COREY WITTIG, DIGITAL LEARNING LIBRARIAN – TEEN SERVICES

Creating a Digital Media Space for Today's Teens

Corey Wittig• MLIS, University of

Pittsburgh 2010• Digital Learning

Librarian – Teen Services

• Program manager of The Labs @ CLP

Digital Learning Librarian

• 19 locations

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

• Population 307,484

What’s the deal with The Labs?

• CLP’s Teen-only Digital Learning Lab initiative

• 4 locations system-wide

• Outreach programming

• Tours & trainings

YOUmedia Chicago – the big cheese

HOMAGO 3 levels of engagement

• Hanging Out

• Messing Around

• Geeking OutYoumediachicago.org

Identified by Professor Mimi Ito & colleagues after

interviewing 700 youth.

• The Chicago Public Library and The Digital Youth Network collaborated to create YOUmedia

• Based on Professor Ito’s research – Univ. of Chicago

• DYN grew out of MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media & Learning Initiative

Digitalyouthnetwork.org

Chipublib.org

YOUmedia.org

Connected Learning• Learning continues outside the classroom

• Connected Learning is:– Socially connected– Interest-driven– Connects learning w/ personal interests and

expresses itself as academic success, career success, or civic engagement.

YOUmedia & Pittsburgh: a history

• The YOUmedia physical space was designed by a team of graduate students under the direction of Professors Drew Davidson and Jesse Schell from the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University. – youmediachicago.org

Dr. Drew DavidsonActing Director of the ETC

STORY

Main – Teen Dept.

Your Pittsburgh – My interview presentation was a neighborhood-centered digital storytelling program.

From Humble Beginnings…

Getting started, or How Do You Create an Initiative Out of Thin Air?

• Plan your program in the context of your library’s Strategic Plan/vision/mission statement– At every turn in the search for funding

you will have to justify your program. It starts here.

– Root it in research.

(It might sound

obvious, but)

It’s scalable!

Institutional Buy-in

MissionTo Engage our Community in Literacy and Learning

Vision StatementCarnegie Library of Pittsburgh will inspire in the citizens of our region respect and responsibility for life-long learning, citizenship, and civic participation.

LITERACY

http://www.search-institute.org

Testing the waters: programming while we wait

QuickFLIX: an existing program, expanded

Stop-Motion Animation workshop w/ PGHFilmmakers mentors and Labs iPads

Teen Media Awards 2012

HIP-HOP ON L.O.C.K.

• We’d done film before, but music was new

• Learn from experts.• Further the mission

of your partners

HHOL workshop at East Liberty

pre-Labs launch

FindingPartners

An online space to meet

Sparkpgh.org

We found more partners…

HackPittsburgh

• Bring your professional passion to it.• We’re librarians—even if you don’t have a

Development office, you have great resources• Communicate how your region or service area

will benefit• Communicate sustainability• There’s so much great research out now—use it!

Grant Writing

Our Funding: 2012• IMLS – our first application in late

2011 was not awarded funding.• The Heinz Endowments funded The

Labs for two years (2012-2013)• The Snee-Reinhardt Charitable

Foundation funded iMacs at all four locations

• The Grable Foundation continued to fund the Digital Learning Librarian position.

Hack Jam: Mozilla Summer of Code

Free Mozilla web-making

tools: Thimble, X-Ray Goggles,

Popcorn

Warhol D.I.Y. app

Mentors – the key to success

Andre Costello

Molly Dickerson

• Lead workshops

• Available online and face-to-face

• Molly – MLIS, fine art BFA

• Andre – Local musician with degree in graphic design

Stachematic app

Practice(not a game)

Equipment, or what to buy?

http://www.skokielibrary.info/

Other programs:• Skokie Public

Library• IMLS Learning

Labs grant awardees

• YOUmedia• Give me a call!

