Approach 1–DrakeP
Abstract
A website that collects information on skills and subjects you weren’t taught in high school.
Concepts
What is your concept/idea?
The idea started as a sort of club to discuss and learn about things that may not have been taught in high school, as well as things that may have been taught “wrong” in some way. Starting clubs is good, but creating something with a larger range of influence is a lot better, so I thought having a website and/or app to include all these things on would work better. The website would have information from skills you might not have learned (how to do taxes, how to cook, how to sew, etc.), to revisions of what you probably did learn (correcting mistakes about history), to subjects they probably didn’t teach you and you’d have to pay a lot of money in college to learn about (Black history, Queer history, Most history that’s not about America or England). Schools often cut out a lot of important and interesting information, and I don’t think that’s right.
Why this is important and for whom?
It’s important because it will help teach kids (and young adults) information and skills that the schools either can’t or won’t teach them. It also opens their eyes to what the schools exclude from their curriculum and gives opportunities for young people to find different fields that may interest them. While it’s mostly for kids in high school and kids or young adults that just got out of high school, it will also have information on skills some adults may not have learned. The information would also be free, so anyone, regardless of financial stability will be able to access it and learn. It’s always good to learn more, and learning things for free is even better.
What New Media/hacktivism strategies will you use and why?
Crowdsource the Job:
Allowing and encouraging a massive amount of people to share information that wasn’t taught in their schools will create a larger pool of information. Not only will more information be available with more contributors, but different perspectives and ways of doing something may be offered for one subject/skill.
Share What Was Inaccessible:
The information may not be completely inaccessible, but it can be hard to find. The inaccessibility of the information on the site would largely be due to the fact that schools don’t present them, thus they may be harder to access than things schools to have.
Tap into Local Networks:
While not exactly part of the website idea, a part of the site could be encouraging clubs around the information. Having an online resource is great, but having local clubs where you can learn and discuss the subjects/skills found on the site may be more helpful for people. It might also help make change by making people try and get these subjects/skills into schools that don’t teach them.
Who is the audience and how do you hope it will influence them?
The audience is mainly young people that are either in, or freshly out of high school. The hope is that giving them access to this information will help them learn and think about things that they might not have known about before. Someone may find interests that they want to make into careers that they wouldn’t have thought of before, because their school didn’t give them those options.
Budget
Budget is very minimal; the only real expenses would be for a website domain and the time needed to make the website look nice. WordPress websites are anywhere from $4-$8 a month to make and they have a variety of customizable themes that don’t take very long to edit.
Graphics
Link to Rough Website (Note: Videos would be embedded but you can’t add videos on free wordpress accounts)
One thought on “Approach 1–DrakeP”
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Overview
* Good idea for crowdsourcing gaps and errors in education system, especially when paired with local clubs that can practice & trade skills. local clubs can also be sources for contributing info–maybe clubs get rewards for doing so? Nice use of website to rough out idea–would be good to have at least one actual article with real info as a test case.
Improvement: better logo, more intriguing articles to grab audience attention, “7 tips for increasing your family/friends happiness” “7 reasons Columbus did NOT discover America” (though I do see practicality & appeal of the ones you chose)…method for users to contribute, along with a menu item for contributing, as well as prominently placed “call to action” for contribution on main page
Concept
* many-many? yes, esp with clubs added
* NMD strategies? ; DIY, crowdsourcing,
* central issue/concept? crowdsourcing gaps and errors in education system via linked clubs & website (see Meetups, https://www.meetup.com for a good model of this)
Design
* clear/apt? relevant but not very modern or attractive, WDTTY doesn’t really grab my attention; I’d like to see a more snappy name
* interactive/participatory? not enough attention of the contributing aspect of the project
Technical
* tech? website but contributing function not explored
* sustainable? uses current tech, but cost not really explored;
Audience
* audience? not clearly defined by logo, approach,or topics; no real targeting
Creativity
* personal mark? yes, this idea seems to come from actual discussions about clubs that would fill in edu gaps, and this adds a tech and crowdsourcing/networking component; the originality may come in the design ideas and the marketing–ie how it is pitched so it appeals to people’s curiosity and DIY tendencies. Needs a kind of “mood” “spin” or “flavor”