As you may have seen in Wired, CNET, PC World and others, Mozilla announced its new Webmaker initiative this week!
Mozilla Webmaker is a new program to help people everywhere make, learn and play using the open building blocks of the web.
The goal: help millions of people move from using the web to making the web. With new tools to use, projects to create, and events to join, we want to help the world increase their understanding of the web and take greater control of their online lives.
In this video, Hive NYC Director Chris Lawrence is joined by Heather Payne of Ladies Learning Code, and Zainab Oni, MOUSE student and Hive youth extraordinaire – they share more about what it means to teach the next generation of webmakers, and the importance of increasing digital literacies among youth to prepare them for their future.
The upcoming Summer Code Party kicks off on June 23rd, and is an open invitation to join us/Mozilla to meet up with friends/youth/anyone, make cool stuff, and learn how the code behind the web works.
Leveraging our beloved Hackasaurus, Popcorn, and new tool called Thimble, Mozilla will be presenting a host of starter-projects geared to people at all different levels, to help them make something on the web. And we’ve lined up an exciting group of partners including Tumblr, Creative Commons, SoundCloud and others.
We’ve been working with Hive NYC members to come up with additional projects to add to the mix, including a fun, transmedia-narrative-remix how-to with Inanimate Alice. Here’s more about my experience beta-testing that project.
Stay tuned for more details, or visit Mozilla to learn more about how you can help the world make the web.
Last week we convened at The American Museum of Natural History for our monthly Hive member meet-up.
Preeti Gupta, Director of Youth Learning and Research at AMNH (formerly Preeti worked for New York Hall of Science) kicked things off with an ice-breaker that required us to exit our meeting room and enter the large hallway. We were asked to pick two people, anonymously, and then to stand equidistant between them. We became a system of interconnectedness: a network. Triads formed. Then equilibrium. Then movement again. We were all followers and leaders, and there were no followers and leaders.
We talked for a minute about what other contexts the ice breaker itself could be used. Some liked that it was a silent and mindful exercise, that it illustrated teamwork, that it helped to define cause and effect. We’ll be putting together a wiki of all the great ice-breakers we do at our meet-ups–many of which are also utilized with youth–so stay tuned!
Chris made a quick announcement that Hive NYC welcomed its first Staten Island-based member, Wagner College! We look forward to innovating with them!
Marc Lesser and Barry Joseph shared an update on Emoti-Con, only after reciting some remixed lyrics to honor recently departed icons Donna Summer and Adam Yauch (sorry we didn’t get video of that!). They reminded everyone to register for this awesome event where youth show-off their stuff, see what their peers are working on, and get to meet with an impressive group of keynote speakers.
Marc and Barry reiterated that one of the best things about Emoti-Con is the opportunity for young people to see themselves as media-makers and technologists. It’s also a perfect chance to make transparent the other projects and opportunities that exist within the Hive network for youth. And the projects are amazing! NYC Haunts is a former Emoti-Con award-winning project that later became funded through the Hive Digital Media Learning Fund.
After a quick recap of the Hive NYC 1st Amendment Hack Jam (see here and here), the team leading AMNH’s Urban Biodiversity Network (UxN) shared the process, progress and initial findings from their project. At its core, UxN is a program for youth to investigate, understand, and report on the natural goings-on in their neighborhood. Youth use web and mobile tools to collect and record their observations, including this cool app they mentioned was Leafsnap – an electronic field guide that uses visual recognition software to help identify tree species from photographs of their leaves. At the same time youth are collecting data, that data is used to design a matrix that maps how different digital and analog tools are used for science research. Their final project is to make a promotional video for an endangered species of their choice!
Next up: what is quickly becoming our favorite part of our meet-ups and monthly calls–calendaring! We all have such exciting events and activities happening on any given week, so this gives us a platform to share updates on what each member organization is up to.
We’re planning a Tumblr + Mozilla Hive event as part of the Summer Code Party campaign. Hive educators and youth will attend as co-learners, to learn more about how to trick out Tumblr themes, build memes/ani gifs, become webmakers!
