World Wide Workshop Foundation

Current Project: MaMaMedia Activity Center

The World Wide Workshop Foundation has partnered with OLPC to create the MaMaMedia Activity Center, a set of original Constructionist learning activities.

The MaMaMedia Activity Center is based on award-winning, kid-tested, "hard-fun" puzzles, digital toys, and creativity tools from MaMaMedia.com. These activities highlight the valuable edu-design principles of the "3X's" and leverage the unique operating system and technological features of the XO Laptop, including the laptop's built-in camera, drawing and writing tools, and the mesh network. Children learn to invent, make, and share their own puzzles, stories, cartoons, polls, quizzes and more. Easy to follow lesson plans and related tutorials are also offered for teachers and parents who have little or no previous experiences with computers, the Internet, and programmable media technology.

"If the world's children will grow up using activities of the 3Xs kind, they will become less of media consumers and more of a media creators." -- Dr. Idit Harel Caperton, President and Founder of MaMaMedia and the World Wide Workshop Foundation.

About the World Wide Workshop Foundation

Based on her MIT Media Lab research with Seymour Papert in the 1980's and 1990's, Dr. Idit Harel Caperton, author of the book Children Designers, believes that "if young children see their technology as a pencil, right from the start, and if they see the Internet as paint, beads, sand, or clay, they will learn the 3X's skills -- i.e., how to eXplore the world around them, eXpress themselves clearly, and eXchange their ideas using digital media and tools on their laptops. Equipped with the 3X's skills, children also gain the tools and self-confidence to build their own worlds using digital technology, and lead others in their communities."

The World Wide Workshop Foundation is dedicated to narrowing the divide by empowering children with the life and technical skills to create media, explore the web to cull information, and contribute to informational communities around the world, using web-based and wiki media and tools. We know these skills will not be honed in a day, it takes time to become an effective blogger, wiki-writer, and games programmer; but with commitment, support and access to opportunities and suitable learning environments -- we believe this can be a reality for all children and youth in the near future.

"It's not that they're not going to be media consumers anymore, but we want them to grow to expect to go one level above and beyond media consumption, and become media technology leaders for educational and social causes that are relevant to them and people in their communities" says Idit Harel Caperton.

Team Members

Coming soon: team photo taken with XO

We are a diverse and experienced team of professionals committed to using our skills to empower children and youth around the world through technology.

MaMaMedia Activity Center contacts:

• WWWorkshop Shannon -- Program Director

• TGrannum -- Producer, Wiki Developer

• MorganCollett -- Python Developer

• Learn more about our whole team.

If you are interested in joining our team as a professional, intern or volunteer please contact us at info@worldwideworkshop.

Location

Our primary office is in New York City, but we are a virtual team, collaborating virtuallly in real time from three continents.

You will find us in:

• Cape Town, South Africa
• Faro, Portugal
• New York, New York, USA
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Languages

We work primarily in English. Members of our team also speak Hebrew and Portuguese.

Interests and Expertise

We achieve our foundation’s objectives by drawing on our collective leadership and award-winning competencies in multiple fields including digital art, design, education, media, policy, research, science and technology, and expertise in the academic, business and non-profit sectors.

Activities in Development

Click on an activity name for detailed information about design and development status.

Activity Name	Description	Current Status
MaMaMedia Activity Center	Activity menu and launcher	In Beta Release 1.0
Teacher Center	Information for Educators	In Beta Release 1.0
Slider Puzzle	Picture Unscrambling Puzzle	In Beta Release 1.0
Poll Builder	Build and vote in polls	In Beta Release 1.0
Cartoon Builder	Cell animation tool	In Development
Story Builder	Graphical story constructor	In Development
Jigsaw Puzzle	Picture Assembly Puzzle	Planning stage
MyBot Builder	Crazy Creature constructor	Planning stage
e-Card Builder	Greeting Card constructor	Planning stage
Flipsticks	KeyFrame animation tool	Planning stage
BotBlox	Build a Block world and program Bots to move in it	Planning stage
Quiz Machine	Quiz creation tool	Planning stage
Joke Machine	Joke telling tool	Planning stage
Galleries	Space for kids to show off their creations	Planning stage

Resources

• MaMaMedia Activity Center Developers Wiki
• MaMaMedia Activity Center Educators Wiki
• World Wide Workshop Foundation website
• MaMaMedia.com