This project is supported by a grant from CIRA’s Community Investment Program. CIRA’s Community Investment Program gives back by supporting initiatives and programs that help build a better online Canada.

This post is submitted by Erum Hasan from the YWCA Girls Centre. Erum is a 17 year-old blogger, an active member of the YWCA Girls Council, a long-time member of Hive Toronto and part of the Ca.pture Youth Council. The accompanying illustration is done by youth facilitator and artist Lena Xu.

Our Ca.pture Youth Council got together on Saturday, January 14th for our 4th session. We started by practicing a bit of deep breathing which was helpful as we were all tense in the morning and helped us take in everything around us. It also brought awareness to me, my  peers and the space. We took some time to review our safe words: Disney = timeout and Ratatouille = time out with some assistance. These words were important to establish as we are working with a very sensitive issue – cyberbullying. It was valuable to be reminded about the safe words as it would be easier to acknowledge how we feel without the need to elaborate. We then moved onto a team building activity ; we did the “I am poem” which was a great way to get to know people, see their different creative sides and reflect our own morals and beliefs and to connect with my peers in that way. Following, we all participated in another activity, FIND your match, which allowed us to ask questions and find our partner based on words on a card. For example, mine was Jay Z and my partner’s was Beyonce. This activity gave everyone a chance to mingle with participants to whom we had yet to be introduced. These activities helped relieve tension and create a youth friendly space.

Before we started our story board on Mozilla’s web application, Thimble, we prepared by creating a mind map and made a list of keywords that best express our feelings of cyberbullying. It was interesting to see what my peers’ values and morals are in terms of cyberbullying. While working on the mind map, we started a discussion as to what are the various aspects of cyberbullying. For example: what is it, the various roles people can adopt in cyberbullying, possible places it could take effect, advice from someone who has been affected and how to create a safe place to have discussions on the topic of cyberbullying. These components were an essential part as they would be key in furthering our understanding and having better conversations about cyberbullying. Part of Ca.pture is to understand the spectrum of cyberbullying but also to learn how to communicate better and take preventative steps. Understanding how to work with Thimble and its structure is important to me because it is a form of creatively expressing my feelings and emotions through a tech application. I feel that the Ca.pture Thimble template has great potential in preventing cyberbullying by providing a virtual space for teens to read other youth’s stories and to be able to relate and find a community within that. When the teens view my template they can use it as a guide for their own storyboards. Youth empowering each other and being able to share a story is powerful in its healing and therapeutic potential.

It was crucial to be patient while starting to code since there was a lot of information to process, It was very confusing as to where to input our ideas and understanding what all the 200 lines of code meant. On top of the mind boggling structure, it was hard to relive the past of being cyberbullied and finding the exact words to paint the picture of what it felt like.  Despite the process being difficult, it was helpful to be in a safe space with other members who have experienced the same scope of traumatic events. It felt reassuring knowing that the work we are doing is promising in positive results.

This session really helped develop my way of positively expressing my feelings, with which I can approach teens who are going through or have gone through cyberbullying. I am really looking forward to facilitating and leading conversations in small groups. Some of the challenges I feel are using my story to connect with a broad range of teens and getting them to openly share their experiences through Thimble. My hope is to find mutual ground on which we can all feel comfortable sharing our stories.

The post Storytelling through Thimble appeared first on Hive Toronto.

Become a Hive Toronto Member!

We are excited to announce that Hive Toronto is now accepting new members! At Hive Toronto, members network with each other, share best practices and pedagogies, learn about and play with new technologies, participate in events, and most importantly, collaborate to design and implement transformative learning opportunities for Toronto youth and the greater community.

To learn more about our members, check out our MEMBERS page

Please find our application here

Why become a member?

To support youth learning, Hive supports member organizations by providing opportunities for educators to develop skills, share knowledge, and collaborate through the following mechanisms:

• Cultivating a community of practice: Community calls, meetups, online communication platform, consultation on program and curriculum development
• Facilitating professional development: Digital literacy trainings, cultivating and sharing training opportunities
• Acting as a conduit: To other organizations, to funders, to opportunities for youth, promotion
• Seeding collaborative partnerships: Informal partnerships, pooling funding from outside funders for cross-member to develop new digital learning opportunities for youth

By joining Hive Toronto, members commit to contributing to a collaborative community of practice. We often explain Hive as a potluck: members have different needs, or “appetites,” but like any good potluck, you take what you need while contributing what you can.

There are two types of membership you can apply to join the Hive Toronto network:

Hive Member:

Organizations or institutions that:

• Must be a registered not for profit in Canada (this requirement is necessary to apply for Hive Toronto mini-grant funding)
• Provide youth development and learning opportunities directly to young people in the Greater Toronto Area.
• Invest in increasing access and equity in education through digital media and web literacy.
• Commit to ongoing learning and innovation for both educators and youth participants.
• Commit to creating and contributing to inclusive learning environments within and outside of their organization.

Community Ally:

Organizations that are aligned with Hive’s core principles and practices but do not meet Hive Member criteria. This can include community organizing groups, community focused coalitions etc.

These groups showcase a commitment to:

• Investing in increasing access and equity in education through digital media and web literacy.
• Commit to ongoing learning and innovation for both educators and youth participants.
• Commit to creating and contributing to inclusive learning environments within and outside of their organization.

If you have any questions about eligibility, please contact the team at Hive Toronto at hivetoronto@mozillafoundation.org 

The post Hive Toronto 2017 Membership Application is Open! appeared first on Hive Toronto.

