Course: CSC300
Instructor: Danny Heap
Please fill out the form below with as much information as possible so that students can
learn more about what it would be like to participate in a service learning opportunity
with your organization. Please return the completed form by January 3, 2011 to
rebecca.wolfe@utoronto.ca.
Organization / Office:
Jane’s Walk/Univ of Toronto History Dept
Contact Information:
Matt.price@utoronto.ca Professor Matt Price, HIS495Y
snugharbourfilms@sympatico.ca (416) 534-4923 co-lead
Jason.voulgaris@utoronto.ca co-lead
For the innovative new History Dept course Hacking History www.hackinghistory.ca
Brief Description of Your Organization:
A research-driven engagement microsite on the existing Jane’s Walk site
(http://www.janeswalk.net) . The microsite will offer a digital exploration of Jane
Jacobs’ seminal work on urban planning, “The Death and Life of Great American
Cities.”
Join us to conceptualize and help execute a unique, grassroots digital
> project that is all about citizenship, usability, and legacy. Jane's
> Walk is a collective based in Toronto with limited staff but a devoted
> group of 30,000 volunteers who each year help Torontonians reidentify
> with the urban space, be it Chinatown or Jane-Finch, waterfront condos
> or Leslieville. The annual Jane's Walks in more than a dozen cities
> across North America have been a physical and digital gathering place
> for advocates of real common sense city life, the love of chaos, the
> "street ballet", of hopes for families and individuals of all economic
> strata for a real community that Jacobs envisioned with such humour and
> wit. An architectural editor and mother and civic activist, she changed
> the face of architecture without a degree; changed the economic
> orthodoxy on city budgets and the behemoth of urban renewal without
> being accredited as an economist or urban planner. Her work is
> especially loved in Toronto, where she came after helping save Greenwich
> Village in New York, due to the Vietnam draft and fears that her
> university-aged children would be forced to serve.
>
> The project involves working with two creative leads in 4th year History
> at U of T (Jason Voulgaris and Julia Bennett, under Professor Matt
> Price), and the two visionary longtime staff, Emmy Pantin and Jane Farrow at
Jane's Walk offices at
> Spadina and Queen, to add a special microsite and digital engagement
> initiative to their web presence -- one that celebrates and takes
> forward to the future Jacobs' bellwether book, The Death and Life of
> Great American Cities.
>
> The site, built on a template website called Expression Engine (similar to
Wordpress but with a forum/discussion focus rather than a blogging focus)
will need some HTML learning curve together, but we have assistance
> and advice from the IT volunteers who built it.
>
> The work will be done with constant feedback, testing, and research with
> energetic board and participants in the Jane's Walk 5th anniversary of
> the actual walks, culminating in a launch around the May 7-8 2011 Walks
> in Toronto.
> This will be a microsite and digital presence that will be a legacy for
> many years to come -- the creative doors are open to your input -- we
> want this to be a truly interactive project, in both directions, as the
> site itself will be for its users!
Brief Description of the Service Learning Opportunity:
(Please include information on tasks, responsibilities and scheduling / timing if
possible)
After research and initial direction is set by mid-February 2011, student service
learning team is invited to an initial meeting and conceptualizing brainstorm. Then on
successive set days which will ideally be Sunday days, students will work with us as a
group of 7 to take assets and design ideas and turn them into web modules using the
HTML-coded template software Expression Engine, first in a trial sandbox, then
following approvals onto the actual site.
The site is used by the general public all-ages, by researchers interested in Jane
Jacobs, and volunteers who participate in the 30,000 strong walks each year. We will
set up two informal usability testing sessions with volunteers representative of this
group.
The microsite will hopefully (this is tentative) include:
- an intro page with the book pages “turning” to reveal 5-10 concepts key to
Jacobs wide influence in city planning
- subpages which will take an image of an urban street in Toronto; New York;
and Philadelphia and have a mouseover or clickability function on areas of that
photograph to explain specific concepts of Jacobs
- links to events around the 50th anniversary of the book’s publication, which
falls in 2011
- a call out for comments and twitter comments from anyone who was
influenced by Jacobs or her book “How did Jane Jacobs change your life”
Location of student work (independent or on –site):
Some independent, some at University of Toronto facilities, and possibly a work/visit
to the Centre for Social Innovation at 215 Spadina where Jane’s Walk and other
digital innovators are located.
Number of students that can participate:
We would like to work with the team of four at the outset to get everyone’s input,
and be flexible to see what works.
Requirements:
(I.E. Police record check, 2 step TB test etc.)
None that we know of yet.
Other Information:
(Feel free to include any other important information)
All those who work on the site will receive a credit on web and any other materials.
For further information, please contact:
Rebecca Wolfe
Coordinator, Community Development
Centre for Community Partnerships
University of Toronto
569 Spadina Ave, Suite 315B
Tel: 416 946 3758
Fax: 416 978 2817
rebecca.wolfe@utoronto.ca
www.ccp.utoronto.ca