Teen Advisory Council

•Shaped policy•Chose equipment•Debated program name

Pinterest

• Great for creating equipment wish lists, cataloging program ideas, etc.

iPads for programming, outreach, and more

• Jack of all trades device

• Borrowed by teen specialists system-wide for programming and outreach

• Borrowed by teens in Main Lab afterschool

• “hanging out” & “messing around”

PowerSync Tray for iPad by Bretford

Grafiti Nootle iPad mount

Apps we love• gifBoom (animated .gifs)• Doink (animation)• Smoovie (stop-motion)• Cinemagram (.gifs)• Comiclife (make comics!)• DM-1 (beat making)• iMovie (video)• Rockmate (music—4

instruments at once!)• Book Creator• LeafSnapHD (botany)• Star Walker (astronomy)• Vintagio (silent film)

The Labs Video Equipment

• Canon Vixia HF R500 – consumer grade camera• Green screen (DIY if you can)• Shotgun mic• Boom

The Labs Audio/Music Equipment

M-Audio Fast Track Pro

M-Audio Oxygen 49 Midi-Controller

Blue Snowball mic, and more!

The Labs Photography Equipment

• Nikon D3100• Digital SLR

camera• 16GB memory

cards• Could use SLR

for your video camera – better lens

APPLE

• Apple – certainly not necessary, but probably the best and easiest for digital media lab programming. (Better graphics, video, etc.)

• iLife included (iMovie, GarageBand, etc.)

• Will your IT Dept. support it? (Ours does not.)

• Not networked = not ideal

Google Drive

• Great for collaborating on non-networked computers• Sharing our calendar• Have to pay to sync & use Drive for business soon (?)

The Labs Software

• Adobe Creative Suite CS6• Including Photoshop,

Illustrator, Premiere, After Effects, etc.

• Sibelius Musitian (music theory software)

• iLife Suite (iMovie, Garageband, iPhoto, etc.) – free with Mac

• Microsoft Office for Mac

Monoprice 12x9 drawing tablet and Adobe Photoshop

The Labs: Miscellaneous Equipment

M-Audio AV40 Studio Monitors

Equipment sheets

Equipment policies

• Reserve a computer or equipment in Labs space with library card/photo I.D.

• Borrowing – will allow teens with badges and library card/photo I.D. to use cameras, etc. outside and around the library

Graphics and creating a brand

SPACES• 2nd to mentors in importance (I think)• 2 branch Labs (East Liberty and Allegheny—recently

renovated) are housed in meeting rooms until a teen space build-out scheduled for 2013-2014

• Meeting rooms—temporary solution, but can make it work

• South Side (newly renovated) Lab is in the old caretaker’s apartment/programming space on the second floor

• Main Lab housed in CLP-Teen Dept.

SOUND ISSUES

• Headphones

• USB recording interface means all you hear is muted strumming or keyboard strikes.

• Teen space/digital media lab is ideally placed in a dedicated space, set off from other library services. (Obvious, maybe, but true!)

Primacoustic VoxGuard Microphone Isolation Panel ($99)

Guitar and Midi-Keyboard in CLP-Main Lab.

Hours and Locations

Saturday hours at Main coming soon!

CLP-Main, Teen Department

The Labs corner at CLP, Main

CLP - East LibertyThe East Lib. crew work on their latest film project, at the East Liberty Lab, January 2013.

• Different meeting rooms depending on branch programming schedule

• New teen space in 2014

CLP - Allegheny• Meeting room space • Branch has small

teen area, but open floor plan making programming unrealistic

• New teen space Summer 2013

• Full-time teen librarian who will assist w/ The Labs

CLP - Allegheny

CLP – South Side• Newly renovated branch

• Space is in former caretaker’s apartment (upstairs)

• Adaptable hangout/loft space

The Thick of It:Program Design

YOUmedia & The Labs guidelines.

Teen Time• Weekdays

2:00 - 6:00 PM

• Furniture and computers are restricted to teen use

• Teen-only programming

• Teen volunteers

Digital Media Lab or Makerspace?

