This project is not possible without a large group of individuals working at our five sites. These individuals have a wide variety of backgrounds and each individual contributes something unique to this project. Some members of our team come the university and others from the various sites. We hope these biographies showcase our team’s talents and strengths.
Sarah Butt — Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Champaign Public Library
Sarah started at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science in spring of 2014, and specializes in Youth Services. She believes that fun, self-motivation, and confidence contribute greatly to learning. Sarah is interested in the problems facing women in technology and gaming, and how certain tools and methods of teaching can exclude girls. These issues influence her work with youth. She also studies issues of representation and diversity in media, and hopes to make the library a safe space for all.
Hailley Fargo — Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Urbana Neighborhood Connection Center, Tap In Leadership Academy
Hailley is one of the four Community Ambassadors for this grant working primarily at the Urbana Neighborhood Connection Center as well as Tap In Leadership Academy. She started in the Graduate School of Library and Information in the fall of 2014. During her first semester in Illinois, Hailley began to see many connections between the classes she was taking and the work she was doing for this grant. These connections continue to inspire Hailley in thinking critically about teaching digital literacy, building communities, and helping to create sustainable programs in community-based collaborative spaces long after this grant is through. Hailley can be contacted by email at fargo2@illinois.edu.
Travis Faust — Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Kenwood Elementary School
Travis is one of the four Community Ambassadors for this grant, and works at Kenwood Elementary running a before and after school program called Tech Time. He discovered his passion for helping other people work with information while working as a quality consultant and trainer. His current projects also include doing curriculum R&D for 4H Special Interest (SPIN) clubs, and researching K-12 human-computer interaction.
Jeff Ginger — Fab Lab
Jeff Ginger is a program coordinator with the Illinois Informatics Institute and adjunct instructor in GSLIS. Jeff draws on a robust technical multimedia and social science background, accented by teaching and organizational leadership, and started his academic activism with research on structural racism as observed on Facebook. His later doctoral scholarship revolved around social and community informatics, which led to his recent dissertation on digital literacy and public libraries. He is currently the operations manager of the CU Community Fab Lab where he continues to lend a critical but optimistic perspective to the study and implementation of makerspaces. Jeff can be contacted at ginger@illinois.edu
Kim Naples — Graduate School of Library and Information Science, The Urbana Free Library
Kim is one of the four Community Ambassadors for this grant working at The Urbana Free Library. She began her coursework at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science in the fall of 2013. She is a public librarian-in-training seeking to unite books, educational technologies, social justice, and community building. She strives to be the kind of librarian that can talk to someone about Margaret Atwood one moment and Arduinos the next. Kim can be contacted by email at naples2@illinois.edu.
Martin Wolske — Center for Digital Inclusion, Graduate School of Library and Information Science
Martin is principal investigator and project manager of the Digital Literacy for ALL Learners project. He came to the Graduate School of Library and Information Science in 1995 to serve as the first full-time systems administrator for Prairienet Community Network, where we looked at ways to bring this relatively new thing called the Internet to the community to foster stronger community and democracy. He currently is a senior research scientist with the Center for Digital Inclusion. Martin has served a range of boundary spanning roles facilitating community collaborations, shepherding engagement projects, developing innovative technical resources, and advocating system change. He’s particularly interested in how inclusive, dynamic community-based collaborative spaces, appropriately equipped, combined with capacity-building literacy programming can help community members accomplish projects that matter. Martin blogs at http://mwolske.wordpress.com and can be contacted by email at mwolske@illinois.edu or by phone at 217-244-8094.
