Newsletter Archive
Newsletter October 2007
From the Executive Director
The Fall newsletter always feels a bit like that essay you had to write about "What I did last summer". Summer is one of Tincan's busiest times, with teacher education workshops and student camps virtually every week. There's hardly time to catch up, and as soon as Fall begins we have to start thinking about next summer - what worked this year and what didn't, how do we want to change things, what new things do we want to try. The camps we held were a lot of fun, and educational both to participants and staff. I even learned to use a game development tool to create a simple video game - and I agree with the teens who participated that it's a lot easier to play a game than create one.
Fall gives us a chance to regroup. All of our programs are expanding: the Women's Business Center into the Tri-counties, our history project into working with small museums in the region, our teachers programs to serving the whole state. But it's not just geographic expansion. Our vision is expanding too, with our teen programs developing a long-range strategic plan to take our offerings to a higher professional level in web development, documentary video production, and video game development. As we grow, we welcome community input and support, either as volunteers or through your donations. As you plan for your end of year giving, please consider Tincan on your donation list. We want to ensure that are programs continue to be available to those who have less ability to pay. Your can donate directly on our web site www.tincan.org, or by sending your contribution to Tincan, 827 West First Ave., Suite 121, Spokane, WA 99201.
Karen L. Michaelson, Ph.D.
Executive Director
tincaninfo@tincan.org
Tincan Summer Camps
 This summer, teens throughout Spokane participated in summer camps where they learned new technology skills, got involved in their community, and had fun.
In the Street Art Camp teens learned about and got to practice working with the ever widening array of artistic methods available for creating public art. After learning about different types of art, campers took digital cameras out and photographed graffiti, stenciling, and other street art around downtown Spokane . The camp emphasized non-permanent art styles such as LED lights, chalk art, and projection. These tools allow artists to make a public statement without damaging property. For their final project the teens collaborated to create several dynamic digital and human installations around downtown. Visit the website to see what they created!
streetartcamp2007.
Tincan's Animal Camp 2007 mixed important local issues with technology and produced a fun filled week of education and empowerment for its teen attendees. "It's the first time he's been enthused about anything for a long time." said Craig Howard, Big Brother to Michael, one of the campers. Special guest speakers Patricia Simonet of SCRAPS and Carol Byrnes of Diamonds in the Ruff taught us about dog laughter and communication. Other activities included a trips to SpokAnimal Shelter, a local pet store, The Soda Factory, and River Front Park. After learning about companion animal issues in Spokane we made a one-minute PSA encouraging people to treat animals more humanely. The teens brainstormed, storyboarded, shot and edited the PSA. To watch the PSA and see more photos from Animal Camp visit
animalcamp2007.
BizMiz camps encouraged teen girls to become entrepreneurs. The girls created business plans for businesses they might like to own one day. They then learned to develop ecommerce web sites to promote their businesses. Most teens thought about real businesses they could start - and one teen has already developed a successful online business selling her photographs (ciaratottonphotography.com). BizMiz participants worked with the Women's Business Center and Tincan's web developer to gain real world perspectives on what it takes to create a business and put it online. After school BizMiz programs will be held this fall at Shaw and Chase Middle Schools.
Making Environmental Video Games introduced middle school students to video game development in a science context. The teens learned the basics of MultiMedia Fusion2, a game development engine. The tasks were complex, requiring math skills, logic, and planning individual scenes - then linking them together. The teens were able to download graphics from the web to integrate them into their games. They created voices for characters using Crazy Talk. At the end, the teens each play-tested one another's games, scoring them on use of graphics, challenge, and other factors, and commenting on the games' ability to engage them. The teens all agreed that the first thing they realized was that it was much easier to play a game than create one.
Virtual Teen Center
The Inland Northwest Memories Projectt
History Online
 Small and community museums throughout the Inland Northwest are learning to digitize their collections and place the materials onto the Inland Northwest Memories Project (INMP) website (history.tincan.org). Through a grant from Humanities Washington, "Small Town Museums: Reflections on Community Life", staff from INMP are traveling to local small town museums to teach volunteers how to digitize their collections and to discover the significance of small museums in preserving their community's heritage. In addition, Tincan will make a documentary showing the activities of participating museums and their importance in community life. If any local museums or historical societies want to participate, they can contact Elisha Durrant, the project director, at 509-744-0972, elisha@tincan.org.
