Mesh/UserResearch/09 May 2013

Digital Divide Meeting Minutes - 05/09/13 Present: Jenny Ryan, Tony Barreca, Tonya Love, Kent Foster, Dennis Rojas, Kurt Collins, Ivan Brito

Digital Divide Visit Protocols

The meeting got off to a bit of a later start. Tony and Tonya reviewed some the new protocols for making a visit to a new organization.

Instead of going to a visitation cold, it was decided in the last April meeting that those who are going on the visit will

• 1. meet ahead of time, to go over the questions,
• 2. decide what the roles were in the meeting,
• 3. and to make clear to the contact the reason for the visit.

The questions can be found on this link. https://docs.google.com/document/d/126kOGZLSGIHXy3iJ8nPXmdHyKJE5jiGUqPc7vkAeS54/edit

The questions has a script of what to say as to the reason for the visit. It’s best to use the same questions each time, so that each organization answers the same questions.

In the Digital Divide Docs Folder...https://docs.google.com/document/d/126kOGZLSGIHXy3iJ8nPXmdHyKJE5jiGUqPc7vkAeS54/edit ….

I copied the answers to the questions from the Youth Radio visit and saved it. Then I posted a link to the document on the Youth Radio OaklandWiki page.

Youth Radio visit notes can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YrB0E5XXjHQvrJtkvqeteuajX2UXhDgFfRlfneszmns/edit

If everyone can do the same for the other visits that have taken place (Oakland Tech Ex, Urban Strategies), and the future visits, then we would have an online record of all the visits and retrievable data.

WHITE PAPER?? What question are we trying to answer?

Kurt Collins and Kent Foster from Youth Radio were so intrigued by our project that they accepted the invitation to join the group and come to a meeting.

While explaining what our project was and the goal to produce a white paper with information about the Digital Literacy Landscape we got to asking (again) what question are we trying to answer and who do we want to focus on?

After much discussion.. we decided that we want to know..

(Drum Roll...)

Digital Literacy Landscape (what’s available, programs, computers etc) for low-income residents. We will narrow it down further (youth, seniors, men , women pets)..once we know the answer for this particular group.

We also felt that more background and research information on what the digital divide means to different groups (academics, funders etc) would be useful. The Kapor Foundation has done some research on this and we should connect with them. (They should also be added to our organization list).

Tonya has connected with staff of Building Blocks for Kids in Richmond, who are working on a Digital Literacy map for the city of Richmond. They have received funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Tonya will connect with the new project coordinator and invite her to the next digital divide meeting.

Other Organizations to explore:

• The Hidden Genius Project
• Kapor Foundation
• City Runs
• Ready Set Connect
• Assets Program

Digital Divide Meetings:=

• Coming out to meetings twice a week is hard. Meeting on Tuesdays and Thursdays is confusing and inconvenient.
• Tony suggested we meet once a month for now. On second Thursdays. Everyone present agreed. Next meeting will be held on June 13th, at Sudo Room.
• In exchange everyone has to complete their ‘assignments’ by the next meeting since they would have a whole month to work on it.

Next Steps:

• 1. Digital Divide Background research:
  • Dennis will poke around on the web.
  • Tony will also poke around on the web
  • Ivan poke around at the library.
• 2. Ivan - interview library staff about digital literacy.
• 3. Tonya will invite Nicky Avant (Building Blocks for Kids) to our next meeting -- COMPLETE ..Nicky is consulting with her employer.
• 4. Jenny Ryan will research Kapor Foundation and reach out to them about their project.
• 5. Tonya will add the new organizations to the Digital Divide List. Will contact Hidden Genius Project for possible interview.

Next Meeting:

June 13th, Sudo Room 7 pm.