This project is supported by a grant from CIRA’s Community Investment Program. CIRA’s Community Investment Program gives back by supporting initiatives and programs that help build a better online Canada.

This post is submitted by Erum Hasan from the YWCA Girls Center. Erum is an active member of the YWCA Girls Council, a long-time member of Hive Toronto.

Our Ca.pture Youth Council group got together on Saturday, February 4th for our last session. We started off with a discussion and a quick intro to what everyone is up to which created a joyful environment.

We then moved onto a creative team building activity, which was writing one positive comment about each other. It was really helpful to give a chance for everyone to show their appreciation with each other  and express how glad we were to be together on this project.

I also had the opportunity to support other youth facilitators with finishing their Thimble templates and coding. I learned that it was crucial to be patient at first since it was hard to explain how the coding works and what it does (the back end and the product).

It was great connecting with other youth facilitators. We sat in a circle to discuss our excitement for the march break camp. We decided on the details of where the camp will be held and the positions and roles we will be assigned and how the outline/schedule will look like. We looked at how to incorporate everything we have done together into the march break camps.

We ended our day with  making buttons.  It was pleasant to enjoy the afternoon with peers, just listening to music and chatting.  I would love to make more badges and even fund-raise for local charities. Being part of Ca.pture, a digital storytelling project that addressed cyberbullying had a positive impact on my life. I gained valuable experience while working with my peers and learning how to code for social change.

I would like to thank Wendy, Lena, Flora, Gideon and Simona for inviting me to blog as well as participate in this meaningful project and for the opportunity to meet and make new friends.  I learned a few interesting things about my peers:

The post Our Last Day Together appeared first on Hive Toronto.

We are excited to welcome our newest members and community allies for the 2017/2018 year. For the first time in its history, Hive Toronto in alignment with Hive NYC and Hive Chicago initiated a new category of membership; community allies. In past years, membership was only open to formally registered, community-serving organizations. However we recognize that many community organizers, coalitions, individual supporters and a host of other groups continue to contribute amazing work, space and programming in the city of Toronto around digital and web literacy. The community ally category allows a more diverse membership cohort moving forward and we are excited for the collaborations to come.

To learn more about the criteria for each category, check out our membership page here

Please join us as we look forward with a new year of community connection, professional development and youth empowerment!

Our new members and allies are:

Hive Member:

License 2 Learn

UrbanArts Community Arts Council

INKspire Youth Organization

Right to Play:

Community Ally:

Brock University: Karen Smith

NU (New Understanding)

STEM Kids Rock

Paperhouse Studio

NASA Space Apps

If you have any questions about membership to Hive Toronto, please contact hivetoronto@mozillafoundation.org

The post Hive Toronto welcomes our newest cohort of members and allies! appeared first on Hive Toronto.

This project is supported by a grant from CIRA’s Community Investment Program. CIRA’s Community Investment Program gives back by supporting initiatives and programs that help build a better online Canada.

Mozilla’s Youth-Led March Break Camp was designed by youth for youth. Youth from the Ca.pture Youth Council, along with facilitators from YWCA Toronto, YEP and Hive Toronto collaborated and developed the structure and curriculum for the camp. The goal was to have the youth create space, provide resources and teach basic coding skills and empower their peers through story-telling, group discussions and dialogue.

Outreach  

Together with YEP, YWCA Toronto and the Youth Council, we reached out to community members – both leaders in the field as well as youth in the GTA. We were excited to bring 20+ youth from different communities from across Toronto to the camp ranging from ages 12 – 17, interested in learning how to code for social change.

Camp Day 1 | March 15th, 2017

We started first day of camp with ice-breaker games led by youth facilitators (camp counsellors), giving everybody a chance to get to know each other. Next we moved into creating safe space and generated a safe word together. A safe word can be a single word or phrase that is uncommonly said in everyday dialogue. It is used when an individual is experiencing a triggered moment or a reaction to the current conversation that results in discomfort, affecting one’s mental and possibly physical health. The safe word allows one to let others know in the group that they need a moment to themselves, or with a facilitator if requested, and a time-out from the conversation and settings. We discussed the importance of building a space together that will help us create dialogue dealing with sensitive issues and triggered memories from cyberbullying. Together we learnt how we can respect, care and listen to each other.

“What I think is a safe space, is a place where you go and you are not judged for who you are.”, Youth

Alex and Tia, youth facilitators, leading a safe space and safe word discussion and exercise.

Youth facilitators continued to lead conversations about “What is Cyberbullying” with the activity, “Four-Corners”. Using a list generated by youth from previous co-design sessions, camp counsellors would read out a definition and ask learners to pick a corner – choices were: agree, disagree, neutral and unsure. Each person from a “corner” were asked to communicate their choice – why and how they got there. This exercise provided an in-depth look into how young people identify with many common statements about cyberbullying and their thinking process in arriving at an opinion on the topic. An interesting discussion was raised by youth who were either on opposing sides or who were unsure and seemingly able to debate both. In addition, youth were able to switch “corners” after hearing their peers’ argument, many chose to do so. This shows that the cyberbullying discourse is often confusing, conflicting and fluid, and that youth need to be a part of the conversation not only with adults but with each other.

From this activity we moved into building our stories together as a group. The youth facilitators talked the campers through how to describe their stories, what tools they found helpful and how to approach the subject. Questions to answer were put forward – Where did it happen? What happened? What did you wish happened differently? What do you want to tell parents / educators?