June 11th is our next, in-person meet-up and it’s mandatory (at least one rep from each org should plan to attend). It’s been one year since Chris took over as director, and since Mozilla became our official steward. We’ll discuss highlights and lowlights of the past year, talk about what’s working, what’s not, what we want to work on in the next year, and more. Hive-funded projects will also be asked to present in PechaKucha 5×5 format – more details to come!
The New York Community Trust is hosting a meeting on June 13th to review the latest RFP.
DreamYard recently hosted a share-out of its maker class, whereyouth taught soldering, 2D printing, 3D printing, scratch and more. Amazing stuff!
Rubin Museum of Art is hosting a Google Art PD and focus group on May 23rd from 5-7pm. RSVP on minigroup.
Tomorrow, New York Public Library is announcing its Summer/Fall Biophilia series with Bjork. RSVP on minigroup.
Museum of the Moving Image was recently featured on NY1 for their game design lab with Institute of Play, and hosted a design jam on Saturday as a follow-up.
Brooklyn Public Library hosted a Minecraft Jam on Saturday with Global Kids, where youth explored themes from The Hunger Games.
Bank Street College is hosting the Math Place Online, a series of online tutoring sessions for teachers and parents to review K-8 math topics that many find to be stumbling blocks, such as fractions, decimals, percents, multiplication and division, and the basics of algebra. RSVP on minigroup.
Museum for African Art and Brooklyn Public Library are wrapping up their teen program. Their Tumblr online guide to African art will be available later this week.
We ended with a brief discussion about how we can be better at creating pathways for youth across projects and organizations. We’re working to formalize the process, but in the meantime, we encourage members to post on minigroup when you have internship opportunities or interested interns. Same goes for instructor/teaching artist opportunities, which we’ve been seeing more of, and please do keep us posted when in-network connections are made!
The American Constitution Society set the scene for the afternoon, distributing pocket-sized pamphlets of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Gettysburg Address. Piled high beside the pamphlets was a curious mountain of black and white armbands and permanent markers, as well as a flyer detailing the case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District. The lawsuit was sparked in 1968 by John and Mary Beth Tinker, two high school students suspended for wearing anti-Vietnam War armbands in class. The following year, the Supreme Court upheld their right to self-expression under the First Amendment freedom of speech clause. At the Hack Jam, youth revitalized the landmark decision by embellishing the blank armbands with symbols of justice and peace. Slogans like “Love is colorblind,” “No more war,” and “Equal opportunity for all” graced the arms of many across the room, charging the air with a vibrant sense of unity.
Photo credit: Ari Joseph/World UP
That strident empowerment coursed through the veins of “Know Your Rights,” a brief video showcased by the New York Civil Liberties Union on how to recognize and stop LGBTQ discrimination. The film provided viewers with the tools to combat prejudice and the confidence to stand up for their identity. The NYCLU also shed light on a different kind of discrimination through a particularly striking pamphlet entitled Criminalizing the Classroom: The Over-Policing of New York City Schools.
Authored byElora Mukherjee, the report unravels a jarring disparity among the city’s public schools, detailing the daily verbal and physical abuse that hundreds of thousands of students endure from NYPD School Safety Agents (SSAs). According to Mukherjee’s research, disproportionate numbers of untrained SSAs are often assigned to low-performing institutions in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Officers accustomed to dealing with criminals on the street bring the same approach to the classroom, and as a result, students face degradation that far surpasses the bounds of a metal detector or backpack search. For many teens, Mukherjee explains, unwarranted and intrusive pat-downs by officers of the opposite sex are commonplace, as well as arrests for non-criminal offenses such as arriving late to class or walking down the hallway without a pass. The pamphlet offers essential resources for those caught in an oppressive environment, but most importantly, it raises the awareness necessary for change, prompting students to cultivate their voices and ensure they are heard.
The LAMP also sparked innovative interplay between young adults and their surroundings, inviting youth to watch and “talk back” to several different television commercials. Using video editing software, teens remixed Coca-Cola videos, Bratz Doll promos, and a rather controversial Dr. Pepper advertisement touting the slogan “It’s not for women.” The edited commercials were regularly screened for all to see, eliciting passionate responses from the crowd.
