I am a PhD student at the Lifelong Kindergarten group of the MIT Media Lab. In my research, I focus on the design of technologies for social empowerment. I am particularly interested in creation of appropriate educational approaches and tools to support youth participation and local civic engagement. To download and obtain additional information about my PhD thesis, please click here.
I am currently implementing What's Up, a telephone- and web-based neighborhood news system that will make it easier for young people to communicate with one another, organize community events and find out what is happening in the places where they live.
Since 1995, I have participated in a number of projects that aimed at using technology to promote social empowerment in different parts of the world. In 2002, I started the Young Activists Network, a volunteer-based initiative that partners with community technology organizations and helps them engage local youth in the transformation of their neighborhoods.
I earned my M.Sc. degree at UNICAMP (Brazil), where I proposed a novel approach to the development and analysis of technology for education. My master's thesis was entitled "Development of Software for Educational Activities." It uses activity theory as a framework to analyze educational environments and discusses the specific contributions that digital and computerized artifacts may bring to these environments. As a case-study, the approach has been used to create a constructionist activity in which kids built computer games about one of Sao Paulo's city parks.