Week 12a: Revising Content Write Up

After receiving some guidance, I had a better understanding of what a content write-up was. I took the information that I gathered through research last week and translated it to something that someone else could look at and design a website from. This is what I came up with:

Tiny Tech Academy

6 out of 10 millennials (age 16-34) have “low” technology  skills, (or other attention grabbing fact for feature area - to draw the user in)

What is Tiny Tech Academy?

Tiny Tech Academy is the concept for a children’s show that is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter. It features a diverse cast of minority children and focuses on a wide variety of topics dealing with technology and computer science.

What makes this show important?

Statistics show that minority children and adults are largely underrepresented in TV as lead characters. When minorities are brought into TV and film, they are almost always typecast, meaning that they are used to portray stereotypical characters - even in children’s cartoons.

There is also an extreme lack of diversity in STEM fields, including computer science. Over half of schools in the United States do not offer any computer science courses, leaving a majority of children, especially minorities, without any exposure to computer science or technology in an educational setting. The result of this is that African Americans and Hispanics only make up 1-3% of the workforce and women only make up 20-30% of employees in technology jobs. Tiny Tech Academy aims to change this through showing diverse characters conquering technology-related issues.

Since children spend about 3 hours a day watching TV, educational programming can be a very effective method of spreading information and teaching kids new things. Children who watch TV are also likely to act out what they saw while watching. They also tend to view characters on TV as role models, especially ones they can relate to. Promoting diversity in children’s television can also help improve children’s feelings towards those who are different than them. Tiny Tech Academy focuses on bringing minority role models and technology into the spotlight, hopefully bringing change in traditional thinking and representation to both children and adults.

More Statistics

• Women account for relatively small percentages of degree recipients in certain STEM fields: only 18.5 percent of bachelor's degrees in engineering went to women in 2008 (EEOC)
• Approximately 1 cartoon in 6 (16.1%) contained at least one character was a member of a racial minority group, whereas substantially more (69.6%) contained at least one character that was Caucasian (Klein)
• In computer and mathematical occupations, 8.3 percent of workers were black or African American, 6.3 were Hispanic or Latino (EEOC)
• Two-thirds of women report having to prove themselves over and over; their success discounted and their expertise questioned. Three-fourths of Black women reported this phenomenon (EEOC)
• When racial minority group members are included in the media, they are often portrayed in negative and stereotypical ways (Klein)

Topics Covered in Tiny Tech Academy

- Web Safety	- Online Research
- Online Etiquette	- Coding
- App Design and Use	- Web Design
- Computer Graphics	- Hardware Design, Care, and Usage
- Diversity

Meet the Cast

Meme (pronounced like Mimi): the social media wiz, teaches kids about social media through use of her super tool - a phablet

Cody: expert programmer, will teach basic programming skills, her super tool is a laser cane which helps her navigate the world

Mega: Terra’s brother who specializes in hardware, his super tool is a soldering iron

Terra: Mega’s sister who specializes in software, her super tool is a mouse

Shortcut: well versed in keyboard shortcuts and other helpful tricks, his super tool is a wireless keyboard

“The Hack”: specializes in computer graphics, his super tool is a stylus

Check Tiny Tech Academy out on Kickstarter!