Education – Archive of Smart Chicago Collaborative Work

Review of #CivicSummer 2013

adminAugust 22, 2013

#Civic Summer is an experimental summer jobs program for teens focused on civics, media, and technology. Our inaugural program ran from July through August of 2013 and included more than 140 Chicago teens trained to use the latest digital tools to organize themselves, amplify their voice, and take positive civic action.

Partners

This program, funded by Smart Chicago based on a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, was largely run by two Chicago organizations focused on serving youth:

Mikva Challenge, which develops the next generation of civic leaders, activists, and policy-makers
Free Spirit Media, which provides education, access, and opportunity in media production

The Chicago Community Trust provides significant support for the program as well.

#CivicSummer Session with Mikva Challenge Aldermanic Fellows at The Chicago Community Trust

Team & Locations

Jacqui Cheng was the lead instructor for Smart Chicago Collaborative. She and I teamed up to deliver four Friday #civicsummer sessions and custom sessions with each group.

Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy houses many #civicsummer sessions as well as the Mikva Juvenile Justice Council and the Free Spirit Media’s DocuMakers program.

Tribeca Flashpoint Cinema Lab 540a for Civic Innovation Summer

YOUMedia was the location for Mikva Digital Fellows, Mikva CPS Education Council, and Teen Health Council.

1871 was the location for one Friday #civicsummer session.

Devry was the location for the Mayoral Youth Commission.

Youth work

The youth worked in separate groups, each with their own themes, leadership, and advisors.

The Juvenile Justice Advisory Council theme was “improving the criminal justice system” and reducing youth incarceration rates. Their decision makers were Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and the Justice Advisory Council led by Juliana Stratton. Smart Chicago worked with this Council on CAPStagram, a proposed app that would allow residents to submit “Community Concerns” via the CLEARPath API.

The Teen Health Council theme was “how to improve the health of wellness for Chicago youth” and their decision makers were Dr. Bechara Choucair, Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, and Dr. Stephanie Whyte, Chicago Public Schools Chief Health Officer. Smart Chicago worked with this Council on Chicago Health Atlas, where you can view citywide information about health trends and take action near you to improve your own health.

The Mayoral Youth Commission theme was “making youth issues a top priority for the City of Chicago” and their decision makers were Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other City departments. Smart Chicago worked with this Council on the open data policies of the City as well as the data published to data.cityofchicago.org.

The Education Council theme was “how to improve school culture through increased use of youth voice” and their decision makers were Barbara Byrd Bennett, Chicago Public Schools CEO, and Chicago Public Schools Director of Youth Development and Positive Behavior Support. Smart Chicago wored with this Council on Go2School, a site that allows you to explore travel options to your Chicago Public School. Here’s the curriculum we used with this group:

Civic Innovation Summer Education Council Curriculum from Daniel X. O’Neil

The Mikva Government Fellows theme was “how government works and how it can work for youth” and their decision makers were City Aldermen. Smart Chicago worked with this Council on Chicago Works for You, which uses the City’s Open311 system to display information about city services. Here’s the curriculum we used for this group:

Civic Innovation Summer Aldermanic Interns Curriculum from Daniel X. O’Neil

The Free Spirit Media DocuMakers worked on media throughout the summer. Smart Chicago worked with this group on EveryBlock and the significance of citizen journalism, tutorials on using open-source data tools, and a review of Creative Commons and other useful tools you in youth reporting. Here’s the curriculum for this group:

Civic Innovation Summer Documakers Curriculum from Daniel X. O’Neil

Jacqui Cheng speaking to Free Spirit Media DocuMakers at Tribeca Flashpoint Academy for #civicsummer

Here’s a two-pager on the program:

Civic Innovation Summer from Daniel X. O’Neil

Here’s a nice writeup of a spot we did on Chicago Tonight. Keep tabs on existing #CivicSummer work on its project page.

Recap of #CivicSummer on Chicago Tonight

adminAugust 21, 2013

This evening Jacqui Cheng and I, along with a youth Kumari Mason from Free Spirit Media and Mickey Sharp from Mikva Challenge, did a segment Chicago Tonight program about our experimental #CivicSummer summer jobs program for teens focused on civics, media, and technology.

