{"id":9562,"date":"2015-09-01T04:00:22","date_gmt":"2015-09-01T11:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/?p=9562"},"modified":"2015-08-31T16:51:45","modified_gmt":"2015-08-31T23:51:45","slug":"making-the-case-for-a-makeathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/making-the-case-for-a-makeathon\/","title":{"rendered":"Making the Case for a Makeathon"},"content":{"rendered":"

TechHive<\/a> is a Learning Lab based out of the Lawrence Hall of Science<\/a> in Berkeley, California run by our partner YOUmedia<\/a>.\u00a0During the last weekend in May, TechHive\u2019s staff and teen interns collaborated to plan, develop, raise funds for, and run a Makeathon<\/a>. The idea for this event came from a shared desire to experiment with an alternative to the popular hackathon event. Hackathons have developed a negative reputation for often being male-dominated and sexist events. Writers and critics have drawn similarities between the lack of diversity in hackathons as a reflection of a larger lack of diversity both in Silicon Valley and in technology jobs as a whole. TechHive\u2019s Makeathon was a response to this culture, and a contribution towards a constructive event that showed how hackathons can be, if they\u2019re thoughtfully designed.<\/p>\n

\u201c’The most negative thing that I feel happens at tech events, specifically at hackathons, is that there is a lot of sexual harassment that goes on\u2026 For example, I went to High School Hacks, and a lot of guys saw it as their opportunity to try out their pick-up lines\u2026 That is something that I see a lot when I\u2019m doing tech things besides TechHive.’ said Ming, one of TechHive\u2019s teen interns during a YOUmedia Learning Labs Network google hangout where she was joined by TechHive staff AJ Almaguer and TechHive\u2019s Director, Dr. Sherry Hsi. Other female teen interns who had tried their first technology hackathon shared both positive and negative experiences with Lawrence Hall\u2019s staff. Ming wanted to be able to provide an environment that still had the excitement of competition and immersion in technology, but with more female peers. Another female intern found hackathons favored experts and were unwelcoming to both beginners and young women. Participants with no background in robotics, computing, or building would be placed at an immediate disadvantage. As Dr. Hsi commented, ‘It\u2019s hard to measure, but it\u2019s this notion that there\u2019s a chilly climate and an atmosphere that\u2019s a bit hostile towards girls and women\u2026 And there are subtle interactions, and subtle ways of framing activity, ways of organizing groups that would cause girls and women to feel less welcome.’ These observations and conversations between teens and staff were instrumental in shaping the Makeathon.”<\/p>\n

By K-Fai Steele<\/em><\/p>\n

Interested in finding out more? Read the full article<\/a> at the YOUmedia Network blog.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post from our partner, YOUmedia, shows how one Learning Lab at the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley, CA, created an event to be more inviting for female makers and hackers, addressing a need to be more inclusive in the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":9567,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[397],"tags":[108,563,562,561],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9562"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9562"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9633,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9562\/revisions\/9633"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}