Mozilla introduced its signature Hackasaurus X-Ray Goggles tool to the festivities, encouraging attendees to redesign websites with their own social, political, and personal messages. One participant crafted a resonant webpage illustrating the injustice of racial discrimination, proclaiming the headline “It’s Just Not Right” against a background composed entirely of pairs of eyes. Global Action Project also brought social media to life through a make-your-own-meme activity, featuring photographs of students locked behind jail bars and witty captions to match with each photo.
Photo credit: Ari Joseph/World UP
Guest speakers took the microphone throughout the Hack Jam, sharing their challenges and triumphs in the realm of creative expression. Vee Bravo, currently at the Tribeca Film Institute and former founder of the hip-hop magazine Stress, discussed the rise and fall of his publication after being sued by New York State on alleged subway graffiti charges. Katherine Fry of The LAMP further explored the legal arena, recalling how educators initially feared that her organization’s remixed commercials violated copyright law. Fry clarified the mysteries surrounding copyrights, explaining the fair use provision that protects parody artists from plagiarism allegations.
But from first hour to last, the powerhouse that kept the day running was World Up’s continuous DJ mix – and thumping beats weren’t the only sounds passing through the speakers. In pairs, teens interviewed one another about pressing issues such as same-sex marriage, going “green,” and bully prevention. The exchanges were recorded and weaved into the music track for a uniquely immersive vibe.
And by the end of the Hack Jam, youth and mentors alike carried a new-found understanding of the scope and power of freedom of speech. In a single afternoon at the YMCA, this core of human liberty shone in all of its brilliant glory, hearkening back to the vision of our Founding Fathers – and spearheading forward into a future of infinite possibilities.
To see more of Hive Learning Network on Huffington Post Teen, click here.
Last Saturday at Hive NYC’s 1st Amendment Hack Jam, youth from throughout the five boroughs exercised their right to free speech and engaged in dialogue around self-expression, struggling against oppression and critiquing mainstream cultural messages.
Common Sense Media gave attendees a platform for expressing their thoughts on how it feels to be silenced, and posted up some of the excellent results:
Photo credit: Ari Joseph/World UP
At the World UP table, participants asked one another about controversial topics like same-sex marriage, the environment, bullying, and the state of education. Below, Aaron Lazansky, aka DJ Spaze Craft One, provides some guidance to two young people getting ready to record their opinions:
Some really compelling messages about our criminal justice system and its impact on youth came out of the Global Action Project‘s initiative for the day. Given photos of people of different ages and walks of life being arrested, or interacting with law enforcement in other ways, Hack Jam attendees added thought-provoking statements including the ones below:
That wasn’t all, though:
The remixed ads created at The LAMP station gained applause for their humorous takes on how commercial culture manipulates viewers. Katherine Fry from The LAMP also spoke to attendees about Fair Use – what it means and how it protects us.
Lawyers from the American Constitution Society answered questions about student rights and let participants make armbands to experience solidarity with students from the 1960s who were suspended from school–and later vindicated by the Supreme Court–for wearing black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War.
The New York Civil Liberties Union showcased their “school to prison pipeline” interactive online game and showed videos about LGBTQ student rights in schools.
And Vee Bravo of the Tribeca Film Institute spoke about how it felt to lose a fight with New York City over a free-speech issue in the early 1990s: Stress, a hip-hop magazine co-founded by Bravo, ran a parody of an anti-graffiti ad, changing it into a protest against the city’s harsh treatment of graffiti writers. The city demanded they take the magazine out of circulation, and they didn’t have the resources to effectively fight back.
Sanda from WNYC Radio Rookies showing youth how to create radio podcasts at the London Hive Pop-Up.
You can read more about subsequent versions of Hive Pop-Ups that have run in Tokyo and Toronto, and most recently here in NYC at our 1st Amendment Hack Jam. It also looks like there may be Hive Pop-Ups popping up (yes, yes I did) in Athens, San Francisco and more in Toronto-stay tuned.
The Hive Pop-Up has also been a driver in what Mozilla is doing with the Summer Code Party and is positioned as one of the larger-scale events that groups can run as part of that initiative.
I attempted to publicly process my thinking on these kind of programs in my DML Ignite talk on “Learning Parties” which outlines what I find exciting about thinking about learning in this hyper social butterfly way.
