Village of Arts and Humanities uses digital production to highlight youth issues

In partnership with Temple University’s Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab, the university’s capstone journalism class, students Chelsea Leposa and Jared Pass will cover neighborhood technology issues for Technically Philly and Philadelphia Neighborhoods through May.

The colorfully painted walls at the Village of Arts and Humanities in North Philadelphia allow the students to forget their day�s troubles and concentrate on their creativity.

Before class begins, students sit around sharing the latest gossip and brag about their day. The smiles on their faces and the energy of the room prove that the kids are enjoying themselves. At the neighborhood center, just north of Temple University, there are many classes and activities for the students to get involved in, ranging from fashion design to gardening.

�I�ve been coming here for five years,� Leon Sanford, 18, says. �It keeps me sane and out of trouble.�

The Village also has a Digital Media Program that includes video production, photography, writing, and graphic and web design. The program began in 2003 with four students and two computers. At the beginning students strictly learned video editing using existing footage. Since then, the program has expanded to over 20 students and now includes many aspects of digital media production.

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VC Roundup: Packlate.com raises cash, DreamIt teams up with NYC accelerator

Welcome to the VC Round-up, where we’ll parse through venture capital news related to Philadelphia-based private equity firms and the companies they fund. Subscribe to the roundup as an email newsletter. If you have any VC-related news to pass along to us, please drop us a line.

DEFINITE READS

DreamIt Ventures has partnered with 67th Ward-based startup accelerator program Startl to accept five companies into this summer’s DreamIt program.

University City Science Center-based vacation rental service Packlate.com has raised $650,000 from local firms First Round Capital and ETF Ventures. The company’s CEO is DreamIt co-founder Steve Barsh, who also got his car dug out by a backhoe this week.

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Technically Philly to celebrate birthday with Philly Startup Leaders Fishbowl

As you may have heard, dear reader, Technically Philly celebrated its first birthday last week on February 9.

After twelve months of covering startups, investments, city government policy and general technology news, we are still hard at work trying to make Technically Philly a sustainable source of tech news for the region.

We have our own ideas about how this will look, making efforts to build up or Jobs Board as well as offering detailed advertising packages. However, we wanted to throw open our revenue strategy to you, our readers, and the community-at-large, for criticism and advice.

That is why we are partnering with Philly Startup Leaders to be the subject of the group’s next Fishbowl at the University of Arts on Wednesday, February 24 at 7:30 p.m. REGISTER HERE.

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Black Family Technology Awareness Week launches 11th year, first without pioneer

Socioeconomic forces complicate an already complicated issue, but, still, the digital divide is perhaps most often seen as a split between white communities and black communities.

Forty-five percent of black Americans will use a computer on a typical day, 14 percent less than the figure for their white counterparts, according to Pew Internet and American Life research from last summer.

It was with that in mind that more than a decade ago that Baltimore-based media company Career Communications Group and IBM partnered to create Black Family Technology Awareness Week (Feb. 14 – 20), a loose confederation of events that center around the theme of bring technology education, job and other opportunities to black communities that need them. See a complete list of events here.

It has nearly as long a history in Philadelphia, but this year, its pioneer isn’t here anymore.

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This week on our Jobs Board

Technically Philly’s Jobs Board is becoming a go-to resource for employers and job-seekers hoping to connect. We recently launched the board with new technology to better serve you, or customer, and hope that it will continue to be a go-to resource for technology-focused positions in the region. Check out the dozen jobs currently posted!

Each week, we’ll highlight the some of the postings that you, your friends or family might have missed.

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Updated: Event Highlights for February 15-21, 2010

The sidewalks are clear by now, so you haven’t any excuses for missing out on the technology event offerings on our weekly calendar.

There’s plenty to do, whether you’re down with coding, design, marketing or heck, just looking for an open bar and some good old-fashioned networking.

On Tuesday, the newly-formed Philadelphia Semantic Web Meetup gathers again for introductions and discussion of the group’s direction. Wednesday, Philly Startup Leaders‘ Entrepreneurs Unplugged kicks off for the first time in 2010. Thursday, the Philadelphia Interactive Marketing Association hosts a free networking event in the ‘burbs, drinks included.

Updated: We’re also knee deep in the city’s 11th annual Black Family Technology Awareness Week, as we reported. See a list of events here.

All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more.

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Friday Q&A: Councilman Bill Green talks technology and Philly Charter

Early this week, Councilman Bill Green and five members of City Council introduced legislation that would change Philadelphia’s Charter to include a permanent Chief Information Officer.

As we reported, the bill would continue consolidation of the city’s Information Technology resources and it would require that the CIO develop annually a 5-year technology strategy, among other changes.

We spoke with Green on Monday to put into perspective the reason for the legislation and whether or not the bill represents concern for current Chief Technology Officer Allan Frank’s leadership. Green’s answers, after the jump.

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Thanks to our weekly sponsors

Technically Philly is made possible by advertisers and sponsors that are important to Philadelphia’s technology community. This week we’d like to thank:

Nonprofit Technology Resources – Fairmount-based NTR refurbishes used computers and peripherals for families and individuals in Philadelphia who may not otherwise be able to afford to buy a computer. We urge you to donate to this great local cause.

Chariot Solutions – Long-time Technically Philly advertiser Chariot Solutions is host of the annual Emerging Technology for the Enterprise conference. This month, the developer and training partner is promoting the popular conference, which takes place April 8-9.

Springboard Media – Springboard Media is a certified Apple Specialist and retailer based in Center City and now, in Exton. They’ve got a ton of accessories and a great trade-in program that can score you up to $1,500 when you’re ready to upgrade.

Alex Hillman – IndyHall‘s Alex Hillman has signed on as Technically Philly’s first “Philanthropist” sponsor. Be sure to check out his blog.

Interested in joining these organizations and individuals in supporting Technically Philly? Check out our ad packages and contact Ad Sales Manager Tara Levin. Can’t find something that fits? We’ll customize a package for you.

Federal broadband stimulus dollars largely unallocated, Philly included

Philadelphia is not alone in waiting for the dispersal of $7.2 billion in federal broadband stimulus dollars, much of which remains unallocated, according to a report by NPR.

That delay, some advocates say, comes at least in part from blocking by major telecommunications companies, like Comcast.

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Links: What stories do we share online, SAP CEO not asked back and More

DEFINITE READS

• Cyberjournalist reports that University of Pennsylvania researchers found readers are more likely to share three types of stories online.
• PEHub is looking for votes on where it should host its next meetup, and Philadelphia is a choice. Vote here.

Below, zombies and geeks, SAP CEO leaves in a tornado of speculation and more.

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