It was inspiring to see youth think about the questions, create meaningful dialogue, begin to share their stories and how to apply descriptive language to a memory. Many youth found it difficult to describe their stories and were shy to share with others. Time is also needed to allow a person to process and create confidence in sharing a sensitive, often traumatic experience. In response to that, an exercise book was created to allow campers to take home and work through on their storytelling while linking it up to the coding elements they were about to tackle on the second day.

Camp Day 2 | March 16th, 2017  

Youth facilitators started off with a re-cap on safe space, safe word, self care and our collective cyber-bullying definition, followed by some exercises to help create a relaxed and comfortable environment with the chance to learn more about each other. Day 2 was designed to be an intensive day of coding on Thimble, led by Mozilla staff in collaboration with the camp counsellors. It was a busy day filled with the buzzing excitement of coding. All youth facilitators were on their toes, moving around, answering any questions, helping each camper with their Thimbles and supporting their personal narratives of cyber-bullying.

Michael and Aïssata leading the “What is cyberbullying” dialogue with activity – “Four-Corners”.

Camp Day 3 | March 17th, 2017

The morning started off with youth wrapping up their Thimbles followed by a gallery walk, allowing everybody to take the time to read each other stories. It was great to witness the responses, the conversations, the relatability and the connection youth had with their peers’ stories, showing how powerful it can be to hear and share experiences from the community.

A final check in with the campers, led by youth facilitators, allowed us to understand how the campers felt about the Ca.pture program, coding and to give space for further dialogue on cyber-bullying.

“I learned more about cyberbullying and I learned that there’s always someone there to help.”, Youth

Final day’s “Gallery Walk” – youth walking around and reading each other’s cyberbullying Thimble stories.

Findings – working towards strengthening our community building

There were many insightful and powerful conversations had during this camp, with youth sharing their ideas, stories and thoughts on cyberbullying. The voices echoed in this camp were the ones that needed to be heard and to be shared with not only facilitators and peers, but other youth, adults and community leaders building upon online safety and web literacy. Ca.pture youth facilitators were integral to making this experience possible, they took charge, owned the space and lead important discussions with their peers. They questioned existing discourses on cyberbullying and shared experiences and stories, pushing the boundaries of institutional learning. Together youth camp counselors and youth participants amplified their voices, proving that there is a need for them to be given a platform to be heard and when given the chance, they will take up the leadership needed to promote and advocated for better digital citizenship and a safe space and community on the web.

“I will use these skills and teach it to other people, like I’ve been taught here”, Youth

Group photo of adult facilitators, youth camp counselors and youth campers.

The post Coding to Combat Cyber-Bullying appeared first on Hive Toronto.

The Ca.pture project is supported by a grant from CIRA’s Community Investment Program. CIRA’s Community Investment Program gives back by supporting initiatives and programs that help build a better online Canada.

Canadian Internet Registration Authority
[FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE]

Cyberbullying doesn’t end with the school year

Mozilla Hive Toronto teams up with teens to combat cyberbullying

(TORONTO, June 26, 2017) – With the school year coming to a close, it is a good reminder that cyberbullying among youth is a year-round concern. To combat it, Mozilla Hive Toronto partnered with YWCA Toronto and Youth Empowering Parents (YEP) to develop the Ca.pture project. Ca.pture is a youth-driven digital storytelling program for educators designed to prevent, navigate and intervene in electronic bullying. The end result includes a facilitation guide and workshop for educators designed by teens aged 13-17. Ca.pture is supported by a grant from the Canadian Internet Registration Authority’s (CIRA) Community Investment Program.

Ca.pture was designed and implemented by the Ca.pture Youth Council made up of 12 youth between the ages of 13-17 in Toronto. The council held several initial workshops to discuss and better understand cyberbullying, self-care and safe spaces, and they also learned coding skills in order to capture their experiences online. The youth themselves led workshops with their peers during a March break camp and later shared what they learned with educators from their community. The facilitation guide is now available online.

“It was integral that youth voices were at the forefront for this project,” says Simona Ramkisson, portfolio strategist, Hive Toronto. “We wanted to ensure that they were given the opportunity to not only design the project in partnership with Hive Toronto, YWCA Toronto and Youth Empowering Parents but also had the opportunity to lead conversations about the impacts of cyberbullying in their communities.”

“At CIRA we believe that all Canadians should be able to safely enjoy the cultural, social and economic benefits of the Internet,” says David Fowler, vice president of marketing and communications at CIRA. “In this regard, combatting cyberbullying is a key way we are helping build a better online Canada.”

About Hive Toronto

As an established program of the Mozilla foundation, we at Hive Toronto (TO) advance the promise of the Internet for learning. A dynamic peer learning network for educators who want to innovate, Hive TO is comprised of 70+ after-school, cultural and digital media organizations dedicated to exploring, creating and sharing the digital literacies necessary for communities to shape their world. More broadly, Hive Toronto is a flagship program for Mozilla’s Leadership Network activities across Canada. Current goals for Hive TO are to strengthen the network for learning and innovation, and to spread ideas, tools, and practices in line with Mozilla’s strategic plan.