But it was just recently that I collected my own thinking on the Hive Pop-Up and what it might mean as a shared language for Hive NYC (and beyond…) so here is where my head is at. This is an attempt to distill what Hive Pop-Ups are and the purposes they can serve, but they are not incompatible as outlined and in many cases these events will have more than one motivating driver. Feel free to chew on or add/subtract.
The Hive Pop-Up as proof of concept
The Hive Learning Network concept apparently has some juice! I am regularly fielding inquiries that can be summed up with, “How do I get a Hive in my town?” and almost always my response is, “Organize a Hive Pop-Up!”
Let’s be honest, Hive isn’t the easiest concept to communicate. Those of us from the early days remember the conversations, debates, attempts, confusion, excitement and time it took us to have “a thing” we could even half explain to our bosses. There were times we thought it might not work, but perhaps all we missed were the actual moments to experience, participate in and witness it working. The first World Maker Faire and early Emoti-Con events were eye-opening and helped demonstrate the potential. It might have taken us a few years to “get it”, but do a 5 hour pop-up where 7, 10, 15 organizations come together with some of their best programs, add youth (and pizza) and all participants will then be able to answer, “Why Hive?” Interacting and learning with peers, seeing youth remix and re-interpret their programs, being part of the energy in the room, and maybe most importantly, seeing youth travel from different activities/interactions guiding their own path through the controlled chaos. It makes the excitement, messiness, fun and learning value obvious. So as we are increasingly asked to plant Hive seeds and bring Hive-ness to new locations, the Hive Pop-Up has become our advance strategy.
The Hive Pop-Up as Hive NYC event strategy
We have generally referred to NYC-specific events as “hack jams” (case in point, last weekend’s 1st Amendment event), but here’s why I think it’s time we lay that term to rest.
“Hack jam” is confusing on three levels: 1) Those outside of tech or design fields are like, “Huh?”; 2) Those who are familiar with a hack jam in tech/design contexts are like, “Thats not a hack jam,” usually because we aren’t always hacking/building something explicitly or collectively trying to solve a challenge. Generally due to our collective nature our events are more a hybrid collaboration; and 3) I think Hackasaurus and “hack jam” are very wisely connected, and as we continue to explore Hackasaurus and learning we appreciate that these terms are closely associated and don’t want to dilute that message.
So we’re embracing the fact that the Hive Pop-Up isn’t just for other cities. It’s how we can truly bring Hive to life, as a powerful, united front. Sometimes these events are planned by Hive HQ, but others are driven by members, like Emoti-Con, Digital Waves Youth Media Festival or the upcoming Minecraft Jam at the Brooklyn Public Library. They all represent Hive as “placed-based learning” for short bursts of time. These Hive Pop-Up events also offer us the opportunity to collectively demonstrate Hive ideas and present a public face to other educators, press, the public and most importantly to youth.
The Hive Pop-Up as storefront
And we have reached that point where the reality circles back to the metaphor. The original genesis of the name is the funky, subversive retail store that pops up for X amount of time before vanishing. Why aren’t we actually doing more of that? Many of us fret about space, recruitment, mixed inter-organizational agendas when we start to roll out programs/events/experiences, especially if they are experimental in nature. Maybe it’s time to take our work out where people are, where youth are, be out in the communities instead of always behind our pillars, office suites or in our home neighborhoods. I’m not suggesting that we abandon these locales, but what if we had Hive Pop-Up’s in storefronts, at flea markets and street fairs, in community centers and even in homes and schools? We have started looking into how to get a shipping container at Brooklyn’s Dekalb Market - I’d also love to hear your ideas about where and how we pop-up Hive in the streets, where the action is.
Photo Credit: Business Insider
The Hive Pop Up as evangelical revival road show
I believe in Hive! I believe as a network of deeply creative educators, designers, youth, administrators and organizations we can be agents of change and innovation in learning. But we need to testify. We need to be out there changing hearts and minds! I think in this application the Hive Pop-Up is a direct intervention to take what we are thinking about, working on, building and doing to people who can use it. Let’s do Hive Pop-Ups with the NYC DOE, with groups like TASC and PACE. Get Hive and our programs, products and resources to the people who want it and who can carry it forth faster and with more sophistication about their constituencies then we can. Tell me brothers and sisters will you help me Kick Out the Learning Jams (by doing some Hive Pop-Ups?)
