Visiting the Computer Clubhouse

This afternoon we met with Tara from the Computer Clubhouse in Napier St, Fitzroy.

Stefan was involved in the creation of this clubhouse and this was his first visit in some time.

The purpose of the visit was to learn how they operate these days and the reasons why, to learn from their experience.

Things we learnt included;

- They run from 3pm-6.30pm plus extra late sessions during the week.

- They have around 20 kids in most afternoons.

- When kids come in they sign on and sign off. This allows them to track when kids are in and reassures parents. Kids must be members to come in.

- There is a phone for kids to call their parents on.

- Kids aren't allowed to leave after 5pm without a guardian.

- Much of the help seems to be about helping kids with homework, and there seemed to be a real need for it. At least one kid was waiting for help when we were there, another was working on some school work.

- Mentors help to train mentors.

- Kids help to train kids.

- Mentors cannot contact the children outside of hours due to lack of transparency or any way of recording it. I think we can come up with a technical solution that will allow this.

- Mentors are given an orientation of the space.

- Some of the pcs don't have internet access, Tara mentioned it might be a distraction for what they are trying to achieve. She also mentioned there was more original artwork being produced offline as opposed to derivative.

- Facebook is banned.

- Mathletics is very popular.

- There is a music studio with a keyboard, mic, monitor speakers and mixing desk.

- One young girl showed us some stop motion, she said she was shy but did very well.

- They had an exhibition themed 'respect' - where kids did a range of multimedia art.

Meeting the lawyer and Project Schedule template

Today we met with a lawyer at Victoria University, Cameron Murrell.

Cameron was extremely helpful, and helped explain how we should go about creating a project schedule(here is a link to the file), which covers aspects like;

- Creating a strategic partnership agreement

- Project outline

- People involved

- Term

- Parties obligations

- Fees

- Reviews and reporting

- Special conditions

We also spoke about the possible risks;

- Inadvertant injury to kids

- Damage to equipment

Other points included;

- He recommended we keep other parties who are hiring people in the space(at the moment Monash) well informed.

- Currently the people who are working in the space are covered by workcover, or if they are contractors it's their own responsibility. That will change when we have members of the public(kids and their families) attending, and we will need insurance.

- We need ethics approval from VU.

- If we have student teachers in, we need a 'learning in the workplace agreement' in which case those student teachers will be covered by VU's public liability insurance.

- I need to speak to our 'landlord'(Michael) about health and safety, and fire issues. What is already covered and what is not(there was a fire hydrant placed outside our door recently so I am hoping that is all up to date).

Article in ITwire

Sam Varghese from ITwire also did a story about the Lab, thanks Sam;

http://www.itwire.com/opinion-and-analysis/open-sauce/45386-project-to-help-aspergers-kids

He also had some suggestions about using Ubuntu and how that would help teach kids how to really use computers, not just the windows interface. I think this is a good idea, it's what a lot of kids miss these days as the actual workings of computers are hidden behind a graphic interface(windows, apple).

Articles about The Lab in The Age

Last week we were fortunate enough to have a journalist(Natalie Craig) and photographer(Craig Sillitoe) from The Age newspaper here in Melbourne come for a look at what we have been doing and are planning to do. Thanks to Daniel Clarke from VU for organising it.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/autistic-kids-learn-to-fly-in-cyberspace-20110219-1b0fj.html

The page was translated for a Chinese paper the next morning;

http://www.singtao.com.au/AUSTRALIAnews/public/article_v.cfm?articleId=137550&intcatid=3

and also created quite a bit of chatter on Twitter;

http://twitter.com/search?q=http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/autistic-kids-learn-to-fly-in-cyberspace-20110219-1b0fj.html

So far this has helped us make quite a few new connections as well as aroused interest from some people we already know.

Meeting Amy from SFYS

Today we met with Amy German from School Focussed Youth Services.

We discussed a range of ideas which I am unfortunately updating a bit late, but issues included;

- Transport and the possibility of a bus.

- The existence of a mac lab in a school focussed youth service space which was using technology in similar ways.

- Some interesting schools/models to look at - Pavillion(West Heidelberg), Phoenix(VU), and the Melbourne School on King St.

Meeting Katherine from Orygen once again

Yesterday we met again with Katherine from Orygen who has been incredibly helpful by raising some issues we should be aware of as well as offering solutions and some much needed guidance on the landscape of the mental health industry in Victoria.

The discussion included;

• Carers Victoria and how they might be able to help us.
• Mindwise
• Setting up a parents support network
• Organising a large initial session where we can meet potential students
• CAMS and other forms of diagnosis
• DHS and Community health services
• RMIT Clinical Psychology Placements
• Western Region Health Centre
• Western Region for Education (a good potential partner to find the young people)
• SSSOs - Student school support officers, and the role they play

Katherine then followed up with this email;

Hi Dale and Stefan,

Thanks again for our meeting yesterday.

FYI the number for Commonwealth Carer Respite Centres is 1800 059 059 – they’ll be able to direct yourselves or families to the nearest Commonwealth-funded Carer Respite Service. Families can most definitely self-refer. Details on website here: (sorry I can’t hyperlink) http://www9.health.gov.au/ccsd/

Please find attached also the factsheet about ASDs. A couple of things for your notice – that this factsheet is targeted at adolescents and their families, where there may be an emphasis on emergent mental illnesses. Although the factsheet is ASDs generally, I think it is really helpful for thinking about Aspergers specifically, too.

Regards,

Katherine

Internet....internet....internet

This has taken about a month and a half to get up and running....countless phonecalls, people calling back not understanding all the previous phone calls, wrong instructions, and money, lots of money(around $1000 just to get connected, which includes fees from iinet, telstra, and $500 for phoneworks to run a lead from the MDF to the office.)

The result is we now have some pretty awesome internet, 1TB a month, so it's been worth the effort.

The name of the project - The Lab

After some thought and discussion with several colleagues and some of the young people involved, and as mentioned in the post about meeting Katherine from Orygen, we have decided to call the location 'The Lab.'

This name is trying to avoid any stigma that might be associated with words such as 'club,' 'centre,' or 'school.' It's targetting the students, and trying to create something which they can refer to when speaking with other friends.

Kaan, our graphic designer, is working on a logo at the moment.

Any research projects attached to 'The Lab' may have different identities.

Photos of construction/decor progress

Here are some images of our progress with decor so far.

We initially wanted to paint the walls, but were told that we would have to return them to white at the end of the year(or whenever we move on). As we wish to paint some of the walls purple, this wasn't much of an option.

Our solution has been to use fabric.

Below is a test using some purple material I found at a local fabric store. It's $4.50 p/m, meaning we need around $100 worth to cover two walls and the roof.

Below are some images of myself, Craig and Dion in on weekends doing the first couple of walls with Hessian. The technique we have used is to attach the hessian to strips of wood using a staple gun, and then attach the wood to the walls using nails. This way when we move on, we will be able to rip the wood off the wall and refill the little nail holes, which should be much easier than doing a dozen coats of white paint. The hessian was $4.50 a metre for around 40 metres.

Here is the result so far, it's much more homely than it was with the white walls already.

The next step is to do the other walls and roof in purple, which will include concealing the horrible fluorescent lights. Other plans include strips of wood along the middle of each wall (which will hold the LCD screens), a massive room sized rug(dark grey) and some Japanese Shojin style coverings for the windows, inspired by a recent trip - like the ones below.