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Seattle Information Technology

Benchmarking Success: Teens Succeed as Design Thinkers

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In a quiet corner of First Hill’s popular Frye Art Museum sits a beautiful bench that is not just for sitting, it has a story and is the focal point of a unique exhibit. The bench represents the brain child and months of work by an ambitious group of teenagers who set out to improve their design and digital literacy skills. The teens, ten high school students from Seattle’s Central District, signed up for a spring session in Yesler Community Center’s technology learning lab that ended with an exhibit opening at the Frye with their work as the main art piece.

In the Bench Mark exhibit that surrounds the bench there are rudimentary drawings of benches, each with a unique concept. There are also some doll-size mock-ups created from the drawings that show the evolution of the project and the thinking process of the teens. Some drawings incorporated modern touches including cell phone chargers and umbrella holsters. The official assignment was to research, design, and commission the making of a bench. The project gave them an opportunity to work with teaching artists and architects and take field trips to look at design in our urban environment.

“We visited benches and looked at architecture at the University of Washington, in Downtown Seattle, and at several parks in Seattle to get some ideas on design,” said Asfaha Lemlem who runs the program at Yesler Community Center.

Then the teens returned to the computer lab to learn more about the architecture of a bench and find inspiration for their design.

Tam Nguyen, a junior at Seattle Central College’s running start high school program, says the project opened his mind to what technology can be used for.

“The funnest part was putting together the 3D models of the benches,” said Nguyen. “I learned about the dimensions and design part of architecture.”

Practicality won out in the end with the final piece featuring a modern look referred to in the exhibit as urban simplicity. Nguyen offered some advice for anyone wanting to learn the technology behind design.

“Go crazy with ideas and push yourself when you brainstorm,” Nguyen said.

Many of the students have taken multiple digital skill-building workshops at the Yesler tech education lab, which has developed strong education and community engagement partnerships with the Frye, Seattle University, and others. Yesler is one of five “Rec Tech” digital equity and opportunity centers operated by the Associated Recreation Council in Seattle Parks and Recreation facilities. Seattle IT has been a major funder of the programs through our Community Technology Program digital equity grants. The mission of Rec Tech is to facilitate effective technology-driven programs providing education, recreation, and community development services for children, families, and neighborhoods.

Participants in this program are happy with their final project and proud of their new skills and contribution to the community. When the bench leaves the exhibit, it will be installed outdoors near the Yesler Community Center.

Learn more about the Bench Mark project or about the Associated Recreation Council’s RecTech program.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Expanded wi-fi now available at 26 Seattle Community Centers

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Twifi posterhe City of Seattle has completed upgrading public wi-fi equipment at 26 Seattle Parks and Recreation Community Centers, and it’s already helping thousands of users. The increased access points were installed as part of the City’s Digital Equity Action Plan with support from Google. The City has seen wi-fi usage more than double in the past year with this addition of more and higher quality access points. Over 16,000 devices (16,166) connected in November, up from 7441 in November, 2015. The public wi-fi spots are especially valuable for low-income families who have no internet at home or are on limited data plans, and the homeless, who rely on wi-fi as a lifeline to look for work, complete homework, access health information, or stay in touch with family.

The community center upgrade project also enhanced capacity for digital literacy programming by replacing 49 computers in Community Center technology labs that provide public access and training at Delridge, Rainier, Rainier Beach, South Park and Yesler.

These improvements help ensure digital equity and opportunity in lower income neighborhoods. The robust upgrade expanded coverage so that users can connect in lobbies as well as in meeting and activity rooms at the community centers. The wi-fi expansion has been a classic case of If you build it, they will come. User rates have skyrocketed at several of the sites.  Danisha, a parent at Rainier Beach Community Center reports: “Not only do I get to watch my kids play basketball at the gym, I can now get online for social networking and check my work email.”

“We’ve seen an increase in the number of participants that come into the center just to use the wi-fi which, in turn, leads to conversations about what’s offered at the Jefferson Community Center,” said Doreen Deaver, Recreation Coordinator at the Jefferson Community Center.  “Overall, it has been very good for interest in our programs.”

Installation of the expanded service was led by Seattle Information Technology, the Associated Recreation Council, and Seattle Parks and Recreation. The system is using Cisco Meraki devices, with internet service currently provided in most sites by Comcast and by Wave Broadband in their service area. The expanded wi-fi provides another opportunity for users to connect to Seattle.gov, use the wi-fi for civic participation, or get online to sign up for programs at the Community Centers.  For those without devices, the community centers also offer public internet kiosk computers.