About CIRA’s Community Investment Program

CIRA is building a better online Canada through the Community Investment Program by funding innovative projects led by charities, not-for-profits and academic institutions that are making the Internet better for all Canadians. CIRA is best known for our role managing the .CA domain on behalf of all Canadians. While this remains our primary mandate, as a member-based not-for-profit ourselves, we have a much broader goal to strengthen Canada’s Internet. The Community Investment Program is one of our most valuable contributions toward this goal and funds projects in digital literacy, online services, research and infrastructure. Every .CA domain name registered or renewed contributes to this program. To date CIRA has supported 99 projects with over $4.2 million in contributions.

Media contacts:

Simona Ramkisson
Portfolio Strategist, Hive Toronto
simona@mozillafoundation.org
416-848-3114

Alison Gareau
Communications Manager, CIRA
alison.gareau@cira.ca

For French translation of media release, please view here.

The post Cyberbullying doesn’t end with the school year appeared first on Hive Toronto.

l’ACEI
[Pour diffusion immédiate]

La cyberintimidation ne disparaît pas à la fin des classes

Mozilla Hive Toronto et des ados font équipe dans la lutte contre la cyberintimidation.

Toronto, le 26 juin 2017. – La fin des classes est arrivée, mais il faut se souvenir que la cyberintimidation chez les jeunes ne prend pas de répit. Afin de s’y attaquer, Mozilla Hive Toronto, YWCA Toronto et Youth Empowering Parents (des jeunes habilitant des parents, YEP) ont fait équipe pour créer le projet Ca.pture. Il s’agit d’un programme numérique de narration dont le contenu provient des jeunes. Destiné aux éducatrices et aux éducateurs, il poursuit les objectifs de prévenir la cyberintimidation ainsi que d’expliquer comment y réagir et intervenir. Le produit, conçu par des adolescentes et des adolescents de 13 à 17 ans, est constitué d’un guide d’animation et d’un atelier à l’intention des gens jouant un rôle en matière d’éducation. Ca.pture est soutenu par une subvention accordée par le Programme d’investissement communautaire de l’Autorité canadienne pour les enregistrements Internet (ACEI).

Le projet a été conçu et mis en œuvre par le Ca.pture Youth Council (conseil jeunesse Ca.pture) constitué de 12 jeunes âgés de 13 à 17 ans vivant dans la région de Toronto. Au départ, le conseil a tenu plusieurs ateliers afin de discuter de la cyberintimidation et de mieux la comprendre, de savoir comment s’en protéger et où se trouvent les espaces sans danger. Ses membres ont aussi appris le codage pour être en mesure de diffuser leurs expériences en ligne. Pendant un camp de la semaine de relâche, les jeunes eux-mêmes ont animé des ateliers en compagnie d’autres jeunes, puis ont partagé leurs apprentissages avec des éducatrices et des éducateurs de leur communauté. Le guide d’animation (en anglais seulement) est consultable en ligne.

« Il était essentiel que des jeunes soient à l’avant-plan du projet, affirme Simona Ramkisson, stratège du portefeuille, Hive Toronto. Nous tenions à ce qu’ils aillent plus loin que la conception du projet en partenariat avec Hive Toronto, YWCA Toronto et YEP. Il fallait qu’ils aient la possibilité de diriger les échanges au sujet des incidences de la cyberintimidation dans leur communauté. »

« À l’ACEI, nous croyons que la population canadienne entière est en droit de profiter sans risques des avantages culturels, sociaux et économiques d’Internet, souligne David Fowler, vice-président du marketing et des communications à l’ACEI. Pour que ce principe se matérialise, le combat contre la cyberintimidation est un outil essentiel à la construction d’un meilleur Canada en ligne. »

À propos de Hive Toronto

En tant que programme établi de la fondation Mozilla, Hive Toronto (TO) entend mettre Internet au service de l’apprentissage. Hive TO est un réseau dynamique d’apprentissage entre pairs à l’intention des éducatrices et des éducateurs désireux d’innover. Il est constitué de plus de 70 organismes culturels et des médias sociaux parascolaires déterminés à explorer, à créer et à partager le savoir-faire numérique permettant aux communautés de façonner leur environnement. Sur un plan plus vaste, Hive Toronto est le programme phare des activités réalisées par le Leadership Network (réseau du leadership) de Mozzilla au Canada. Les objectifs actuels de Hive TO consistent à renforcer le réseau d’apprentissage et d’innovation ainsi qu’à propager des idées, des pratiques et des outils harmonisés avec le plan stratégique de Mozzilla.

À propos du Programme d’investissement communautaire de l’ACEI

L’ACEI bâtit un meilleur Canada en ligne au moyen de son Programme d’investissement communautaire. Par l’entremise de ce dernier, elle finance des organismes sans but lucratif et de bienfaisance ainsi que des établissements du milieu universitaire qui travaillent à améliorer Internet au profit de toute la population canadienne. L’ACEI est avant tout connue pour le rôle qu’elle joue dans la gestion du domaine .CA au nom de toute la population canadienne. Bien qu’il s’agisse de notre mandat principal, à titre d’organisme sans but lucratif fondé sur ses membres, nous poursuivons un objectif bien plus vaste, celui de renforcer Internet au Canada. Le Programme d’investissement communautaire constitue l’un de nos apports les plus essentiels à l’atteinte de ce but. De fait, il permet le financement de projets qui améliorent la littératie numérique et donnent lieu au lancement de services en ligne tout en soutenant la recherche et l’infrastructure. Chaque nom de domaine .CA enregistré ou renouvelé contribue à ce programme. Jusqu’à présent, l’ACEI a soutenu 99 projets au moyen de plus de 4,2 millions de dollars.