Here’s their take on the show and here’s an extended snip:

“I thought programmers were silent, awkward guys who sat in dark rooms and did nothing every day but write programs magically,” says Mickey Sharp, a junior at Lincoln Park High School. She was also part of Mikva Challenge’s summer program.

But after hearing guest lectures from tech entrepeneurs and professional programmers, Sharp learned about the people who create the web sites she visits every day.

“Now I know there are scripts you learn how to write to create these web pages,” she says. “It isn’t limited to a guy in a dark room playing Dungeons and Dragons…Now being a programmer seems like something I can do.”

Chicago High School for the Arts senior Kumari Mason was most impressed by several programmers leading the technology operations of President Obama’s re-election campaign.

“They had these piercings and they looked like real people. I thought they would have suits or something,” says Mason, who was also part of Free Spirit Media’s summer program. “I never thought they’d be working for President Obama.”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we get up in the morning.

The program, funded by Smart Chicago based on a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, is largely run by two Chicago organizations focused on serving youth:

Mikva Challenge, which develops the next generation of civic leaders, activists, and policy-makers
Free Spirit Media, which provides education, access, and opportunity in media production

The Chicago Community Trust provides significant support for the program as well.

CUTGroup #2: Go2School

adminAugust 13, 2013

It’s August in Chicago, and the attention of parents and kids turn back to school. There are lots of changes this year in the Chicago Public School system, with school closings & consolidations and safe passage routes dominating the news and affecting thousands of families.

At Smart Chicago, we don’t play any part in these matters. But since a large part of our mission is to use technology to make lives better in Chicago, we’ve tried to play a small part in making this transition easier. We host and support an app created by local developer Tom Kompare called Go2School, a website that allows you to explore travel options to your Chicago Public School. He came up for the idea for this site while when trying to figure out the best way to get his daughter to school – either by public transportation, car, or walking.

We’ve worked with Tom since the Spring to get server space for his creation, and in late May we tested his app with select members of the CUTGroup, a set of regular Chicago residents who get paid to test civic apps. Following is the results of those test.

Segmenting

In Mid-May we sent two emails to all members of the CUTGroup in order to find the most relevant people with whom to review the site. This complete list of CUTGroup members was 368 people, spread across the city. We segmented on two things:

Must be responsible for taking one or more child(ren) to a Chicago public school this fall
Must be available for testing on either May 28 or May 30

There were 28 people who responded to these requirements. Based on the locations of these people, we decided to hold tests at two libraries: the Kelly Library in the Englewood neighborhood on Tuesday, May 28^th at and at the Uptown Library in the Chicago Uptown neighborhood on Thursday, May 30^th. There were 14 people who expressed interested in each location.

Personas

We conducted eight tests with people. We discovered at test time that one of the participants did not have a child in a Chicago Public School (his daughter did, but she couldn’t make it to the test, so he attended for her. We ended up having a great conversation with him, but his results are not included here). Here’s a look at the general neighborhood locations of the testers, showing wide geographic distribution:

The testers were spot-on knowledgable about the topic of getting kids to school on time. In an effort to maintain privacy and to provide the widest possible utility of our testing to civic developers everywhere, we developed some shorthand “personas” that helps in identifying their stance vis a vis the app. We took some video/ screencasts of the tests. Here are some helpful cuts of the feedback. If you click to view the files on Vimeo, you can jump directly to the area of interest.

CUTGroup #2, Tester #2 Father responsible for three children (17, 16, and 10) Samsung Galaxy Kelly Library, Englewood

CUTGroup #2, Tester #2 Father responsible for three children (17, 16, and 10) Samsung Galaxy Kelly Library, Englewood from Daniel X. O’Neil on Vimeo.

0:04: Trouble with Next Button: After a valid address was entered. Would not accept a click, then it did.
0:54: Second Search: Executed with no problems
1:40: Mindful of danger: Schools and families talked about preferred routes
2:31: Jazzing it up: Would be helpful

CUTGroup #2, Tester #3 Public wifi searcher with one child and sometimes one additional child at another location

CUTGroup #2, Tester #3 Public wifi searcher with one child and sometimes one additional child at another location from Daniel X. O’Neil on Vimeo.

