We’re about to post ideas from parents, collected at our parent forums. As a team composed of researchers, community workers, and media people, we’re experimenting with different ways of presenting this data to the public online. We’d like your feedback as we begin to present.
On the OneVille Project, we believe that education will work better for kids if people 1) talk specifically about what is helpful/harmful to them, rather than generically. We also believe that education will work better for kids if people 2) come together as a community to assist kids collectively.
So, how best to present people’s words after the fact? A whole transcript of uncategorized ideas is hard on the brain trying to analyze. So, we’re slightly categorizing people’s suggestions. That way, readers can walk away with a sense of specific things to think about.
At the same time, the human, community-building aspects of a face to face forum are hard to convey if you just categorize people’s “data.” When you read the entire transcript of a forum, you see people’s comments one after another and see diverse people sharing and struggling with ideas. That might better convey the sense of community-building that really did occur in our forums.
We’re also considering how best to present even critical feedback on improving schools in a way that clarifies Somerville parents’ deep desires to be partners with schools in children’s education.
So, let us know what you think when we post! Tell us how the presentation works for you – and let us know what you think of the actual ideas raised.