Personnes-ressources pour les médias :

Simona Ramkisson
Stratège de portefeuille, Hive Toronto
simona@mozillafoundation.org
416-848-3114

Alison Gareau
Gestionnaire des communications, ACEI
alison.gareau@cira.ca
613 237-5335, poste 234

The post La cyberintimidation ne disparaît pas à la fin des classes appeared first on Hive Toronto.

Open Source for All: A call to action for community needs.

The term “Open Source” is often used to only define software development — specifically the promotion, creation and distribution of free software and the ability for it to be used, changed and shared by anyone. When we examine what working in the open means, we unpack a call to action that is familiar – a movement rooted in community efforts in which success hinges on the need for everybody to be present, participating and proactive.

Our exploration in “Open Source for All” starts with Ca.pture. It is a youth-driven digital storytelling program designed to capture cyberbullying stories from our city and to develop open-source digital skill building activities that empower youth to prevent, navigate and intervene in electronic bullying. Through this program, we onboarded 12 youth as our Youth Council who, over the period of 8 months, collaboratively developed an open source curriculum for their peers and educators to share their stories of cyberbullying. It resulted in a community effort in advocating for safe spaces, creating better resources for countering online bullying and to empower youth to take leadership roles. Through the Ca.pture Youth Council, we realized there was a growing interest amongst the youth in furthering their knowledge and their desire to contribute to a safer, accessible and more inclusive online experience.

We identified and recognized the gap in youth voices when creating policies and structures within the spaces that youth inhabit, both offline and online. Mozilla and Hive Toronto staff designed a Open Leadership day for the interested youth that would allow them to identify an issue in their community and to create a solution with open source.

The morning kicked off with a presentation and discussion of what open source is and the role that Mozilla plays in its history of supporting open working and open leadership. Youth were asked to reflect upon their journey into the space — how they became interested in online spaces, their work with Ca.pture and what working open means to them. The room buzzed with excited chattering — one could hear the snippets of reflections overlapping with each other. Many affirmed the need for community efforts, education, visibility, multiple voices and the need for equality in their open source definition.

During the afternoon, youth had the opportunity to utilize information, resources and conversations gained from the earlier session. The idea was to first identify an issue in the community and then use Open Source culture to come up with a solution. We used the “Open Canvas” work sheet adapted from “Lean Canvas” as a guide to conceptualizing and plotting steps to execute the project. Each of the youth had the opportunity to share an issue they recognized in their community and propose an open source solution, taking us through their “Open Canvas” worksheet. As we soon discovered, there was plenty of information, resources and ideas that most of the youth had expanded out of the letter-sized printer paper.

As we’ve seen in the past, giving youth the opportunity to share their experiences results in projects that truly reflect and address the needs of that group. We moved to workshopping the youth’s proposals on a whiteboard, opening up the conversation to all participants. As is the root of open source, an idea is generated and improved upon with the assistance of the community.

Our first youth, Gwen, presented a need for an open source directory of LGBTQ+ youth safe spaces in the G.T.A. She identified that most of the available LGBTQ+ youth resources are largely in the city, specifically downtown Toronto area, and are inaccessible to young people living in the suburbs. Gwen noted that access to transit in Toronto is challenging and in addition, commuting is an issue for safety and a barrier to many youth facing systemic oppression. As Gwen lead us through her open canvas project, she cited public libraries, schools, community centres and other communal public meeting spaces as contributors who could help with not only building a safe space for LGBTQ+ youth, but also creating awareness, resources for education and information to LGBTQ+ youth and allies. Gwen also noted that this directory needed to be available both online and offline as access to the internet and web is still a challenge in many suburban areas — in particular, youth have limited facilities to go online. Additionally, queer and questioning youth find it difficult to enter spaces that are LGBTQ+ adult-run because of the insecurities that are more commonly felt in younger ages of questioning gender identity. Gwen emphasized the need for all these resources to be primarily open sourced by youth, placing the priority of “by youth for youth” in the forefront.

Gwen presenting her open source project — an open source directory of LGBTQ+ youth safe spaces in the G.T.A., generated by youth for youth with assistance from adult allies.

The next youth, Linda*, identified a problem in Toronto schools that stemmed from her personal narrative. Linda entered a school on a default selection, as many young people are subjected to, but she soon realized how unhappy she was. She didn’t fit in and wasn’t getting the education she was looking for. Linda approached counsellors and teachers in the school for more information and solutions, but wasn’t presented with any answers that addressed her needs. She recognized that adults did not understand her experience or have the resources and capabilities of addressing her concerns, so she took it in her own hands. Linda researched and talked to students at other schools, finally she found what she was looking for: alternative schools. She read up on the various choices and what an alternative school education looked like. She visited the schools, talked to teachers and students there, quickly realizing that this was the right fit for her. She transitioned into her choice of alternative school and is much happier. She now looks forward to going to school and being involved in the community. Linda wants to share her experience with other young people and encourage others to do the same. She proposes an open source platform for youth across Toronto to add their stories about their school experience. She hopes to have a list of different schools complete with student reviews available to all. One would be able to organize it by district, or types and/or program offerings. This project would partner with the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and individual schools, teachers and counsellors to promote youth voices in education and as a way to inform their decision-making.

