Innovate Chatham Accomplishments

May 2024 to May 2025

With summer looming, it seems like a fine time to reflect a bit on our accomplishments over the past year.  Tych Cowdin suggested that I use AI to go through our newsletters and make a summary.  That made for a good start, still needing considerable clean-up and rewrites. I’m sure my AI helper missed a few things, as I found several more when writing this update. 

In total, I think we did pretty well over the past year.  Let me know what you think!  Also, we would like to provide more direct help to our friends and neighbors using our network of techy experts.  More info at the bottom of the newsletter. 

We have been doing more costly work this year–have a look.  Your donation would be very welcome.

Burney Waring
Innovate Chatham President
[email protected]

Digital Inclusion Initiatives

• In Chatham County, work not completed in school can usually be completed as homework. Access to the work requires internet access over the student’s Chromebook.  Without internet access at home, students fall behind.  Over the past year, we purchased thirteen mobile hotspots and delivered them to the families of students without internet access.   This work is a joint effort with our partner organizations.  Communities in Schools Chatham County, led by IC Board member Tych Cowdin, identifies families needing this help. IC Board member Jesse Bradley of RHRNP organizes their purchase, and then IC funds the purchase and arranges for the hotspot delivery.  Each hotspot costs Innovate Chatham $120 for a year of service.  The number available at this discounted price is limited.  If you want to support our work, consider making a donation.

• The Chatham Digital Inclusion Plan was finalized and published on the county website, in March 2025.  Innovate Chatham kicked off the creation and the first drafts in August 2022.

• We advised on a Digital Champions Grant awarded to Central Pines Regional Council, to train approximately 500 people in digital literacy and job-seeking.  These courses are happening right now.  Jesse Bradley, Kyle Kallgren and Wyatt Waring are teaching some of the classes..
• IC aims to provide a free public WiFi system on the main street of Siler City downtown.  This system would help digital inclusion and promote business traffic in the downtown area. After presenting to the Town commissioners, we purchased, tested, and configured the system in October 2024.  We are currently helping Siler City government to take the next steps.

STEM Education and Mentoring

• Burney Waring is mentoring two 7th graders at Horton Middle School interested in STEM.  We discussed a wide range of topics they are interested in, such as engineering, the physics of stopping a car in the shortest distance, calculus, coding of games, speculative evolution, the human mind, Mars colonization, utopian societies, and more!! February-May 2025.  There are plans for an official STEM Club at Horton next school year.

• Innovate Chatham organized three judges for the science fair at Jordan Matthews, recognizing winners in gravity/orbital velocity, beehive temperature, and jigsaw puzzle software categories, in December 2024.
• Innovate Chatham sponsored an eSports program at Pittsboro Boys and Girls Club engaged kids in building rollercoasters in Minecraft, costing a few hundred dollars per event, in August 2024.
• We arranged six presenters to share their careers with high-schoolers in the Summer IT Intern program, July 2024.
• Burney spoke to 32 children about STEM careers at Chatham Youth Development Center, encouraging aspirations, in August 2024.
• Burney spoke to about 30 CTE students at Seaforth in February 2025 about STEM careers and education.
• To demonstrate the power of vibe-coding, Burney wrote about creating an AI-assisted HTML/JavaScript mortgage calculator by talking to AI, March 2025.
• We donated computer hardware and furniture for the Sparklab at Seaforth High School.

Educational Workshops and Talks

• Don Kallgren delivered a GPS technology talk on trilateration, radio communications, special relativity, and earth’s shape, with slides shared, in March 2025 .
• Erin Denniston conducted a fully subscribed 3D modeling and printing course for mixed ages, including school kids, with notes and a recording available, in April and May 2024.
• Kyle Kallgren taught a well-received video production class at SparkLab, praised for its impact, in August 2024.
• SparkLab hosted IoT and robotics workshops on Arduino, microcontrollers, robotics kits, and Software Defined Radio in August and June 2024.
• Erin Denniston gave STEM workshops for 2nd–5th graders, primarily homeschoolers, at the Wrenn Library, in November 2024 and March 2025, with more planned.
• Brenton Hart presented on Chatham’s broadband state, discussing grants to attract providers and sharing resources, in August 2024.

Other Community Support

• We held a Video Gaming Night at HAVOC in November 2024, where we sponsored demonstrations and practice with Unreal Engine run by NC Esports Adademy.

• We drafted a mentoring program plan for WEBB-Squared to help their community of entrepreneurs in November 2024.
• Erin and Burney supported the Back to School Bash at Bray Park, entertaining kids using cups, tape, and craft sticks to engineer towers and walls, August 2024.

For Pure AI Fun and its Exhausting Future

This is a bit like an optical illusion.  The top arrow below has two fins, and a shaft in the middle.  The bottom arrow has two arrow heads and a shaft in the middle.  For most people, the shaft looks longer in the top arrow compared to the bottom arrow.  Even after telling people and measuring it, letting them verify that the shafts are exactly the same length, their first thought is that the top arrow has a longer shaft.

Muller-Lyer_IllusionIn Daniel Kahneman’s book, Thinking Fast and Slow., he explains that your System 1 (I call it the animal brain or fast brain) ‘knows’ in an instant that the top shaft is longer.  Your System 2 (I call it human cognition, or slow brain) takes a while to consider all the facts and  trys to override your System 1.

When you watch the AI video, your System 1 ‘knows’ that this is a video from real life, even if your System 2 knows the complete set of true facts.

If my analogy between AI video and optical illusions is correct, that means no matter what we do, we can expect our minds to be fooled constantly.  System 2 uses a lot of resources compared to System 1.  It’s going to be exhausting unless we have some rules, like a uniform system of marking AI videos.

How You Can Help

If you would like to help Innovate Chatham, please become a member or make a donation today.  Help Innovate Chatham help Chatham flourish with technology!

If You Need Help

A new offer for our community.

If you need opinions, help, information, a sounding board, or maybe just some empathy, email Innovate Chatham President Burney Waring at [email protected]. Our network includes experts in various technology, educational, financial, and business areas who may be able to help.

Thanks to our partners!