"Computers are useless.
They can only give you answers."
Pablo Picasso



He's got a point!  And when I first started interviewing Gold Award girls under the old requirements, I would often get a print-out of city or county stats.  This was in answer to the question, "what's in your community?" Well, I got an answer from the computer, but it didn't really address the question.

Now, in the new Take Action requirements, it's stated differently.  There's opportunities to do a mind-map of the community, showing the interlinking circles and how they touch/affect each other.  There's also an opportunity to "look at your community."  This goes waaay beyond computer generated answers of statistics.  

What the Gold is asking the girls to do is to dive deep and address the question.  Use their eyes and look at where they live, not at a computer screen.  See what is around them, and let them choose what issues mean something to them.  Perhaps it's the homeless issue.  Seeing real live people on the street, some with kids, some in wheelchairs can help our girls connect to the issue.  They are there to make a lasting change in a community. Those people are part of that community.

Computers can help with the research:  how many communities have the same need.  Or with getting details about service areas/boundaries.  But a computer is not likely to grab the heart of a girl, and create in her a desire to help someone else.

And we need our girls to connect to the issue in order to use their passion to complete the Gold Award Take Action Project.  It's a ton of work these girls are being asked to do, and they'll need determination, support from you(!) and support from their team to make it work.  Let the computer be a tool to use to advance a cause, as it will never be the piece that touches a girls' heart and gives her the gumption to make the world a better place.