Our last youth, Carol*, also focused on her school experience. She identified the overwhelmingly large student body that was unhappy and how youth expressed their desire to be involved in decision making and policy informing within their school. She added that youth voices are often dismissed as unimportant and irrelevant. Carol proposed an open source website that would allow students to share their stories, review their school experience and have educators access this information. This would amplify youth voices and truly reflect the youth experience in school. Carol cited a few of her resources — from a safe space for students to meet to coding skills to build the open source website. She envisions the contributors to be both students in school and adults helping to bring awareness of this resource. This website would be youth run by a youth council and would capture experiences that the council could take to teacher meetings and forums. Their goal is to have policy makers in education involve the youth council, drawing from these youth experiences, to inform decision making and policy structures in schools across Toronto.

There were many interesting findings from the Open Leadership day. All youth reported originally thinking that open source just referred to software development and that unless you knew how to code, working open wasn’t for them. Once the youth council understood the foundation for open source, they realized it was a tool they could utilise in their community. The open projects proposed by the youth are all rooted in recognizing a gap in service and using open to address and create a solution. Working open and leading open is in essence advocating for people to come together, learn from each other and collaborate. It is bringing forward all voices to inform a bigger picture. Open source culture is not just for software development, coding and online initiatives. As leaders in web literacy, digital inclusion and decentralization, it’s important to acknowledge the role the internet plays in community access and needs. Our youth council demonstrate and advocate for open source to truly reflect inclusivity, diversity and accessibility.

*First names of youth have been changed for privacy reasons.

Many thanks to our Hive Toronto youth council members. Host your own Open Leadership training in your community, read more here.

The post Open Source for All appeared first on Hive Toronto.

Hive Toronto is excited to announce 10 projects that will support Mozilla’s mission in their work towards a healthy and accessible internet. With the release of the Mozilla’s Internet Health Report, communities around the world are rallying to make a difference in 5 key issue areas that will contribute to a healthier internet: 1) privacy and security, 2) decentralization, 3) web literacy, 4) digital inclusion and 5) open innovation. Hive Toronto members and community allies are committed to supporting a global movement that addresses theses issue in a number of ways. To help support the work of Hive Toronto network members in their efforts for a healthy internet, we launched the Internet Health Mini-grant.

What is Internet Health?

The strength of the open Internet is the ability of its users to shape the Web itself and thereby shape society. Like society, the Internet grows stronger with every new voice. But there are many barriers that prevent the full diversity of the world from being reflected online. More than half of the world is still without Internet, and even people who do have access may be limited by factors like high cost, unreliable connections or censorship. Our everyday actions the shape the vitality and health of the internet. When we start recognizing where the system is healthy and functioning well can we understand how to make it stronger. When we realize its weak point can we repair and avoid actions that further weaken it.

Learn more about the threats to a healthy and accessible internet here

How do we measure success?

There could be a million different things Mozilla could measure to track progress towards a healthier internet. There a variety of different touch points that will help us track progress and any setbacks in our work such including technical infrastructure, privacy laws, online harassment, disinformation, activism, and education.

Learn more on how Mozilla is working to measure success in their mission for a healthy internet.

Hive Toronto Internet Health Mini-grant

Hive Toronto members and community allies are committed to supporting a global movement that focuses on an accessible and healthy internet. To help support the work of Hive Toronto network members, we announced the Internet Health Mini-grant. This fund supports local programming to help engage communities in web-literacy and open practice opportunities, build capacity within organizations to continue to deliver this type of programming and engage youth looking to lead in their communities with the support of a network member.

Hive Toronto has worked with its 72 network partners and allies over the last year to co-design a small-grant program that would support capacity-building and programming projects across the Greater Toronto Area. Network members helped shape the three categories of funding: 1) program-focused funding; 2) capacity-building funding and 3) youth-led, member supported funding.

This year we funded the following projects:

Program Focused Funding:

Sky’s the Limit (STL)

Project Name: Summer Tech Camp Series

Project Overview:

Sky’s the Limit is working to end the digital divide by providing hardware and access to the digital universe for at-risk youth in Toronto communities. STL will be hosting series of summer tech camps in partnership with various youth organizations to a group of 175 participants. Hosted in various communities in the Greater Toronto Area, each camp provides participants with various session focused on coding, internet navigation, online safety, program development and much more. In their pilot year, Sky’s the Limit has worked with STEM clubs and local refugee youth groups to bring laptops and tech learning to 75 youth and are looking to grow this number with the Hive Toronto Internet Health mini-grant.

How will this project contribute to a healthier internet?

At STL they understand the importance of raising youth to understand the power of the world wide web and how to harness it. At each camp internet safety, social media presence, privacy, and internet navigation are taught to all participants. They also provide information about the web’s best free applications to create and edit content, or to further learning and contribution in specific areas of technology.

CoderDojo Toronto

Project Name: CoderDojo Toronto @ Toronto Public Library

Project Overview:

The goal of this project is to expand the coverage of locations offering free computer education workshops to youth in Toronto. CoderDojo Toronto and their ultimate goal is to create an on-boarding system for library staff to become familiar with youth-focused coding resources so that they are able to sustain coding workshops within their own branches.

How will this project contribute to a healthier internet?

This project acknowledges that not every child has equal opportunities to learn code. Girls and young women represent less than 1/3 of computer science positions. Limited access to computers impacts under-represented groups’ and their ability to benefit from a job-market hungry for coders and developers. CoderDojo Toronto is teaching code skills to help people to tell stories, understand their interactions with different technologies, solve problems, build businesses and have a seat at the table in the digital future. Students are moved by the volunteerism of mentors, and in turn, show interest in providing mentorship to their peers.