0:04: No broadband at home: Heavy user of public wi-fi
1:10: Homepage map confusing: Because it has nothing to do with where she lives.
1:47: Thought there would be more information about the school: Very much likes having custom school info on the site.
2:38: Her usual route is simple. But sometimes she takes a friend’s child to a different school via a more complex route
3:44: Tries that route: Notwithstanding my instinct to do it for her.
4:00: Starting over was a bit of a challenge: Back button shenanigans and back-space/ deleting the entire length of the pre-populated school name.
4:46: The other school she’s interested in is not a CPS school: “So this is useless to my now”
5:30: But she tries a workaround: With the “Explore Map” link.
6:19: Then she found a bug: Noble Street Charter School was geocoded incorrectly in the original data.
6:41: Back to the workaround: In finding a route to a Catholic school.
7:17: Issue with the time picker: She wants to enter the time she should leave in order to get there on time, rather than entering the time she needs to arrive (which is how the system is designed).
7:40: Then somehow the back button was invoked. Don’t really know how. She recovers and again enters the time she thinks she should leave to be there by 8AM.
8:12: Did not know she had to pick a day. And did not readily see the error condition. Also: still wants to enter *departure* time rather than arrival.
9:58: And now the error re: arrival time becomes evident. And that was a bummer.
10:48: This was an excellent user test. Very grateful.

CUTGroup #2, Tester #5 Clock-watching, train-watching mother of three Samsung Galaxy Note II Uptown Library

CUTGroup #2, Tester #5 Clock-watching, train-watching mother of three Samsung Galaxy Note II Uptown Library from Daniel X. O’Neil on Vimeo.

0:04: Error Correction: Chose the wrong school from list; used delete button to erase entire school name and go back to the pre-populated list, where her child’s school popped up again
0:33: Pressing the delete button: Many times, quickly, so as to go back to the pre-populated form with school names
1:06: Missed the “what day” choice: User did not select what day they were traveling and could not move forward in the interface upon clicking “Next” . She chooses “time to arrive” just fine…
1:19: But then clicks “next” repeatedly: Not seeing that there is an error condition (did not choose a day for travel)
2:30: User does not want to see route on map: Because she is so familiar with it. She wanted validation of her routes and clarity on exactly what time she’d get there, and that’s that. She’s happy.
3:12: “It will really help all the parents know what time they should leave the house” — What this website does

Upshots

Beyond this super-specific feedback, there were a number of themes worth calling out:

People seemed to want to have more school-specific information. For instance, they loved the “call school” option featured on the main directions page. People seemed to expect to get custom info about the school they choose in the lookup tool, and were delighted when it was delivered. Many people called this out as a key differentiator from Google Maps or the like
Almost everyone called out the three options— walking, CTA/Metra, or driving— as a positive thing
Lots of people had trouble with the “when do you want to arrive” time / date picker screen. We have some good views of this in Tester #2 at 1:06 and Tester #3 at 7:17, 8:12, and 9:58
At least two of the parents independently called out safety as a consideration in route planning
People seem to really like and use the Chicago Public Schools “Parent Portal” and mentioned it often as a main resource for information

Perhaps the most common of the site’s compliments was the ability to choose which date to leave and which time

All Test Data

Here’s the raw spreadsheet with all of our notes from each of the tests we conducted:

Join us!

Are you interested in joining 500 of your fellow Chicagoans in the CUTGroup? Do it!

#CivicSummer is in Full Swing: Recap of our Friday Session Held at 1871

adminJuly 22, 2013

Civic Innovation Summer— the experimental summer jobs program for teens focused on civics, media, and technology— has been rolling all through July. This program, funded by Smart Chicago based on a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, is largely run by the Mikva Challenge, which develops the next generation of civic leaders, activists, and policy-makers and Free Spirit Media, which provides education, access, and opportunity in media production.

But on Fridays, we pull together all of the youth into one room and teach them about technology and the concept of open. We had our first such session last Friday at 1871. Smart Chicago is a founding member of the digital startup center located in the Merchandise Mart, and days like Friday are exactly we why decided to be one of its first tenants.

