april-hangout

Participants:

Corey Wittig, The Labs @ CLP, Pittsburgh

Julie Koslowsky, YOUmedia Chicago (Harold Washington)

Daniel Demarse, YOUmedia Chicago (Albany Park)

Kim Fish, Springfield Career ConnectEd Center, YOUmedia Springfield, Springfield, OH

AJ Almaguer, TechHive, Lawrence Hall of Science

Sari Widman, Maker Jawn, Free Library of Philadelphia

Matt Baker, The MiX, Science Museum of Virginia

K-Fai Steele, National Writing Project


This April hangout was an opportunity to get a brief site update from a few sites in the network; what they’ve been up to, what they’re planning for the summer, what they’re thinking about, what they’ve been up to, and more.

  • Pittsburgh:

    • Corey reported on their strategy about developing programs through partnerships over the summer and how those things tie into “The Labsy Awards (categories for awards are: fashion, graphic design, invention, photography, filmmaking, music, and cover art for our writing anthology)

      • Developing 3rd year of the Labsy awards, an end-of-summer celebratory event/showcase, with cash prizes for 1st ($250) and 2nd place ($150) in each category (above).

    • Talked about his trip to Spain (slideshow presentation on the discussion forum in the CoP).

  • Chicago:

    • Julie mentioned “Project-Us” a more intensive summer workshop with three tracks (fashion, music, and video/photography). It’s happening during the morning, when teens will have the space to themselves (and adults aren’t in the space? right!)

    • Julie also mentioned partnerships as developed by a staff member (Jennifer Steele), and how they’ve developed practices around partners coming in to the space and leading workshops. A big focus/something that tends to gum things up is when partners have a certain expectation of the way the space operates, versus the actual way things run. Solution: protocols for partnerships.

    • Daniel talked about how YOUmedia Chicago looks differently, operates slightly differently at a branch than at the downtown main library: he’s given more latitude to develop partnerships and programs (partnering with the Shedd Aquarium, Lawrence Hall youth services)

  • Kim Fish was introduced officially to the community through this hangout. Described her space in Springfield, OH which is geared towards being a connector between in-school and out-of-school spheres. She showed construction progress, discussed planning progress around where they’re at in their stage of development. Asked a few questions about tips for when the site opens: what’s critical to do in the first couple of months? One answer from the group: include teens in the participatory design process.

  • Matt Baker: outreach to middle-school youth, zombie detection project (coding, arduino) site spotlight

  • AJ Almaguer: building the Lawrence Hall’s Maker Faire booth with teens. Also mentioned their IndieGoGo campaign (teen-led) for their Robot Petting Zoo makeathon (as opposed to a “hackathon”) using the hummingbird robotics kit, which some other sites possess. Maybe an opportunity to share ideas cross-network?

  • K-Fai: YMN radio as another platform the network can use: network podcasts/radio shows/recordings are now a possibility! Let her know if you want to be involved in the planning process. Also, developing some more maker-centered PD (through hangouts) starting with a copper tape club. Again, contact her if you want more info on that.