Right to Play

Project Name: Y2Y Youth Council

Project Overview:

The objective of this project is to create Youth To Youth’s (Y2Y) first ever Youth Council that allows exceptional Youth Leaders from the program to engage with both Right To Play and Mozilla and their goal of a healthy internet on an advanced level.  By mobilizing some of the city’s best youth leaders, there is the opportunity to open a dialogue for them to identify some of the biggest web issues facing youth and children like internet safety and privacy.

How will this project contribute to a healthier internet?

Part of Right To Play’s core belief is that “play” is one of the most effective tools for teaching. They use play to teach lessons by using reflective discussions to capture the learning opportunities throughout the process. Right To Play games can be adapted to focus on a range of subjects. RTP activities can focus on anything from literacy and numeracy, to creating healthier relationships between students. By creating a Youth Council, we intend to leverage youth voices in order to create a new stream of educational content, that focuses on internet safety and web literacy.

STEAMLabs

Project Name: STEAM After School

Project Overview:

Since beginning their programs at 192 Spadina in the summer of 2015, STEAMLabs has helped thousands of kids become creators of technology such as robotics, web development, digital design and digital fabrication. Their programs are about more than technology skills, they are about agency – having the confidence and capabilities to make a change in your world. The objective with this program is to create a low cost after school program to engage more low income kids from the surrounding area.

How will this project contribute to a healthier internet?

STEAMLabs believes everyone needs to be able to contribute to building the Internet and other technology. Income inequality leads to technology education inequality. They want to help low income kids jump the gap and become confident creators of their online worlds.

Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre

Project Name: Indie Game Development Catalyst Club

Project Overview:

This program opportunity will provide dedicated space for a creative catalyst club, a place for youth to get the support they need to develop their own indie games. To support the youth as they create, the program will deliver a series of basic skill development tutorials on the subjects of game design, digital arts, coding, audio, and more. After equipping the youth with a variety of basic game development skill sets, the program challenges them to incubate their creativity and begin making their own games, where diversity and inclusion themes are encouraged.

How will this project contribute to a healthier internet?

The Indie Game Development Catalyst Club, a 2017 Summer Pilot Expansion Program at Regent Park Focus will enhance locally-accessible programmatic offerings that specifically address digital inclusion, web literacy, and openness goals through engaging traditionally disenfranchised and low-income young people in the production of their own video games.

Capacity-Building Funding:

License 2 Learn

Project Overview :

License 2 Learn (L2L) will be moving their tutor training curriculum to an interactive digital platform that would allow open access for program participants, tutors and groups looking to bring the program to their communities. Funding will also impact core monitoring and evaluation practices by bringing them online.

How will this project contribute to a healthier internet?

This process will push people to web based platforms for their learning experience and develop fluency negotiating the web as a resource for learning. With the online curriculum, anyone with internet will be able to access the training manual that L2L has spent 15 years developing. This will equip more people with learning and teaching tools to better acquire and share knowledge online.

Visions of Science Network for Learning (VOSNL)

Project Overview:

VOSNL Community STEM Clubs program brings these learning opportunities to youth (grades 3 to 8) directly within in their communities on a weekly basis. From the success and needs that emerged from this program they have recently extended engagement to support the STEM learning of older aged youth in grades 9 to 12 and to help build their leadership capacity. However, their space lacks the necessary technology and infrastructure to implement this. Implementing technology and space upgrades, they will be better equipped engage their communities in building web literacy skills and developing tech-based programming. These upgrades will also empower young leaders who access their space and contribute to programs by providing them with tools that are often inaccessible.

How will this project contribute to a healthier internet?

Keeping the web in the hands of many by allowing VOSNL to increase capacity to the wide catchment of communities that they serve. Making room for everyone by removing initial barriers to access of technology experienced by volunteers and participants. These tools (literacy and tech) will also enable more individuals to responsibly contribute and develop web content. They will be able to engage their youth with skills beyond coding with an emphasis on web literacy skills.

Vibe Arts

Project Overview:

Youth artists use program laptops within the Vibe Arts office and across the city to access the internet, web-based software, and applications that advance their practice and ensure high-quality programming. The goal is to have updated equipment that will better serve, connect, and engage their roster of youth artists. They believe that their organizational capacity and programming capabilities can be enhanced through efficient and updated technology.

How will this project contribute to a healthier internet?

This capacity-building grant will support digital inclusion and web literacy in Toronto’s community arts/arts education sector. Increased technological capacity will support their efforts to provide youth artists from under-served Toronto neighbourhoods with access to the internet, to web based applications, software, and digital literacy workshops.

Urban Arts

Project Overview:

UrbanArts will be using funding to develop introductory level courses in design and 3D printing to youth in the communities they serve. The short term goal of this project is to help change the way youth look at everyday objects and instill the idea of sustainability, and repair. The long term goals for this project is to keep using and exploring the software in order to eventually teach an array of participants on how to use the software in order to create their own products from scratch whether that be in wearable art, jewellery, household items, sculptures, or even for prototyping for proposals.

How will this project contribute to a healthier internet?