This is a post by the Emoti-Con Steering Committee.
Emoti-Con! is almost here, and time is running out to register! Registration is first-come, first-served, and will close on Friday, May 18. Register at http://emoticon2012.eventbrite.com–please note that you’re not registered yet if you haven’t registered at this link!
We already have some fantastic student projects signed up to compete at Emoti-Con!, ranging from 3-D printing projects to assistive technology to games designed for mobile devices, and more! In addition to the project competition, we have a panel of amazing speakers lined up for the day:
Mike Edwards is a fabulous developer and designer for Huffington Post.
Jeffrey Yohalem is the lead writer for the Assassin’s Creed video game series.
On May 23, we will also be holding a webinar to help participating institutions learn how to issue Emoti-Con! badges through the new badging app developed to tie into Mozilla’s Open Badge Infrastructure, and to answer any questions you may have about the Emoti-Con! Challenge. Register here for the webinar.
Join us this Saturday, May 12th from 1-5pm at the West Side YMCA for our first 1st Amendment Hack Jam! It’s a free event for tweens and teens to explore and exercise their constitutional rights.
We’ve partnered with The American Constitution Society to extend their Constitution in the Classroom program by taking it out of the classroom and examining at the First Amendment with a web-ified lens to help youth learn more about everything from fair use to expressive conduct in schools.
Every day we hear another story about a student whose statements or actions raise questions about where 1st Amendment rights end and school rules begin. Can they get in trouble at school for something they Tweet on their own time? How and where are they expressing their opinions, online and off?
Youth will explore the answers to these questions while also learning how to hack websites, remix videos, express their opinions on controversial topics, and more.
Upon arriving, youth will receive a brief introduction to the available activities and can choose to sample them all or only participate in those that interest them most. They’ll leave having made something, and learned a lot.
The LAMP will introduce youth to Fair Use as a 1st Amendment issue. They’ll teach the basics of advertising literacy and video editing via their LAMPlatoon “breaking ads” activity.
Common Sense Media will explore when youth felt silenced when expressing an opinion at school, at home? They’ll have materials to model/illustrate how they can express themselves in non-verbal ways. Think Glogster, Animoto, clay and crayons!
World UP will ask youth to voice their opinions on controversial topics, then articulate their statements in 140c or less & tweet it out to the world! DJ SpazeCraft One will also create a “vocal remix” featuring youth voices, part of The Living Remix project.
A cadre of youth media makers from People’s Production House will facilitate sprints where youth will work in groups to quickly create the punchiest, poppiest video productions possible!
Using Mozilla’s Hackasaurus X-Ray Goggles, youth will experience the power to remix the web! Rewrite a news article about a topic they’re passionate about, or just tinker with websites to make their opinions known.
Global Action Project will be screening youth-produced films that directly addresses educational justice as a right. Youth will engage in a conversation about how to protect high quality public education as a constitutional right.
New York Civil Liberties Union will showcase their “school to prison pipeline” interactive online game, and members of the Teen Activist Project will talk about ways students can and cannot engage in expressive conduct in NYC schools.
The American Constitution Society will have lawyers on deck to answer questions like, “Can I be punished at school for speaking my mind?” and “Can my school punish me even if I speak online from my home computer?”
To top it off, we’ll have pizza and prizes!
So join us if you can, and if you can’t, follow along with the fun via Tumblr.
As Mozilla Foundation Executive Director Mark Surman describes it, the last 6 months have been like when the Power Rangers assemble their individual powers into the elite fighting force that is the Megazord. He is referring to the superficially disparate projects that previously made up Mozilla’s non-profit work but have recently done some thinking and hacking about how we all fit together to go “big in learning” in 2012/13.
As part of becoming a lean mean learning machine the Mozilla Learning Group has been created and is led by Erin Knight. In this blog post we hope to share how we view our team’s working relationship toward a unified vision and mission as we set out to revolutionize learning.
The Mozilla Learning Group is a new team within Mozilla that is focused on defining the webmaker skills and building out Hackasaurus around these skills. Additionally, the Learning Group will build the Webmaker badge system, and support broader learning and badging efforts through the Open Badge Infrastructure.
