Hacktivism Intent– 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 $0-$8 a month to make and they have a large variety of customizable themes that don’t take very long to edit.
Graphics
Rough Drafts for web & mobile design idea.
3 thoughts on “Hacktivism Intent– DrakeP”
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Concept
-The project uses the many-to-many approach because it is a website to which anyone can contribute.
– This project proposes to use crowdsourcing, Sharing inaccessible things, and tapping into local networks. It wants to do this by having many contributors and starting local clubs to further share the information.
—- I would recommend looking into instructables.com , which is a user-generated website of tutorials on literally anything.
-Schools either misconstrue or completely gloss over many topics, and this project hopes to help ‘fill in the gaps’.
-I love stuff like this, so yes, I would be interested in this.
Design
-The project design is simply laid out with supporting graphics, allowing it to be easily understood.
-The proposed website requires participation to function, so I think the only challenge would be drawing attention to the website.
Technical
-The creator suggests using wordpress, and that seems to be the only tech needed for the base project. This makes sense and any further technology use would likely be extraneous.
-The project is guessed to cost not more than $8 per month to host, and there is no plan for generating income off the project. This makes the project sustainable for the environment and fairly low-cost.
Audience
-According to the proposal, it is geared to highschool students or recent graduates.
-I’m not sure that this website could be restricted to a highschool interest level, it likely would be of interest to a larger age group.
-I think that the project would be appealing, but its goal of re-education could prove challenging to many people.
Creativity
-I get the feeling that the author feels under-served by their school experience, which is understandable.
-I do not know the author well, but their graphics are recognizable.
Concept
what media is the intent/project? 1-1, 1-many, many-many? explain
This project utilizes the many to many approach as anyone can contribute to the education of skills and subjects not learned and anyone can have access to learn these skills and subjects.
does the idea enlist any of the New Media Strategies? If so which & how?
The main New Media strategy listed it think would be crowdsourcing to obtain information and have contributions.
what major issue(s) does the project engage?
The main issue engaged by this project is to allow people to gain knowledge that they wouldn’t have otherwise obtained through school.
does the concept interest you?
It does interest me, though, I do think similar modes of education online are already present. I think focusing on engaging communities in having classes around the states would be more effective.
Design
is the design clear and appropriate?
Yes, it is.
does the design invite attention and/or participation?
I think so, but agree with the other response in that the challenge would be drawing attention to the site.
Technical
what tech is used? is it appropriate?
The internet is used, on mobile and desktop platforms. It is appropriate as it allows accessibility to contributors and those who want to learn.
what is the cost? is it affordable for most people? the planet? is it sustainable?
It is sustainable and affordable via WordPress.
Audience
who is the intended audience?
The intended audience is pretty much anyone, mostly those who are in or who have graduated high school.
how is the project geared to the audience?
It’s geared toward the audience because those who would want to access the information at this point are very tech savvy and allows for them to learn skills they would want to learn.
would the project appeal to or challenge the audience? how/why?
I think the want to learn one you’ve left school and are on to college and beyond would prove challenging because some people might not want to feel like they’re in school again. However, if people are engaged enough I think it would be very successful and appealing to consumers.
Creativity
does the idea stem from some personal passion of the creator?
It seems that it does.
can you detect the mark of a particular sensibility?
I can see that this person was certainly unsatisfied with their education in high school and wants to create a platform to learn such skills.
This is a potentially interesting idea; but it would take a really appealing slant or angle, and marketing would be critically s well as well-thought up ideas for what kinds of material to use to “launch” the site. i.e. what topics would best attract your initial audience.
I would update the logo and the web design look–make it more modern, simple, and appealing.
I might also consider ways to crowdsource and crowdfunding the project, like wikipedia.
The focus on what school doesn’t teach you but should might get attention, but it’s too long for a logo.
I like your initial list of topics, but you may want to brainstorm a large list–say 30-50 ideas, and then from that pick the best and/or more useful to begin….
Then you need to think of here to source this info. Should all knowledge be free? DO we pay people to sell it to us? Maybe a universal basic income would allow all learning to be free, eh? and also medicine? and college? But that’s a different matter….