Here’s the complete set of photos from our day, and a quick look at some illustrative ones:

The raw space inside one of the largest commercial buildings in the world provides a great palette for teaching youth.

Jacqui Cheng put this entire program together, including arranging for a tour of the space and lining up all of the speakers:

It was quite an experience to run 150 youth through a space where hundreds of people are running businesses. We appreciate everyone’s patience!

That’s a lotta people.

Mari Huertas of Mozilla talked about her path to a career in technology

Rayid Ghani showed a video about self-driving cars. Teaching computers how to do things is hard.

Jason Kunesh talked about the importance of designing technology to meet the needs of humans.

Is there anything more important than lunch?

Gene Leynes spoke of his business, Yolobe

We went ahead and got limbered up over lunch

Jeff McCarter of Free Spirit Media got everyone fired up about what we’re doing.

Dirk McCoy talked about Spendbot and his path to starting the company.

Jimmy Odom of WeDeliver talked about starting a business.

I talked about the importance of real Twitter accounts and having an authentic voice all day, every day.

Lastly, here’s the curriculum we used to guide our day:

Next up: our Friday session this week will be at Tribeca Flashpoint Academy and will have lots of special guests!

Free Spirit Media Documakers Technology Session at Tribeca Flashpoint

adminJuly 9, 2013

Today Jacqui Cheng and I talked with the #CivicSummer youth working as Documakers for Free Spirit Media about open technology as it pertains to the media industry. We talked about the building blocks of the web and some specific technologies and standards that help media makers do their jobs.

Here’s a complete set of photos and some representative images:

Jacqui talked about different social networks and how they can be used to spread messages and find content:

The huge monitors and great equipment at Tribeca provides a great basis for the youth as they make their media pieces:

#CivicSummer Custom Session on Open Technology with the Mikva Aldermanic Fellows

adminJuly 2, 2013

Today Jacqui Cheng and I hosted the Mikva Aldermanic Fellows (“30 youth interning in Chicago aldermanic offices this summer. We are working to bring a larger voice to youth across the city.”) at the Chicago Community Trust.

Here’s a complete set of photos and some highlights of what we covered:

Jacqui reviewed the basics of the Internet, including TCP/IP, as a platform for talking about how open technology and standards can pave the way for innovation:

The Trust board room, with its nearly 100-year history of Chicago leadership, provided a great setting for our session:

The Aldermanic Fellows are staffed all across the city and come together periodically to share experiences:

Vint Cerf looks on as Jacqui enlightens:

I covered lots of examples of civic technology that helps Aldermen serve constituents, including Open311 and the yet-to-be published Chicago Works For You.

Here’s the presentation we used to guide our time together:

Civic Innovation Summer Aldermanic Interns Curriculum from Daniel X. O’Neil

Join the CUTGroup and Take Part in Test of a Travel-to-School Website

adminMay 6, 2013

We’re organizing a test of a web site that allows you to explore travel options to your Chicago Public School.

If you meet the following requirements, you qualify to be in the test, receive a $20 VISA gift card + bus fare, and help make better software for Chicago!

Responsible for taking one or more kid to a Chicago public school this Fall
Available on the evenings of Tuesday, May 28 or Thursday, May 30

If you’re already in the CUTGroup, you’ve already received an email to this effect. Otherwise, sign up now, get a mitt, get in the game, and get some money.

The Launch of Chicago Early Learning

adminNovember 29, 2012

Today marked the launch of Chicago Early Learning, a new way to find and compare early learning programs in Chicago.

Here’s some snips from the press release from the Mayor’s Office:

As part of the his administration’s focus on increasing access to quality early learning programs for children across the city and emphasis on helping parents get and stay involved in their children’s education, Mayor Rahm Emanuel today launched a new online Early Leaning Portal, www.chicagoearlylearning.org. The portal is an easy-to-use, interactive website that puts information about hundreds of quality early learning programs across the city all in one place.

*

“We were happy to collaborate with the City on this interactive map, which will allow parents and families to find information about these programs easily and quickly. We’re interested in hearing from parents and caregivers on what would make the site more useful to them,” said Dan O’Neil, Executive Director of the Smart Chicago Collaborative. “We’re also releasing the code for the site as open source, so that it can be used to make similar map-based sites showing resources across the city.”

