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About
Projects
It is essential to work directly
with local community technology centers to implement YAN projects.
That would provide a good opportunity to work side-by-side with youth,
provide an inside perspective of the different issues that affect
the implementation of YAN, and would put the organizers and facilitators
at the same level as the other participants that the network would
eventually attract.
The Computer Clubhouse Network seemed an ideal environment to launch
YAN projects. Computer Clubhouse Network, an international network
of learning centers in which kids 10 to 18 years old from underprivileged
communities come to learn about computers and, in collaboration with
other kids and adult mentors, develop projects that are meaningful
to them or to their communities.
For many reasons the Computer Clubhouse located at the Boys and Girls
Club of Charlestown (MA) was selected to become YAN’s first
site; the Clubhouse manager had for long demonstrated interest in
youth activism and participation; the Boys and Girls Club was located
in a place with sharp income disparities and serious social issues.
Among other things, in Charlestown more than 50% of the households
are headed by single parents, the local high-school has a high dropout
rate, and the area has the third-highest substance abuse hospitalization
rate of the 17 Boston neighborhoods. Moreover, although most of the
members live in the nearby housing projects, many of them prefer to
take the transportation that is provided by the Club in order to avoid
problems with gangs.
In general, Computer Clubhouse sites have about 10 to 15 computers,
a great variety of multimedia software, a sound studio and video equipment.
Although they all share the same basic infrastructure and educational
philosophy, Clubhouses operate differently depending, among other
things on the local community supported and the structure of the hosting
organization. In most Computer Clubhouse sites, kids are free to come
and go whenever they want. In our opinion, this sort of setting helps
create an atmosphere in which computers can be more easily integrated
into young people’s lives and seems to facilitate the spread
of the youth centric, project-oriented nature of the Clubhouse culture
to the other parts of the host organization. On the other hand, the
openness of the Clubhouse, in contrast with other more traditional
educational environments where kids are obliged to stay, poses many
questions about how to motivate kids to commit to the activity proposed
by their free will.
Click on Past Projects to see description of some of the past YAN
projects. |