September 26, 2019
By: Shannon Smith, former Library Specialist
In January, UW Libraries, in collaboration with the UW Lab School, was selected as
a partner site for the Build a Better Book (BBB) project at the University of Colorado Boulder. This project is supported by the National
Science Foundation, and partner sites range from school libraries to public libraries
to academic libraries. The BBB project seeks to help empower school and library makerspaces
to “engage youth in the design and fabrication of inclusive media, including picture
books, games and graphics.” This process focuses on the iterative nature of fabrication,
testing, and refining designs.
Pictured above: Build a Better Book workshop attendees, including Teresa Strube &
Shannon Smith, visiting sphero in Boulder, CO in March.
Pictured above: Shannon Smith and Teresa Strube attending the Build a Better Book
Workshop in Boulder, CO in March.
Teresa Strube, UW Lab School Math & Science Teacher, and Shannon Smith, Library Specialist
at the Learning Resource Center, joined other members from the 2019 cohort of partner
sites to participate in an immersive training experience. Over the course of the training
participants were asked to challenge their assumptions of accessibility, step outside
of their comfort zones, and engage in conversations to enhance the work of Universal
Design within their various maker communities.
Pictured above: 7th & 8th grade students from UW's Lab School Tactile Design Elective
course building better books.
The BBB 2019 cohort explored low to no-tech approaches for building tactile and immersive
stories and games. Participants discussed in-depth how popular makerspace tools such
as Makey Makeys, 3D pens and printers, laser printers, and conductive boards can enhance the goals
of student designs as a way to add additional texture and sound to projects. The two-day
workshop included tours of Sphero robotics, SparkFun Electronics, and the Boulder Public Library Makerspace (BLDG 61). The librarians and teachers shared their experiences from their maker-centered spaces,
heard from researchers on their lessons learned with youth, and even spoke to youth
in Boulder who had designed their own multi-lingual (braille, Spanish, and English)
board game.
Pictured above: 7th & 8th grade students from UW's Lab School Tactile Design Elective
course building better books.
The power of these conversations centered on the possibilities for this work to help
youth learn to think from a different point of view. This focus of the project seeks
to build empathy among sight-abled youth to support the needs of other youth in their
communities both near and far. BBB wants these youth to ask themselves who they are
as makers and how they can support the needs of others through the implementation
of tactile and audio features into hands-on projects. We are excited to begin our
work as BBB partners with middle school students at the UW Lab School, especially
as a way to increase conversations of diversity and inclusion. They particularly want
to help students explore how design and making can help them become change-makers
in the world.
Pictured above: Shannon Smith, Teresa Strube, and students show off their tactile
alphabet setup in the Literacy Reseach Center and Clinic (LRCC)
Check out this video below to find out more about the Bulid a Better Book Project:
