Week 11b: About Tiny Tech Academy

The Kickstarter project that I decided to design a website for is called Tiny Tech Academy. This is a proposal for a children's educational television show that features a diverse cast and is aimed at teaching kids about technology in a variety of ways. The target audience is children ages 4-8. The cast features young children from African-American, Asian American, Native American, Latino American, female, LGBTQ and disabled communities. The goal of the show is to teach parents and kids about basic computer science while also celebrating diversity. The world we live in is certainly diverse and that diversity is largely underrepresented in media, especially in STEM roles. Minority children are far less likely to be exposed to or employed in STEM fields, with female minorities falling even farther behind. This educational show aims to dispel this stereotype and encourages children to pursue whatever they desire, despite what traditional media portrays. By publishing a TV show that discusses computer science in a fun, educational, and relatable way, our community can begin to expose more children to STEM roles who may otherwise not learn about them. This hopefully can begin to spark a change in trends regarding minorities in STEM roles.

As for the technology side of this television show, Tiny Tech Academy covers several topics in an attempt to better educate parents and kids. Internet safety is perhaps one of the more heavily covered topics and it includes discussions about browsing, using it for research, and social media etiquette. They also want to cover safety, with topics that will likely include scams, catfishing, and other dangerous interactions that can occur when using technology. In terms of computer science topics, this show intends to cover programming, app design and use, and web design. In addition to the aforementioned topics which mainly focus on the software aspects of computing, Tiny Tech Academy will also cover hardware design, care, and usage. User interaction is also covered through mentions of shortcuts and tricks to enhance technology usage.

The cast of the show features 6 main characters. As mentioned previously, they come from a variety of backgrounds and each feature a special skill and tool which will help to guide them through their various adventures. The main character, Meme (pronounced like Mimi), is the "social media wiz" who will likely focus of teaching the viewer about the various aspects of social media. Her "super tool" is a phablet. Cody specializes in coding and is visually impaired, so her "super tool" is a laser cane. Mega and Terra are brother and sister. Mega is specialized in hardware and his sister, Terra, is specialized in software. Shortcut is a character whose specialty is in keyboard shortcuts and as such uses a portable keyboard as his super tool. Finally, "The Hack" specializes in graphics and uses a stylus as his "super tool". Clearly, each of these characters were designed to teach the aforementioned topics through their personalities and respective tools.