Open Youth Networks is a program of the Department of Interactive Arts and Media at Columbia College. The program is designed to help bridge the digital participation gap by educating girls and urban youth to use emerging technologies, games and social media so they can make a better future for themselves and their communities.

Through IAM at Columbia College, Open Youth Networks will be able to:

• Match students in web-development and digital service learning projects with youth and community groups;
• Offer Saturday workshops for teachers/high school youth in pre-programming skills, new technologies and social media;
• Conduct summits, symposia or conferences on topics such as girls in technology and serious games;
• Partner with CPS schools to consult on curriculum alignment and college preparation for computer programming; and,
• Serve as an incubator for innovations in games, apps and social utility tools used for non-profit, community and social justice use.

2010 project initiatives include: The 3G Summit: The Future of Girls, Gaming and Gender to take place in August 2010 and The Green Games Institute, to be conducted in collaboration with the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency in Planning’s Future Leaders in Planning group.

By providing an array of supports —technology access, multiple teachers and mentors, experiential learning contexts and a youth-centered approach to critical inquiry — OYN nurtures youth to empower innovative digital media projects that mobilize their peers from awareness to action. By helping youth imagine new ways of engaging in socially-motivated commons-based peer production, Open Youth Networks aims to strengthen youth participation in democratic decision-making through critical media production and analysis.

Here is a video produced by our own Open Youth Networks members that explains how we view the democratic potential of participatory culture.

See more of our videos on our YouTube Channel called YouthLAB.
http://www.youtube.com/user/youthlab2007

READ TESTIMONIALS FROM YOUTHLAB PARTICIPANTS!

YouthLAB was not only about learning media technology but also about the experience of working with a diverse group of teens my age. The program gave me the opportunity to teach media executives how to blog and a give a talk on how the youth use You-Tube in Los Angeles, California!!  —Sadia Nawab

Youthlab helps one to become more self-aware of your environments and other communities; while teaching us new skills for video and how to be active in the ever-growing social network. —Kevin Eme

Youth Lab is the coolest summer program I have ever participated in! It is an enriching experience that motivated me to use media for youth activism. Because of YouthLAB I was able to receive a grant to produce a video for an international television series on environmental justice!—Marisol Becerra

I like the process of learning media and editing techniques in order to display important issues to the world. YouthLAB gave me the hands-on media experience and social opportunity to get my voice out to the world. –Andres Quiroz

The best part is being as creative as possible and then to just sit back, relax and enjoy our works of art  absorbed by an audience…that has to be the most rewarding. — Sadia Nawab

In YouthLAB, youth are put in charge of what they create and what they discuss. I met other kids from different backgrounds and neighborhoods that I never would have met otherwise ..I learned as much about social issues from them as I did about digital DIY media. —Zane Scheuerlein