Redfern kids connect : technology and empowerment

Redfern Kids Connect is a community technology project that has run in inner-city Sydney since 2002. Redfern is known to many as the heart of urban Aboriginal Australia and as a diverse community facing challenges around poverty, crime and race relations. For three years, children (8-12 years old), and volunteers (university students and young professionals) have met each Saturday to play on computers and socialise. The project’s experiences with relationships, technology, and empowerment have been as confusing as they have been exciting. In the spirit of action research, this thesis explores the impacts the project has had. Uniquely embedded in the process of reflection occurring away from its on-the-ground activities, it tells the project’s story through the eyes of its volunteers. The research concludes that the project's main contributions to empowerment have been through building social capital (Cox, Putnam) and improving new forms of literacy (Warschauer). Vital to supporting and extending these outcomes have been taking a social approach to supporting technology use, shaping a safe and open environment (Marvin et. al), supporting critical thinking and expression (Freire) and examining the project 'behind the scenes'. The author takes the dual role of researcher and participant in the research