This fall INMP will be returning to Chase Middle School for an after school community history program. INMP staff will teach students how to conduct proper oral history interviews, so that they can interview community elders. Individuals who have memories of Spokane from long ago can volunteer to be interviewed by the students.
As always INMP, an online archive of local history, is looking for individuals that would like to share their story, photographs, letters, etc., that relate to the Inland Northwest. We are an active participant in the Library of Congress Veterans' History project and are always interested in putting veterans' histories online, as well as the histories of those who have lived in the Inland Northwest for many years. Please contact Elisha Durrant at 509-744-0972.
The Inland Northwest Memories Project
SubVERSive
Teens in Tincan's poetry program created two videos and numerous poems while exploring how prejudice affects their community. The program, called SubVERSive: Overturning Prejudice through Poetry, took place at the Martin Luther King Jr Family Outreach Center and the Odyssey Youth Center over the summer. Eastern Washington University MFA candidates and poets Michelle Kozlowski and Daniel Harrington guided the creative process. Over 30 teens participated in the summer sessions. Two more groups will participate this fall and the final videos will be shown at The Empyrean December 5th. Visit www.virtualteencenter.org for more information. The SubVERSive program is funded by the Starbucks Foundation.
Virtual Teen Center
eMerge
eMerge News has started up again with some exciting new changes. Teens will be creating a bi-weekly newscast out of their new studio at Tincan for broadcast online. There is also an expanded program offering skill certifications in journalism and video production. The program meets Monday and Thursday afternoons from 3-5 pm at Tincan and Tuesday from 11-12 am at Crosswalk. For more info or to join, email hannah@tincan.org or visit us online at myspace.com/emergenews.
eMerge News
INWBC News
The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded a $98,164 Rural Business Enterprise grant to Tincan' Women's Business Center to establish the Northeast Washington Business Development Network. The grant provides business technical assistance programs to any business in Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille counties. Although the WBC has served the Tri-County area for three years from our main office, we've found that small businesses in that area need technical assistance and targeted programs where their business resides.
The technical assistance provided by the WBC includes: start-up, business plan assistance and review, marketing assistance, eCommerce, public relations and more. Our enhanced program through USDA will allow onsite technical assistance at multiple locations on a weekly basis, monthly workshops, web development assistance and additional outreach to current and potential small businesses.
A Business Advisor will be available each Tuesday in Colville at the Tri-County Economic Development District office and on Thursdays at the Newport-Oldtown Chamber of Commerce. Assistance will also be available in the near future in the northern-tier of the Tri-County region including Republic. Appointments are available starting immediately by calling (509) 747-2821. Tincan currently has an RFQ out for a Business Advisor to provide technical assistance for Ferry County and the northernmost tier of the Tri-County area.
Inland Northwest Women's Business Center
Teachers Learn Technology
 Secondary school teachers in Spokane County learned how to create their own brand of soda (a biotech process) and develop e-commerce websites this summer as part of Tincan's WIBIT (Women in Biotechnology and Information Technology) project. Teachers will use their new skills to enhance their classroom teaching, using the techniques they learned to get their students interested in science and technology.
Other groups of teachers from around the state learned to integrate technology with environmental science. One group of teachers used NetLogo to model environmental conditions and determine how changing variables had an impact on the environmental landscape. The following week, they taught a camp where students learned to use the software.
A second group of teachers learned to use video game development as an educational tool. The teachers were given an environmental problem - game fish were dying in a lake - and not only had to develop a game in which their character figured out why the fish were dying, but also had to come up with the scientific rationale for their solution. Using Mutimedia Fusion2 as their game development engine, teachers marched their characters from field to lab, analyzing data as they went. The following week, they taught a group of middle school students to use the game software to develop their own games.
Tincan's teacher education programs are funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education. For more information about upcoming teacher education opportunities, check the Tincan website, or contact Tara Neumann, tara@tincan.org
Teacher Professional Development |
