Tech Tip: A new free application for presentations
If you are bored with PowerPoint and Prezi makes you nauseous, our Office 365 application has something in between and it’s really easy to use. It’s called Sway. You can find it in the upper left hand corner tile in Office 365. It’s free and there are no restrictions for county users.
Once you log in (it’s automatic when you login into Office 365) you open Sway and it brings up easy plug and play instructions. Then hit Get Started and Create. Pull in videos, maps, photos and text. It’s drag and drop or you can storyboard. The tools are so simple, editing on the fly is easy. This three-minute tutorial does a good job of explaining how it works and here’s a simple finished product. It’s much more visual and interesting than PowerPoint.
The coolest thing about Sway is that it conforms to whatever device you are viewing it on – tablet, desktop, smartphone AND it’s stored in the cloud so you can see, send or store it anytime, anywhere.
KCIT is working hard to provide county employees with tools that are totally mobile and fast. We think you’ll like this new tool.
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Kudos! RASKC June statistics show 200 pets found homes
Regional Animal Services of King County secured forever homes for 200 animals, the highest number so far this year.
Working in creative ways to engage the public and also ensure animal health and well-being is paying off in a huge way, making sure we continue to deliver on our promise to transform animal services, lowering euthanasia rates and finding a home for animals in need.
Kudos to RASKC employees and volunteers who make it possible for loving animals to find families and individuals who care about them, while doing so in a way that benefits King County and our communities!
For more information about pets adopted, animal intakes and other information, view our monthly Statistics At A Glance.
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Go check out ParkFinder: the new interactive map to locate King County parks and trails
Crossposted from King County Parks
YAY for GIS! Now you can find ALL of our regional trails, backcountry trails, natural areas and parks on an interactive and easy-to-use virtual map. You can even search specific amenities and activities such as picnic locations, fishing locations and soccer locations. Go monkey around with it: http://gismaps.kingcounty.gov/ParkFinder/
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Furry exterminators saving taxpayers money and saving their own lives
The King County South Wastewater Treatment Plan was recently highlighted on KIRO 7 for the creative way in which barn cats are helping the facility deal with rodents. Barn Cats R Us is a volunteer program that rehomes feral cats to barns and garages. They hunt rodents and also save King County taxpayers money as facilities no longer have to call exterminators.
The cats are promoted as “organic rodent control” that keep facilities from using pesticides and chemicals that can potentially harm children, pets and wild animals. The feral cats are placed in a location and require minimum care, only needing warm, safe shelter, steady food and fresh water.
For more information about the barn cat program, visit the Barn Cats R Us website. To read the full story on KIRO 7, click here or view the video below.
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Patchouli, Tibet, and a Hope for Mangoes
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Crossposted from Expanding the Narrative, personal stories of government and public service
When I was a boy, a very young boy, I lived with my mother and father on a houseboat in the Bay Area. This houseboat was a part of a hippy enclave that was ‘squatting’ at an unofficial dock constructed by said squatters. We didn’t have running water. My mother would fill up a huge copper bowl for our water use. There were no guardrails on the docks for a little boy like me. I fell into the water so often that, eventually, this became a catalyst for us to move.
The community did what one would think hippies that were not particularly political would do; drink, smoke, and wander about seemingly aimlessly to a boy like me.
Read more at Expanding the Narrative
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Racism, Injustice and Public Health
By Dr. Jeff Duchin, Health Officer
Crossposted from Public Health Insider
The horrible violence of the past week, with the killing of black men by police officers in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis and of white police officers protecting peaceful demonstrators in Dallas, revolting and deeply offending to all, has left us feeling confused, helpless and frightened. As a public health community dedicated to promoting conditions under which all persons thrive in good health, how can we respond?
First, we need continue to renounce and work to end violence against all persons, adults and children, in all its forms. This includes gun violence and other forms of physical violence as well as sexual violence and emotional and psychological violence.
Read more at Public Health Insider
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Children and Youth Advisory Board members leading change in many ways
Crossposted from Best Starts for Kids
For Best Starts for Kids, we’ve had the fortune of working with a broad range of community and content experts through our Children and Youth Advisory Board (CYAB) . The CYAB brings together many leaders working to create a healthier place for all King County children and families. Two members recently have been recognized for their instrumental contributions.
Zam Zam Mohamed is the CEO and Co-founder of Voices of Tomorrow. She also works closely with other community partners to eliminate racial and ethnic achievement gap that exists for East African children and families living in King County. She was highlighted in the Seattle Times in the article: Seattle-area Somali community unites to embrace state’s new child-care standards
Brian Saelens is a professor and researcher at Seattle Children’s Research Institute at the University of Washington. In his work, Dr. Saelens identifies strategies at all levels that help children and families eat healthfully and be active. Thomson Reuters, a global information agency, identified him as one of the world’s “most influential scientific minds.” He was recently featured in: Pushing the boundaries: UW Medicine’s list of ‘most influential’ scientisits.
Read more at Best Starts for Kids
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New Mobile Medical Van to assist homeless in Seattle
Crossposted from Public Health Insider
If you see what looks like a giant RV with a splash of sunshine painted on the outside, you’ve probably spotted King County’s new Mobile Medical Van. You might catch a glimpse at various locations around the city of Seattle, as the van makes its rounds to church-sponsored meal programs, tent cities, and other locations where people living homeless gather.
The Mobile Medical program helps address some of the unique challenges of living homeless. How do you make a medical appointment and keep track of it, when you must continually focus on having a safe place to sleep, or of finding your next meal? How do you get to a clinic when you’re living on the streets or in a tent city?
Read more at Public Health Insider
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King County welcomes new Rideshare Fleet Operations Chief
King County welcomed U.S. Army veteran Craig Foster as its new Chief of Rideshare Fleet Operations Tuesday, June 14.
A native of Boston, MA, Craig’s military service found him at Ft. Knox (Kentucky), Korea, Ft. Hood (Texas), Germany, here at Ft. Lewis, at Ft. Stewart (Georgia), and then back at Ft. Knox as a Drill Sergeant. After his second tour at Ft. Knox, he became a Warrant Officer in the Automotive Maintenance field and continued on to Ft. Rucker (Alabama) and Germany, finally returning to Ft. Lewis in 2012.
Craig said his role with the County is similar to the roles he enjoyed in uniform, but more Operations-oriented. “What I did in the Army was more maintenance-intensive. Here, it’s more the Operations side,” he said. “There are a lot of different RideShare operations. Primary are VanPool and VanShare, and we supply vans to a lot of the other RideShare programs.”
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Tech Tip: Spam and phishing – What to report and how to report it
This article will explain the difference between spam and phishing emails and what to do when you receive them.
What is SPAM? Unsolicited email or undesired email (generally advertising a product or service). You do not need to report each junk or Spam email you receive in your mailbox. Just delete it!
Things to Remember
1. Never respond to emails unless they’re from someone you know or something you’ve personally subscribed to – it just confirms your address is valid and you’ll keep getting more spam as valid emails are traded & sold amongst spammers. Just delete it.
Read more at the KCIT Service Center
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