Hey all,
Here’s where I post my mightly plea for a developer; also where I gush
the wonders of these two educational, open-community youth projects.
They’re both the product of some wonderful minds and have attracted the
attention of interesting and unique organizations. A RoR developer would
gain stardom as well, the lead web developer involved. Maybe not the
same stardom as (fill in your favorite big-name band)… and so…
The first is the Internet Radio Project; current site located at
http://www.projectkir.org. Basically, we offer a free internet radio
broadcast service to youth in schools and after-school organizations.
Our partners include the Brooklyn Technology High School, the Cape Cod
Technology Council and about a dozen schools across the country.
Our advisory team is equally impressive. Our site is WOEFULLY
underdeveloped and WAY out of date. As you might imagine, the potential
of the project is far greater than what we’re able to coalesce in the
online entity.
The second is Explorify!, a project motivated by three related
recognitions: 1) the need to increase studentsâ?? self-efficacy for
thinking like a scientist 2) the value in engaging students in
exploring and learning about the â??smaller majorityâ? underfoot (the
scientific work of Piotr Naskrecki at the Harvard Museum of Comparative
Zoology) and 3) the value in providing ways for students to playfully
and tangibly explore their world, and share their valuable products with
others.
So this project is designed to engage kids in building instruments they
could use to explore the natural world, and to facilitate the sharing of
their valuable discoveries with others. As with the Radio Project, we’ve
got a number of interesting partners lined up.
What don’t we have? Funding… yet! But no matter, we’re not paid
either. It’s all out-of-pocket and in-kind time/effort, because we
beleive in the potential for our work to make a difference. Hopefully, a
wonderful coder out there in the RoR world will see the value in our
work, and want to join us to make an even greater contribution…
Thanks,