“Our focus is on making sure children are ready to learn when they enter kindergarten. M.K. and I share Mayor Emanuel’s strong commitment to providing high-quality early learning for infants, toddlers and their families,” said J.B. Pritzker, president of the J.B. & M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation. “Helping Chicago parents and caregivers identify the best early childhood educational opportunities in their neighborhoods is critically important. This online interactive, one-stop shop will help parents and caregivers access and better manage the challenging process of selecting a high-quality early learning program for their infants and toddlers.”

Here’s the code that drives the site.

Here’s a spot on CBS about the site featuring Kevin Hauswirth of the Mayor’s Office:

Review of Chicago Early Learning Portal on CBS with Kevin Hauswirth from Daniel X. O’Neil on Vimeo.

We worked with a really great team to get this first phase of the Web site launched:

At Smart Chicago, we had consultant Derek Eder of DataMade. Derek served as local technical technical project manager and was instrumental in getting the data for the site in good order
Azavea, a leading geospatial firm out of Philadelphia, did the heavy lifting around technology
The Urban Education Lab of the University of Chicago shepherded the project from the education perspective and worked with other stakeholders like Illinois Action for Children to make sure that the data was sound and the interface was useful key constiuents

We look forward to working toward a successful phase two, which will incorporate feedback from user testing we’ll be conducting in the months to come. Questions, comments, and feedback are always welcome at info@chicagoearlylearning.org

Request for Letters of Interest for an Early Childhood Portal

adminMarch 30, 2012

The Smart Chicago Collaborative and the University of Chicago’s Urban Education Lab are seeking letters of interest for the design and development of an early childhood education web portal for the City of Chicago.

In order to increase transparency and empower parents, the City of Chicago is partnering with the Smart Chicago Collaborative and the University of Chicago’s Urban Education Lab (UEL) to develop a comprehensive early childhood education web portal. The portal will serve as a one-stop-shop for finding early learning programs, assessing program quality, and tracking data about Chicago’s early childhood systems. With the implementation of the State’s Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS), parents will be able to view each program’s star rating to assess quality across the city. The portal will also help parents understand their child’s eligibility for program, and allow for user interaction/input regarding programs. The portal will be fully operational by the end of July 2012, in time for parents to use it as a resource for the next school year.

This request for letters of interest is the first step in the process of finding a vendor, consultant, or group of consultants for the design and development of the web portal. We are looking for letters of interest that demonstrate an aptitude for and experience in this type of work, as well as some initial thoughts on how to execute it. We welcome letters from design firms, technology outfits, and independent developers who have ideas on how to get this done. The Web Portal Design partner for this project will be required to:

Work at the direction of the Smart Chicago Collaborative.
Work with researchers affiliated with the University of Chicago Urban Education Lab who will provide input on content, how it is presented, and the possible incorporation of experiments aimed at trying to learn about how to make the portal as helpful to parents as possible, and to better understand the decision making of low-income parents around schooling and related issues.
Discovery: Discuss goals, objectives, and methodology. Become familiar with all relevant information to design the best possible system, including reviewing all existing school lookup tools in Chicago (CPS School Finder, SchoolLocator, ArtLook), similar tools in other jurisdictions, and commercial options.
Development: Be open to using as much open source code as possible.
Wireframes: Create the best possible user experience with thoughtful attention to user flows, the feel of the application, and creating a real community around the information.
Design: Engage in a classic graphic design process for the portal, including logo, colors, themes, etc.
Mapping: Develop a mapping system, using as much open source code as possible
Commenting: Develop a commenting system to encourage the sharing of the most reliable information possible within the site

In the letter of interest, applicants should demonstrate experience, aptitude, and capacity in relation to the work described above. In addition, applicants should provide an estimated project timeline and a budget proposal. Letters of interest should not exceed three single-spaced pages, including budget and timeline information, and should be submitted to Dan O’Neil at DONeil@cct.org. Brief bios, CVs, or resumes for key personnel should be submitted with letters of interest and will not be included within the three page limit. Letters are due April 13, 2012.

Download this document as a PDF.