Chicago’s Digital Youth Network Promotes Social Media Literacy

The Urban Education Institute of The University of Chicago supports an initiative called the Digital Youth Network (DYN) or iremix.org, a “hybrid digital literacy program that creates opportunities for youth to engage in learning environments that span both school and out-of-school context.” DYN provides full-time services to students participating in UEI/University of Chicago charter schools. Students from other schools participate in the four-year-old program after school and during summer sessions. Recently, the program moved into a 5,000 square foot space in Chicago’s Harold Washington Library.

The core of the model spans the worlds of school, home, and after-school activities, and provides youth with:

• access and training in the use of new media literacy tools;
• meaningful activities where the development of new medial literacies is essential for accomplishing goals; and
• a continuum of established new media mentors (high school through professionals) who develop students’ technical skills, serve as role models, and provide students access to the communities of practice surrounding technology-based careers.

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