St. Louis WizKids - Advisory Council

Wireless Broadband: A Silver Bullet for Poverty

This is a useful report for our project despite its misguided title.  Written by Matt Stone of Civitium (LLC) as a digital divide case study for the People's Emergency Center in Philadelphia, the report describes with clarity the benefits and the pitfalls of deploying wireless broadband or any home-based technology.  Mr. Stone addresses the barriers related to technical support and the need for strong, compassionate leadership.  He also describes the magic that happens when neighborhood residents have the training and organizational support to maintain their own computers and those of their neighbors.    We will be employing many if the ideas and approaches presented in this report.  For our families without consistent electricity or heat, the St. Louis WizKids wireless network will be no silver bullet.   Thank you, Ana for passing along this report.  Wireless Broadband: A Silver Bullet for Poverty (PDF)

New Web Site

The new St. Louis WizKids website is ready for a full review by our brilliant Advisory Council members. Please check it out and comment here by Oct 18. Thank you in advance! www.stlwizkids.org

Seeking New Evaluator

We are seeking a new evaluator for St. Louis WizKids. Please refer all interested and qualified folks. Download the detailed announcement (PDF).

Net Skills Self-Assessment

I recently saw a short self-assessment of net skills. I thought it was on the CTCnet or America Connects site.. but now I can't find it. I've spent over an hour looking and so now I am asking our Advisors for help. As i recall, the assessment had fewer than 10 questions, asked no personal information and covered only the basics of the web such as "What is a brower?", "Are you comfortable using the Web?", and other questions about the basic components/functions of a browser (scroll bar, back button, etc.). Please help me find it if you can.

Also, I'm looking for a single image of a browser with each of the main components seen on screen identified. I've looked at many Intro to the Net courses and can't find a simple image. I can make one, but I'm so certain that it must exist! BTW, I've been struck by how many of these classess start with the (boring for kids) history and breakout of a URL.. I think it best to focus on how it is used and then provide more background for the curious.

Safety on the Net Presentation

Please take a look at the nearly final version of our Child Safety on the Net presentation. It's in Powerpoint and will be presented to all St. Louis WizKids participants, volunteers, staff, and caring adults who are invovled in our program. The slides will be adapted with varying verbal cues for the different age groups. All adults will also get a copy of our safety policies (which I'll have online soon). The presentation was prepared by Don Holt, from our partner, Computer Village.

For background, the first draft of this presentation was discussed on this blog back in December.

Don has also prepared a short article (in PDF format) on the importance of being attentive to child safety on the net.

Eager to hear your thoughts!

Ideas Picked Up Along the Way

During the December holiday gatherings and in other conversations, several folks have suggested resources and ideas. I am posting them here so that Advisory Council members have an opportunity to supplement them and also so that I won't forget them.

• In St. Louis, look at the Teacher's store (where is it?) and the Leftover Store (on Gravois). Also there is a store of used games (educational?) in South County called something like FunACo Land. If anyone has more detailed information about either of these places, we'd love to hear it. Brenda and I are planning a trip to Bradburn's Teachers' supply soon.

• Check out the Regional Arts Council to find Black artists who could perhaps do a workshop.

Dictionaries

As you may know, each participant in the project will receive their own dictionary. I went to the bookstore (our local independent of course) and the neighborhood library today to review the offerings. I looked at the American Heritage Children's Dictionary and their Student's Dictionary and found both to be good. I also looked at the 3 other brands. I was working quickly so I only checked two definitions: black and moon.

I checked Black because I wanted to see if they included people of African descent in addition to the definition of the color. Surprisingly one brand did not. Of the American Heritage, the early edition (1986) included reference to "Negroid" whereas the 1994 version instead described the term as referring to people of dark skin tone of African descent.

I checked the definition of moon because one brand had a useful picture of the moon's orbit and I thought that was cool (but that one had a weak definition of black). Some brands described the moon as a "heavenly body" and the American Heritage Student's described it as a "satellite" (and gave the moons of Jupiter as an example). I find the definition as a "satellite" more illustrative. The American Heritage Children's, though described "moon" as a heavenly body; can't win 'em all I guess.

The American Heritage brand seemed superior to the other brands in that the words were chosen as a result of a survey of student textbooks, literature and magazines. The illustrations were decent although not as cool as some of the other brands. So I'm planning to order the Children's edition for students Grades 2-6 and the Student's version for Grades 6-9 and the adult edition for grades 10-12. When I have time, I'll see what I can find for the youngest students.

Unless the Advisory Council members have other ideas, I'll order the first set of 16 dictionaries next week. Once we see the first group of students in action, we'll have a better sense of what they are looking for in a dictionary and we can revise our choices for the next group. With the time that we have, it's not realistic to do super thorough research up front on this, so we'll stay open to change as we go.

Consent Form

We've tried to make a consent form that is all inclusive. Many parents are unavailable so that's why we've tried to make a form that will serve as broad consent for all activities. This form also includes a media release. Please review and comment by January 12. Once we receive your comments, we'll send it to the attorney.. and who knows what they'll do with it Thanks! DRAFT Consent and release form (in Word)

New Blog Category

In the hopes of making your job as advisors easier, I have added a new category "For Review". To see the current entries for which we are specifically requesting your review, just click the category to the right "For Review". You will then only be viewing the items needing review. Of course, we'd love for you to read all that we're doing, but that's not always realistic. Please add comments letting me know if this is easier.

Safety on the Net

Please review this draft presentation we are planning to use for the Safety on the Net portion of our program. These slides will support group discussion of what safety is and what danger on the net looks like. The discussions will involve several groups: students, parents and caring adults, and staff. The sessions will be moderated by Don Holt of St. Louis' own Computer Village. Don has many years experience teaching kids and families in our neighborhod. St. Louis WizKids Safety on the Net Lessons. We would like to hear your comments!