Who cares?(As long as you’re

creating.)

Workshops• Monthly themed workshops

• Rotating themes – multimedia (video, photography, graphic design, music/audio production, maker crafts, programming, etc.)

• Each week at all 4 Labs locations

• Project-based curriculum

Badges: a way to “level up” informal learning

-Earn a badge by accomplishing workshop learning objectives

-Badges confer special borrowing privileges to the earner

-Earn 2 badges and get the Regulars badge

Labs badges by mentor Andre Costello.

Open LabMonday, Tue., Friday @ CLP-Main

Creations from open time at CLP-Main.

Lynda.com

• High-quality video tutorials

• For professional development

• For teen training

• Large YA print collection already exists in Main-Teen Dept.• Labs print collection is a helpful variety of relevant print materials:

guides, art books, manuals, and periodicals. • Added benefit of tying “risky” new program to traditional resources:

supporting multi-modal literacy

Print collection

Room to create with Self-directed learning

Planning session for Chronology – a planned sci-fi web series.

Mentors offer guidance as needed

The Labs Kits

• Stop-Motion Animation Kit: with iPad and Smoovie App

• Soft-Circuits Kit: LEDs, conductive thread crafts

• MaKey MaKey Invention Kit

Soft-circuit kitMaKey-MaKey

Promotion and connectivity: website, social media, etc.

youmedia.org• Difficult to accomplish on popular

social media• iRemix – cloud-based social

learning network

Library as Incubator

www.libraryasincubatorproject.org/

Launch Event!Sponsored by GooglePittsburgh

Above: Izzy Realz performsBelow: Morgan WK in The Labs

Teen Services Coordinator, LeeAnn Anna and I.

2 types of volunteer opportunities

1.Assist mentors in programming2.Develop a feature program using a

special skill of the volunteer

Volunteers: community experts

• Follow-up to Labs filmmaking workshops

• Participants worked with commercial director on Saturday film shoot

Romie – East Liberty regular and

Labs commercial lead actor.

Promotion:It’s My Library Commercial

Cel.ly• Free opt-in/opt-out

group texts• Great for program

reminders

The Future• Professional Development

• Tours & group visits

• In-system “outreach”

• Saturday hours at Main

• Two new mentors!

• Expanded teen spaces and hours at East Liberty and Allegheny w/ 2 new full-time staff

The New Chapter

Outreach

The Labs Photobooth w/ PopBooth free app for iPad

Pittsburgh Public Schools Summer Dreamers Academy Outreach

Expanded feature workshops with partners

• HackPittsburgh – soldering and Arduino workshop

• QuickFLIX Film Workshops w/ Pittsburgh Filmmakers Youth Media Program & Pittsburgh Community TV

• Music production with Hip-Hop on L.O.C.K.

• Grant-funded programs w/ CMU’s Hear Me, Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, and others.

Matthew Beckler – CMU PHD student and HackPittsburgh instructor.

Take pART: a collaboration with CMU’s Hear Me and Jordan Mroziak, a Duquesne University Professor and Kids & Creativity network member.

• Led by partners with assistance of Labs mentors

• Connected through K&C network

Our Funding: 2013• IMLS – our second application

was awarded funding in late 2012.

• 2nd year of funding from The Heinz Endowments(2012-2013)

• The Laurel Foundation has funded mentors, equipment, and professional development

• The Grable Foundation continues to fund the Digital Learning Librarian position.

• Identified through badging system

• Peer volunteers• The Labs’ “Capstone”

Teen volunteers

Contact Me and Follow Us:• Corey Wittig - wittigc@carnegielibrary.org

• @CLP_Tweets (Twitter)

•CLPTeens YouTube - www.youtube.com/user/CLPTeens

• Facebook.com/CLPTeen (Facebook)

• Clpteensburgh.org (Teen Services blog)

• The Labs on the CLP website: www.carnegielibrary.org/teens/events/programs/thelabs/