What is Mozilla building?
Bottom line, Mozilla is working to build generations of webmakers. We define a webmaker as anyone who makes things using the open ethos and building blocks of the web. The skills involved in webmaking are top-tier skills that are important in today’s world for not only making, but for fostering creativity, developing a voice, becoming an active citizen, controlling identity and building careers.
Therefore, we want more people have these skills, and to do so, we are developing:
a definition of a core set of webmaker skills
curriculum and content to provide learning pathways for these skills. This will include some content developed by Mozilla, as well as partnerships and pointers to external content that is compelling, effective and aligns with our core values.
a Mozilla Webmaker badge system to recognize the learning and extend the value
a set of tools and software to help people make things and learn in the process. Our goals are to not only provide initial pathways for learning, but to make this massive by building and supporting a community of people who want to teach and learn this.
a human and organizational infrastructure that inccubates Learning Labs around the world.
How does this relate to the Hive?
Hive NYC and the Hive Learning Network model will be inextricably connected to this work. The innovation, content and network model that has already come out of Hive NYC is an inspiration behind much of this work, and will be leveraged as much as possible. The expertise and knowledge throughout Hive NYC will be critical to help us build our learning offerings and find ways to evaluate our effectiveness. Hive NYC is an efficient and powerful distribution channel for everything that we are building.
How does this relate to Hackasaurus?
Hackasuarus was in many way the proto-project that created the blueprint for how and why Hive NYC and Mozilla needed to merge and a Learning Group launched. This shared DNA still informs us on how our work both aligns and allows focus on our unique talents and directives. Hackasaurus was initially a set of webmaking content – mostly focused around HTML and CSS – for youth. This work is building on Hackasaurus to cover more skills and more activities, for more audiences. Hackasaurus is the branding for our broader learning offering.
The Hackasaurus experience was also the blueprint that informed Hive NYC and Mozilla the power of doing learning events (Pop-Ups, Hack Jams, Learning Parties…) and towards this has broadened our thinking about how that model expands way beyond the initial learning goals of a Hackasaurs Jam. Read more about ways to take our event model and use it.
How can we work together moving forward? Hint: A lot!
Share resources as they are being developed.
Distribute resources and content through each other.
Serve as a distribution channel for the Learning Group’s work – we’ll share new content and tools with you as they are developed.
Hive NYC will be proactive in bringing innovations, programs, tools and methods to the Learning Group.
Cross promote success stories and opportunities for improvement. Combined we have the access to learners, makers and educators. Let’s us know what to collaborate on, what’s working, what’s missing, etc.
Serve as a vetting community for both Hive NYC and the Learning Group’s work.
Collaborate on whitepapers, conference submissions, etc.
How can you get in involved right away? Hint: In many ways!
Members of Hive Learning Network NYC joined forces this past weekend at World Maker Faire and engaged makers of all ages in activities from amazing, collaborative design challenges to an event-wide scavenger hunt (and lots more in between).
You can find a bunch of on-the-scene updates and photos on our event tumblr here, or search #hivebuzz on Twitter for more of the conversation.
WNYC Radio Rookies manned an on-site production table, and collected stories from event-goers about their maker experience – click here and search “hive_nyc” for the Hive Buzz Beat to hear more about some of this year’s event highlights.
City Lore brought all the crafty fixings to create a modern art totem pole – check out our tumblr for a short video of the many faces of Hive.
Cooper-Hewitt helped us invent new prototypes from everyday materials – you’d be amazed what youth created from string, balloons and aluminum foil!
Teens got to “bust-a-hack” with Hackasaurus, and practiced their fresh skills by remixing the Maker Faire website.
DreamYard and THE POINT brought their youth to help makers create quick mobile apps and hack the Hive T-shirts!
Other members including Iridescent Learning, Museum for African Art, MOUSE and Brooklyn Library showcased some of the incredible projects they’ve been working on with teens at the intersection of creativity and technology.
In the end, we won a Make Magazine Editor’s Choice Blue Ribbon for our efforts!
Hive Learning Network NYC Wins a Make Magazine Editor's Choice Blue Ribbon
