Archive for ‘Uncategorized’:
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Congratulations, GothamSchools.org on the great site redesign!
Their celebratory post:
We’re GothamSchools, and we’re going live today with a new design. We hope this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, the kind where we challenge each other on the important things but have each other’s backs in the day-by-day effort to make schools better.
Here’s what you get from us: fair, accurate, and honest up-to-the-minute reporting from the front lines of teaching and learning in New York City. We won’t pull punches, but we won’t play gotcha, either. In fact, we already broke a story — the UFT’s probable stance against Mayor Bloomberg on term limits.
And here’s what we want from you: eyeballs, so many of them that when we wake up tomorrow morning the site has crashed and you’re left refreshing your browser in frustration. (Don’t worry, we have the bandwidth to support you.) We’d also like your insight: Leave us comments and send us tips with your scoops from the schools.
GothamSchools will be following developments in at least two arenas: what happens inside classrooms (any borough will do), and what happens inside Tweed Courthouse, the place that Chancellor Joel Klein calls “work,” along with all those other places we find ourselves when we’re on the trail of the Big Story: the UFT headquarters at 52 Broadway; the halls of state government in Albany; and in the heads of DOE officials, visionary educators, and involved parents.
To cement the distinction, from now on we’ll be organizing our daily dispatches into two distinct blogs. At the head of the Classroom is former teacher Kelly Vaughan, who after eight years of teaching in the Bronx knows a thing or two about schools. And anchoring the Newsroom are Philissa Cramer, formerly of Insideschools, and — here’s another new thing — Elizabeth Green, of the late, great New York Sun. You can read all of our posts in one place (just hit the “Home” tab at any time) or switch between the Classroom and Newsroom.
Here’s what else is new:
- We’ve crafted a snazzy new design to match the high quality of our reporting.
- We’ve created a place for longer and more comprehensive pieces than are typically included on a blog. Check these out in our Features section.
- We’ve added a calendar stocked with upcoming events, from professional development opportunities to parent meetings. Know of something happening? Submit an event.
GothamSchools is better today than it was yesterday, and tomorrow it will be better still. But we need your help. Let us know how you think the site can be improved. And above all, keep reading. We’ll be blogging.
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10/13/2008
Wikis Take Manhattan
Last Saturday, TOPP played host to Wikis Take Manhattan, a city-wide scavenger hunt and free media contest.
The idea:One part streets -- more than thirty teams of scavengers spent Saturday afternoon taking pictures of curb cuts and separated bike lanes, all the while admiring the beauty of the city by foot, bike, and train.
One part copyleft -- all photos are Creative Commons-licensed, so they can be freely shared and remixed.This event generated gigabytes of freely-licensed content for StreetsWiki and Wikipedia.
And many, many parts fun -- everyone came back to to the TOPP office for pizza, beer, and mayhem. OK, well the mayhem was had mostly by the uploaders, who spent much of the evening frantically trying to upload and score thousands of pictures from dozens cameras.
The results? Well, the final tally isn't in yet (we're still uploading!), but we had dozens of participants, thousands of photos, and smiles all around. But don't trust us, check out the great Streetfilm.Stay tuned for links to the final photo galleries.
The event was organized by TOPP, Free Culture @ Columbia, Free Culture @ NYU, the NYC Wikimedia meetup, and Creative Commons. Further sponsorship was provided by Pure Food & Wine, The Camera Club of New York, Brooklyn Brewery, Bicycle Habitat, B's Bikes, Birdbath Bakery, The LimeWire Store, and O'Reilly Media.
Thanks to all who helped make this event possible! A special thanks to Emile from the Camera Club of NY for judging Best Photo.
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10/10/2008
Streetsblog Seeks Freelance Reporter
Streetsblog, TOPP's transportation and urban planning advocacy blog, is looking for an experienced journalist to help point the way towards a more livable and sustainable urban environment.
Since its launch two years ago, Streetsblog has broken numerous stories and emerged as an influential voice in civic affairs. Our readership consists largely of city government employees, planning and transportation professionals, environmental advocates, members of the media and individuals interested in being involved in what is often referred to as the “Livable Streets” movement.
While Streetsblog has a distinct advocacy bent, the site is run by professionally-trained editors and reporters who aim to cover Livable Streets issues with newspaper-quality journalism. Towards that end, Streetsblog is seeking journalists with previous professional experience to do original research, reporting, interviews, investigation and coverage of events.Check out the job post for more details!
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8/13/2008
Thousands enjoy ‘Summer Streets’
In just two days, more than 10,000 people have watched Streetfilms' great Summer Streets video!
New York took an historic step this Saturday, opening up 7 miles of streets to pedestrians, cyclists, and a host of community uses. The car-free boulevard stretched from Central Park all the way to the Brooklyn Bridge.Streetfilms was there to capture the fun. Sounds like the video is a hit with the Livable Streets community:
- "We came into Manhattan via the F Train at Lex / 63rd and walked over to Park Ave. For the first time ever I was not worried about my kids running onto Park Avenue." - Eric
- "I signed up to volunteer at a summer streets event not really know what summer street was. It was the best time! i can't wait to experience the next 2 Saturdays. You will find me running, learning to bike and just dancing in the streets! Between the traffic and bike rental costs, I've never been motivated to learn but can't pass up free open road!" - Betty
- "The best news is that any and all cities can copy and follow NYC’s
example, regardless of size and location. Portland did Sunday Parkways
on June 22, in October Chicago, April 2009 Baltimore...Clarence's
videos will help others get moving. It’s not rocket science...just do
it!" - Gil Peñalosa (former Bogotá Commissioner of Parks, Sport, and Recreation).
This weekend's event was an amazing success, and we're looking forward to two more days of Summer Streets: this Saturday 8/16 and next Saturday 8/23.
Summer Streets is NYC's version of Ciclovia, a celebrated institution in Bogotá, Colombia. Every Sunday and holiday, Bogotá opens dozens of miles to roads to pedestrians, cyclists, runners, dancers, musicians, and everyone else. The event provides the physical space that makes for healthy, safe communities.
The Summer Streets video adds to Streetfilms' cache of fun and inspiring vignettes that can be used for Livable Streets advocacy around the world. Streetfilms like Ciclovia: Bogotá, Colombia have already helped inspire cities like Baltimore build critical support that opens their streets to the public.
For more great snapshots, check out Streetsblog's Summer Streets Photo Tour.
Photo courtesy of doddnyc/Flickr.
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7/31/2008
Back to School: GothamSchools.org
The Web can be an incredible tool for advocacy. Streetsblog is an enormously successful example: a news outlet and community hub has transformed NYC's transportation landscape and tipped the scales toward livable streets and neighborhoods.Today, we announce GothamSchools.org, a major foray into NYC's education scene.
"GothamSchools is a news source and online community for teachers, parents, policy makers, and journalists interested in learning about what works and what doesn’t in the nation’s largest school district. We seek to provide a clearinghouse for New York City school news and commentary, connect teachers and parents with resources, highlight effective practices in policy and pedagogy, and build a participatory knowledge base about education in New York City."
You can expect statistics crunching, up-to-the-minute reporting, and insights into the lives of teachers, students, parents, and principals. And best of all, you can have your say. It's a must-read for the coming school year.
The blog is is written by intrepid wordsmiths Philissa Cramer and Kelly Vaughan. Of the brand new site, Kelly says:
"We've appreciated the feedback of readers and friends (one blog-hating friend says we converted him!) who are responding to our posts and making suggestions about the site. We're also working on a creative brief to guide the development of a visual identity and an expanded site."
