[Noisebridge-discuss] Fwd: [BerkTIPGlobal] At Hacker Scouts, making isn’t enough. - http://hackerscouts.acemonstertoys.org

[giovanni_re]

----- Original message -----
From: "giovanni_re" <john_re at fastmail.us>
To: BTG <BerkTIPGlobal at googlegroups.com>
Subject: [BerkTIPGlobal] At Hacker Scouts, making isn’t enough. - 
http://hackerscouts.acemonstertoys.org
Date: Wed, 06 Feb 2013 13:50:41 -0800

http://hackerscouts.acemonstertoys.org/?p=492


 Hacker Scouts Make – Learn – Hack – Build – Rule the World


-----
 Posted on January 30, 2013

Our Big News and the Big Question

We have some big news. Because of the way in which Hacker Scouts is
resonating and growing with so many, we have made some organizational
changes. Hacker Scouts is joining the School Factory under their fiscal
umbrella. They are an organization that shares our core values and our
dedication to STEAM education and skill building. This has resulted in
two specific benefits (among many!). First, it preserves our eligibility
for a grant we are in the final process of securing (woohoo!). Second,
it created a merger! The School Factory had volunteers working on a
similar idea for a while called “Maker Scouts.” While they had plenty of
ideas and planning well thought out and documented for a national
program, they were not actively running any live events. Instead of
running parallel programs, we have folded Maker Scouts into the Hacker
Scouts organization, including some of their talented Makers who wanted
to continue this work that we all feel so strongly about. We are very
excited and grateful that our vision is being realized! We will maintain
our partnership with AMT, so meetings and Open Labs will remain there.

During the meetings around how we would blend the two programs, a big
question we had to face was in the name. There was some concern that
using the word “Hacker” instead of “Maker” would be a controversial
choice. That perhaps we would be knowingly isolating many communities
who still see “hacker” and think “bad guys” and therefore would not want
to associate with us. Now, living in the Bay Area we have never run into
this problem, but our new team members, who live in the Midwest and the
South have seen it firsthand, and so we took the discussion seriously.
The last thing we want to do is alienate or offend anyone, but in the
end, we are sticking with our original decision and this is why:

Hacker Scouts was named intentionally. We have built our reputation on
our name. We believe in it’s meaning. As we have on our FAQ’s page:

The term “hacking” has a bad rap. Unfortunately, there are some who
associate the term with illegal activity. Hacking is simply taking
something- like an object or idea-and changing it to fit one’s own need.
Hacking is the improvement and modification of technology. Hacking has
revolutionized medicine, science, education, art, and many other
disciplines. Hacking is how we progress.


 At Hacker Scouts, making isn’t enough. We are hacking what education
 can look like. We are hacking activities so that families get the most
 information and skills out of them. We are hacking new thing out old
 things because it not only changes the way kids see the process of how
 things are built and used, but it changes their world view towards
 conservation and sustainability. We are taking back the word “Hacking”!

The term is powerful. It provokes us into conversation. It challenges
technology and preconceived ideas about what is possible. It exemplifies
what we are trying to do with STEAM education. We are trying to
completely change the way in which learning and skill building happens
for kids, making it real and relevant. As Sir Ken Robinson says, a
revolution is happening in education and technology right now, and it
starts from the ground up. So perhaps there will be some negative
reactions to our name, but we see them as an opportunity to educate.
Because that’s what we do. Here at Hacker Scouts, we are going to keep
focusing on our mission, utilizing the amazing resources and talents of
a dynamic- and now national- staff, and continue in our dedication to
our kids and their experience. We feel that while others can debate the
power of words, we would rather prove our point through the power of
action. This entry was posted in Uncategorized by admin. Bookmark the
permalink.






 





 





-- 
-- 
http://groups.google.com/group/BerkTIPGlobal
--- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Berkeley-TIP-Global" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send
an email to BerkTIPGlobal+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.