Kei Kreutler
Main project: A series of free, project-based workshops on skills related to coding, image manipulation, physical computing, mobile app and web design, and video production. Established with citizens of Matera, the project is a node of the OpenTechSchool, an international initiative to make learning technical skills easy, fun and inherently social. Beyond teaching valuable skills, OpenTechSchool Matera, aims to teach individuals how to teach others - working toward the school’s longevity and existence within a larger, networked community.
Local challenges it addresses:
- (3) Lack of a space for children focused on developing skills, specifically technology,
- (1) Significant lack of offline engagement or visibility for happenings throughout the city,
- (2) Lack of intergenerational space
How the project has changed: I initially proposed a project for one programming course supplemented by readings in media studies. Given the identified challenge of a lack of intergenerational spaces, as well as the language difficulties, establishing a more collaborative and sustainable - in that the skill sharing continues beyond the unMonastery residency period - program presented itself as favorable; thus prompting my project to change to facilitating a series of open workshops on varying skills in the establishment of an OpenTechSchool in Matera.
Successes:
- Several workshops held weekly
- Event organization (Arduino Day)
- Collaborating with 4 local projects on their websites
Challenges:
- Language difficulties (a need to improve my Italian)
- Initially unclear of how to best communicate workshop schedule and content
- Difficulty to onboard projects from high schools in Matera
- Unexpected amount of time needed to invest in the internal unMonastery infrastructure
Activities and Outputs:
OpenTechSchool:
- Held 10 workshops since the unMonastery’s official opening 5 weeks ago, instructed a total of 49 students
- Presented OpenTechSchool at two student assemblies, University of Basilicata, Liceo Classico, and Liceo Artistico
- Organized and facilitated a workshop for children during the Arduino Day event at unMonastery
- Made connections with the OpenTechSchool community at large
Community Website Project:
- Collaboratively launched a website for the Netural Talk project
- In communication with 3 other local businesses and projects on how to develop their website and online presence
- Building a linked (and visible online/ offline) community for projects, including a website for the local artisans network and for the Mapping the Commons unMonastery project (currently in development)
Arduino Day:
- Working in collaboration with Casa Netural, we organized an event on the 29th March at the unMonastery to celebrate the 10th birthday of Arduino, in line with world-wide celebrations
- The aim was to establish relationships with local people (and potentially involve them in further projects) and to show the world that Matera is dynamic place
Miscellaneous:
- Developed unMonastery website
- Organized workshops with local artisans for Family Day
- Produced print materials, including personal cards and flyers, for unMonastery
- Facilitating Network Analysis and Evaluation project
- Currently planning to create online visualizations for Analytics project
Relationships: http://www.immateriallabour.com/unmon/report/kei