Community+Working+Group

**Primary Goal:** t o gather educators, activists and community practitioners together with MIT/Harvard researchers once a month to  form partnerships and to pilot the tools & curricula we hope to develop collaboratively. We aim to engage and to learn from community stakeholders at every opportunity in order to make sure our work has a strong foundation in existing community and youth development practices.

 Goals:
 * eliminate divide between community partners and technologists
 * expand definition of community technology- radio, texting, digital cameras, etc.
 * prototype youth appropriate tools in Boston for other communities
 * discover narratives of other places; expand definition of activism

Interested in joining? Contact Regan St. Pierre - reganstp@mit.edu

**Next meeting! Monday May 3rd 5:30-7:30pm i n new MIT Media Lab building, E14 room 493 http://whereis.mit.edu/? go=E14  ** ** DESIGNING DIGITAL TOOLS FOR YOUTH MEDIA MAKERS ** Special Interest Group Meeting with the Department of Play

The Department of Play (DoP) at The MIT Center for Future Civic Media invites you to join us for a special community research meeting to discuss** Mobile Video Tools for Youth Media & Citizen Journalism .**

We would like to convene a special interest group of innovative organizations, youth activists and technology developers to discuss the challenges of developing usable tools and technologies for youth media makers that empower their for creative expression and civic agency.

Over the past few months, a team of undergraduate students at MIT ledby Dr. Nitin Sawhney, a lecturer and research fellow at MIT, has been designing concepts and prototypes for Aago, a mobile video application for use by groups of young media makers. The team will share early concept designs with the group for feedback as we begin full development over the summer and fall. We would also like to engage a few community-based youth groups to work closely with us on participatory design, user evaluations and on-site workshops over the summer to help shape the tools developed.

The meeting will also be a chance for local youth community groups to discuss their own innovative projects on youth media and civic agency. We hope the special interest group will exchange ideas and learn lessons from regular gathering and collaborative projects with theDoP.

Please RSVP to Regan (reganstp@mit.edu) and we look forward to seeing you on Monday!

** More directions: It's a quick walk from the Kendall Sq T station on the Red Line, but if you're going to drive, you can park in MIT lots after 3pm. We advise you park in the lot behind the MIT Medical Center, then either cut through the Medical Center or ** walk around the block (sometimes the Medical Center door is locked) ** to get to the new Media Lab (bigger, grey building to the left of the white square old Media Lab). **

Sample Agenda from Previous Meetings:
 * Networking & Food!
 * Spark Youth & Technology Stories -
 * 1) Matt Mena-Landry - Cambridge Public Schools & CCTV
 * 2) Malia Lazu - The Gathering and Urban Lab
 * 3) Lori Lobenstine - Design Studio for Social Intervention
 * Open Mic - community practitioners share stories, current struggles, future dreams and open up to group for feedback/ideas
 * Next Steps
 * Planning next meeting in Roxbury/Dorchester?