“We should have a fair,” Miriam said one day. Of course we should! Why didn’t I think of that? Because I have no idea how to run a fair. Duh. But it was a fantastic idea, so I agreed immediately. Over the next few days, we set a tentative date and started writing down ideas […]
Ardunio Snowman at Teen Open Lab
We are reaching some of the most underserved youth in our community to develop the core computational thinking skills needed for them to participate fully in STEM-related fields. One of the events was making dancing snowmen with Arduino microcontrollers and servos, which Community Ambassador, Kim Naples, did extensive preparation for. She sought the assistance and […]
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Another nine computers installed at UNCC
In week 10 of Hailley’s time at UNCC, Jeff delivered another nine computers to be installed. He brought them to the center on Friday and was welcomed by a handful of elementary students, eager to install some computers. As the adults brought in the equipment, we had the elementary students place a USB keyboard, mouse, […]
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Of Dinosaurs and Polar Bears — Girls Lead at Kenwood
It was Girls Lead Thursday, and we were running a Scratch storytelling workshop focused on starting our stories right. I had often observed students with rather elegantly scripted stories, involving three or more characters with several lines of dialogue and spanning multiple backgrounds. But when the story was over, they would manually click and drag […]
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Computers 101: Troubles applying for a job
One day while staffing The Urbana Free Library’s computer help desk, Kim assisted a man applying for a job at a fast food restaurant. His case manager specified one particular position, but the library patron was having trouble finding the application online. Google searches kept bringing him to third party job search sites that asked […]
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Game Design with RPG Maker VX Ace at Champaign Public Library
Written by Sarah, the Community Ambassador at the Champaign Public Library Game Design has become very dear to a few of the kids at Champaign. A dedicated trio has formed, and their interest in game design led them both to attend workshops on other topics and to try new lessons. I was pleasantly surprised when […]
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Silhouette machine and teens at Teen Open Lab
One of Kim’s favorite tools to work on at The Urbana Free Library’s Teen Open Lab is the Silhouette cutting machine. Teenagers use this tool to make stickers, cards, drawings, and patterns for the sewing machine. One day, two middle school girls came in that wanted to make stickers for their school folders. They had […]
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First computer install at UNCC
On Friday, September 26th, the Urbana Neighborhood Connection Center had a visit from Jeff at the Fab Lab, who delivered 12 new computers. These 12 replaced half of the UNCC computer lab, whose computers were either running slow or not working at all. The best part of this installation, was that Jeff, and Hailley, […]
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Computers 101: Printing
One day at the computer help desk at The Urbana Free Library, Kim helped an elderly man log onto a computer and then print. Since this was Kim’s first day, she was figuring these things out alongside him, which she thinks was very beneficial as they ran into problems and got frustrated together. He kept […]
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“The Center for Digital Inclusion aims to foster inclusive and sustainable societies through research, teaching and public engagement about information and communication technologies. Our team works with a broad cross section of communities, organizations and governments to ensure they have the tools needed to succeed in a digital world.” To learn more about the Center for Digital Inclusion, please visit our website, http://cdi.lis.illinois.edu
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