Connect Chicago

Smart Chicago runs the Connect Chicago website, a listing of more than 250 places in Chicago where you can use a computer for free, and the Connect Chicago meetup group, which is devoted to creating a culture of shared learning in these places.

Connect Chicago Toolkit: Typing Club

Smart Chicago

“Establish a smart community benchmark and toolkit for broadband access and use” is initiative four of the City of Chicago Tech Plan. the Connect Chicago program is an essential component of that initiative.

Rene Paccha works for the Spanish Coalition for Housing teaching digital skills to residents at their Pilsen and Southeast Chicago locations.

During the last Connect Chicago Meetup group,  Rene described how he teaches beginners how to use the keyboard. We caught up with Rene in southeast Chicago during one of his tutoring sessions to talk about the tools that he uses to teach keyboarding . 

typingclub

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Connect Chicago Toolkit: YouCanBookMe

Smart Chicago

“Establish a smart community benchmark and toolkit for broadband access and use” is initiative four of the City of Chicago Tech Plan. the Connect Chicago program is an essential component of that initiative. 

At our last Connect Chicago meetup, Rene Paccha demonstrated some of the tools that he works with teaching digital skills to residents at their Pilsen and Southeast Chicago locations. One of these tools is YouCanBookMe, which Rene uses to let residents schedule training sessions. 

Untitled

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Join us at our next Connect Chicago Meetup: Teaching digital skills in an ESL context

Christopher Whitaker

In our next meetup, we’ll cover practices and methods in teaching digital skills in an ESL context.

Connect Chicago Meetup, November 2013

We will have Roberto Pang from the CyberNavigator program of the Chicago Public Library talk about their work in this area.

Stephen Alderson, Director of Adult Education at Instituto del Progreso Latino will talk about their CYBER-ESL, a blended online ESL program for adult ESL learners. CYBER-ESL students use computers equipped with cameras and microphones, and access free resources on the USALearns website (www.usalearns.org). Instructors assign lessons and supervise students through a series of phone conversations and video conferences. Students also meet in person as a group with their instructor twice a month to take tests and clarify issues.

You can RSVP for the meetup on the Connect Chicago Meetup Group page. If you questions about the Connect Chicago program, feel free to reach out to us on our contact page.

Smart Chicago Collaborative and the City’s Technology Plan

Smart Chicago

Earlier this month, Chicago Chief Technology Officer John Tolva unveiled the city’s very first technology plan. The plan was a result of a year-long process of research, brainstorming, and thinking about how to make all of Chicago competitive in the new digital economy.

This plan is a comprehensive framework for growing Chicago’s technology sector , getting broadband connectivity for everyone, and  ensuring that Chicago remains a leader in open government data .

The plan also highlights the work that the civic technology community has been doing in Chicago. From the weekly OpenGov Hack Nights, the Smart Communities Program, and youth STEM programs; Chicago already enjoys a strong set of technology strengths and this plan will enable the city to advance even further.

Smart Chicago Collaborative is proud to have a key role in many of these initiatives and is dedicated to  implementing this plan. Here’s a look at our role in the plan and the aspects of our existing work in this context.

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US Ignite Summit: Building the next digital world (and what it means for Chicago)

Christopher Whitaker

Ballroom Crowd at the US Ignite Application Summit at the Allegro Hotel, Chicago

The US Ignite Summit highlighted the potential and the opportunities that the next generation internet will bring to the United States. The next generation internet will have upload and download speeds above 1000MBps. (For comparison, the average download speed in Chicago is 50Mbps and the average upload speed is only 10MBps.)

The summit highlighted the potential of next generation apps and the economic development that’s possible with gigabit internet. The summit was attended by 300 people, 53 of whom hailed from the City of Chicago. Through Smart Chicago’s sponsorship of the event we were able to give out several free passes to Chicago residents to ensure that there was a wide variety of fields represented at the conference.

Pallavi Anderson leads a group at the Ideation session of US Ignite

Smart Chicago Collaborative also ran an ideation session as part of the summit. With so much money, time and effort being invested into the gigabit internet it’s important to gain a wide variety of perspectives on what we could do with the next generation internet. Several fantastic ideas where generated out of this session including apps centered around emergency response, healthcare, and library systems.

Smart Chicago Collaborative was also proud to host a reception where internet advocate Susan Crawford spoke about the progress of communication technology – and how we can support real world ties with technology.

Susan Crawford Addresses the US Ignite Application Summit at the Cultural Center in Chicago

Gigabit internet is coming to Chicago. Smart Chicago Collaborative looks forward to assisting in efforts to bring the next generation internet here and looks forward to the economic and social opportunities that it will bring.

 

Connect Chicago Summer of Data

Laura

We’ve embarked on a new program– the Connect Chicago Summer of Data– and we need your help!

During the summer we’re sending out canvassers who will visit farmers’ markets, street fairs and other special events to make certain that everyone is are aware of Connect Chicago and the services offered at all of your locations. Please let us know if there are any particular events you’d like them to attend.

These teams will also visit all Connect Chicago locations to gather more information about each place so that we can keep the Connect Chicago website up to date. They’ll use the same form that location page admins can use when they sign up to be Connect Chicago admins.


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