Urban Arts strongly believe in Mozilla’s missions which addresses access to the internet, promote web literacy, and to contribute to a healthier internet. UrbanArts provides the community with free services such as culinary programs, music, dance, visual art and digital education and digital art. They also provide a free space for community members to come in and use our equipment, access the internet as well as access to Adobe and Microsoft software at their leisure. Urban Arts believes strongly in providing the community with a free space to learn various skills such digital education, and various software education programs.

Youth-Led, Member-Supported Funding:

Youth Empowering Parents (YEP)

Project Overview:

Funding will be used to purchase tablets and operate a program for seniors in various communities. YEP will engage local youth (recruited from neighbourhood schools) to teach seniors how to use a tablet, how to access the web with the tablet, and various internet skills to help them become regular users of the web. In total, the program will engage 24 youth to teach 24 seniors. Focus will be placed on under-represented communities in Toronto – specifically seniors living in low-income areas. Target communities for the pilot are: Regent Park, Lawrence Heights, and Weston-Mt Dennis.

How will this project contribute to a healthier internet?

This project builds digital literacy skills in seniors. Among Canadians, StatsCan highlights that seniors still account for a significant portion of the population who are lacking the skills to read, write and participate in the digital world. This project will prioritize seniors lacking English language skills. This project pairs seniors with youth who speak the same language, and youth will teach website translation tools like Google Translate to help them not only access more of the web, but to go beyond consuming and start exploring ways to contribute with it as well.

To learn more about these projects and how to get involved in Mozilla’s mission for a healthier internet, contact us at hivetoronto@mozillafoundation.org.

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Guest contribution by Chris Lawrence, former VP Mozilla Learning Network, originally posted on Medium. 

For nearly a decade, Mozilla has been a proud leader and catalyst for digital learning — from launching free and open educational software tools like Thimble to building vibrant peer learning networks with the most talented leaders in educational technology across the globe. The work we have done together through Hive Learning Networks, Maker Party, Mozilla Clubs and Webmaker has produced real change in how educators understand and use technology. Together we have produced more learning experiences that take people from being online consumers to creators and ultimately defenders of the open web, advancing web literacy and digital inclusion. As a technology based non-profit with community practices at its core, our work together has influenced Mozilla’s strategy and direction; Web Literacy and Digital Inclusion are now hallmarks of our Internet health agenda, shaped by the culture, connectivity and people-based approach that Mozilla Learning’s practices have inspired.

Through our shared goals, partnerships and programs we have been able to:

• Mobilize people to adopt digital learning practices and teach web literacy through a constellation of people, networks and organizations;
• Create high-quality digital learning and web literacy tools, content and practices;
• Catalyze schools, youth programs, cultural institutions and governments to provide rich digital programs, especially in underserved communities; and
• Grow demand for events, communities and projects in new locations and sectors.

Together, we have evolved teaching and learning for the digitally connected world.

However, how Mozilla engages with these issues will be changing as we head into 2018. We will be ending the management and stewardship of local digital literacy initiatives over the coming year, including Hive, Gigabit Hive, Mozilla Clubs and our grassroots web literacy work.

It’s truly hard for me to see Mozilla’s stewardship of digital learning work winding down. Like many of you, I’ve been very close to this work for a long time. And I have been a strong proponent of hyperlocal and our work on web literacy ever since I started at Mozilla over six years ago.

But unlike the promise of a digital utopia that existed when we entered this work, when the Internet seemed like a grand path to greater participation and engagement, we now have seen the pendulum swing decidedly towards a dystopian narrative where surveillance, ever-connected devices, and pipelines of propaganda dominate. Of course, both and neither are completely true, and the binary choice further divides us and blocks thoughtful solutions from emerging. We are so excited about the Internet health framework because, like all ecosystems, the Internet is best understood when you realize that aspects can be both sick and healthy and need all of us to help tip the balance to health.

To do this, Mozilla’s attention needs to be on a more immediate and bigger set of fights. We need to use our assets — our brand, our megaphone, our global community, our money — to confront those challenges head-on.

So, what does this mean?

• Mozilla has made a strategic decision to sunset its local digital literacy programs, which includes our Hive, Mozilla Clubs and other local digital literacy initiatives. These changes will happen over the course of the coming year.
• We will remain active in web literacy and digital inclusion work through fellowships, research and curriculum.
• We will be working with the networks, people and projects to ensure that there will be clear next steps into new opportunities and programs within the broader digital learning ecosystem.
• We will honor all commitments to our grantee partners and donors.

It also means that some staff associated with these programs will be moving on from Mozilla, including myself. I just want to take a moment to say that these staff have been champions of this work and have helped to move the digital learning field forward with passion and expertise. It has been an honor to work alongside them and others who have contributed to this work. I am confident that all of us will continue to help bring real change to Internet health issues. Personally, I am very energized to enter the broader ecosystem as a contributor and active network member. The trajectory of my professional life has been deeply impacted and informed by the work we have done together.

Building a global and diverse community has always been a part of Mozilla’s work. It says so in the Manifesto — and it has been true in practice. Over the last 10 years, the Foundation has worked closely with traditional Mozilla volunteer communities and helped build rich new communities that had never connected to Mozilla before — MozFest is a great example of this. The same goes for the communities of interest we’ve built in science, journalism, policy, etc. You have been, and will continue to be, leaders within this movement for Internet health, and Mozilla will continue to find ways to support you and concrete ways for people from our local communities to plug into this work.

I am excited by what comes next for Mozilla and the work that we all kickstarted together. We have built the base that will propel the Internet health movement forward, just when the world needs us most. Onward!

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