help them with their work. Any nonprofit could come by or contact our team of geek volunteers who would help them understand and solve any issue they might have with technology and/or Internet communications. If no geek present could help with a specific issue, we would reach out to our extended networks to help find answers and assistance. For one special day, nonprofits could get disinterested, quality advice and help with the issues they often have difficulty solving on their own. Geeks faced with nothing immediate to do would volunteer work on open source projects and other worthy endeavors.

But then we thought: why limit it to just geeks? Why limit it to just Portland, OR?

So we created this site, DayOn.org, where we will organize the first Geeks Day On in Portland, and, if all goes well, spread the idea of a Day On beyond Portland, beyond geeks, and maybe even beyond MLK Day.

Subscribe to our feed, contact us, or come back here to find out more about Day On and the first Geeks Day On in Portland.

If you are a geek who is interested in participating in the first Geeks Day On, register here on the Day On site (preferably using your OpenID) and check "offering help" in your user profile.