Reflecting on social good & the web
Curriculum takeaways from Hive Chicago Buzz 2017
I left Hive Chicago Buzz 2017 struck by how well the event aligned with its community members’ needs. From the opening science fair to the closing workshops, organizers and attendees kept their work focused on this question:
As we moved from the now of the science fair to the future of the planning workshops, I sensed genuine, personal investment all around me: investment in youth, investment in community, and investment in Internet health as a lever for social good. I could see and hear the web at work in the connections made between mentors, neighborhoods, projects, and schools. Facilitators from Chicago helped participants find next steps for their work and localize resources shared by visitors from Kansas City, New York, Pittsburgh, and beyond. Hive Chicago Buzz helped those serving youth by strengthening ongoing and emergent work meant to:
- Empower youth as web literate, online producers.
- Ensure digital inclusion and equity in community programming.
- Invite open innovation from youth in media production.
- Protect youth data and privacy.
- Alert youth to opportunities throughout the Hive community.
As a curriculum developer, I was especially grateful to participate in sessions led by facilitators from Research Action Design (RAD) and to learn from their practices in teaching about privacy and security. I loved how they incorporated the Sideways Dictionary into meaning making with privacy and security jargon.
Here are a few other curriculum-minded takeaways from the event:
- Hive Chicago organizations support youth innovation. How might we better design and deliver educator-facing, online curriculum that ensures learners exit the experience ready to invent on the web?
- Convenings like Hive Chicago Buzz make the work real on the ground. For example, participants in one workshop group created a giant map of connections between neighborhood resources. How might we better support local events to adapt and invent curriculum that’s embedded in the community, as well, following examples from Hive Chicago Buzz like the Yollocalli Pop Up Youth Radio curriculum or from allied networks like the Detroit Community Technology Project handbook?
- There are countless ways to explore using the Internet for social good. How might we better design curriculum that focuses on specific outcomes while connecting to other instances of social good?
If you’re curious to learn more about Hive Chicago Buzz 2017, follow @HiveChicagoBuzz on Twitter and look out for more posts about the event here on Read, Write, Participate.
