Identity Technology Storytelling

As part of the City of Boston’s Artist in Residency, at the Hyde Park Center for Youth and Family, I worked with community members and taught electronics and coding to create ownership and understand identity throughout technology. We created art and poetry using code and physical computing to build video cameras that were used to interview the Hyde Park Community. We facilitated for residents to connect with different generations, understand identity using technology and storytelling, building and creating stories together. This process brought a sense of ownership focused on being makers and not consumers in a world where everything is given.

In Hyde Park, there is no place where a new member of the community can learn from the past. The middle and high school students, as well as the seniors who attend the center, did not have a space for sharing. They lacked ways in which to learn from each other. To create trust, I designed intergenerational coding and electronics workshops scheduled twice weekly for seven months. The community that participated were immigrants, first and second generations, from Haiti and Dominican Republic all Hyde Park residents. The goal was to have a strong curriculum that helped facilitate an environment for them to learn STEAM based on problem-solving and collaboration. We combined exercises to practice storytelling through questions and answers in conjunction with learning tech and building. In the end, we created five handmade video cameras using recycled materials for the body and electronics and microcontrollers for the inside components, as well as a series of interactive poems that reflected their cultural roots and interests.  After building the cameras, the participants interviewed staff members, community leaders, friends, and family members.  Explore the project.