Computational Participation

"Computational participation involves solving problems, designing systems, and understanding human behavior in the context of computing. It allows for participation in digital activities" (Kafai 26).

At my school, the Design and Innovation class is continually working the local community solving problems and designing new spaces. The class has designed hypothetical parklets around the community. A parklet is essentially a parking spot that has been turned into a micro park, a place where individuals can sit, have a coffee or a snack, read a newspaper, etc... (Martin). The New York Times published a great article titled "When the Parking Space becomes a Park" in 2015. It can be read here. I know the Design & Innovation teacher is looking to get his students involved with designing parklets around Victoria.

Currently, the design and innovation class has been given a space in the local community to design a park for teenagers. The goal of the project is to get teenagers out to the park once the pandemic ends. The students have decided to incorporate the use of technology through smartphones as a way to draw teenagers in. Basing their ideas on the augmented reality mobile game Pokémon Go, the students are working to create various activities through QR codes on the park benches, lamp posts, etc... (Wikipedia:Pokémon Go). The project is just in it's beginning stages, I know the students visited the space a few weeks ago. I will be staying tuned to see where their park goes.

Questions to consider

1) Given the innovative potential of computational participation, should we be shifting our focus from computational thinking to computational participation? Why or Why not?

2) What similar examples of computational participation have you seen in your school communities?

Works Cited

Kafai, Yasmin B. “From Computational Thinking to Computational Participation in K-12 Education.” Communications of the ACM, vol. 59, no. 8, Aug. 2016, pp. 26–27. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1145/2955114.

Martin, Claire. “When the Parking Space Becomes a Park.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Jan. 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/business/when-the-parking-space-becomes-a-park.html.

“Pokémon Go.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Oct. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Go.