July 1, 2008 By News Report
FreshBrain today announced a social networking site for students age 13 to 18 who want to unleash their best ideas with the assistance of the latest technology tools. The Web site gives teens the opportunity to work with friends, other students and advisors to build technology-based activities that are interesting and meaningful to them in a productive and safe environment.
"FreshBrain is social networking gone good," said Dale Ferrario, president of FreshBrain. "We wanted to create a place where teenagers can explore ways to apply their technology skills to the things that interest them most while also helping them prepare for tomorrow's workforce, where they will be required to combine technical literacy with creative thinking."
The FreshBrain site offers communities based on interests, such as music, videos, gaming, sports, Web development, graphic design or green programs. Users can either build a concept from scratch, or join an activity in progress and collaborate with other friends or other community members. Advisors are also available to help guide the groups, answer questions or advance their technology skills. Teachers and educators can also use the FreshBrain site to enhance their core curriculum. According to FreshBrain's research, 50 percent of the technology freshmen learn will be outdated by the time they are juniors. Keeping up with rapidly advancing technology tools is often too expensive for schools. FreshBrain lets teachers incorporate the latest technology tools into the learning syllabus without having to raise budgets or alter the curriculum. Schools can also improve their technology scorecard by using FreshBrain to enliven the stem and core subjects with exciting and innovative technology-oriented projects while still meeting government standards and requirements. Teachers can also use FreshBrain's protected social networking environment to share and exchange ideas, activities and class projects with other teachers and educators
To kick off the summer, FreshBrain is launching over 30 summer contests called the Summer Splash series. The contests will set up a challenge for students to use their unique talents and creative skills to solve a specific problem. A variety of prizes totaling $10,000 will be available for the winners of these contest.
This Digital Communities white paper highlights discussions with IT officials in four counties that have adopted shared services models. Our aim was to learn about the obstacles these governments have faced when it comes to shared services and what it takes to overcome those roadblocks. We also spoke with several members of the IT industry who have thought long and hard about these issues. The paper offers some best practices for shared government-to-government services, but also points out challenges that government and industry still must overcome before this model gains widespread adoption.
Don't miss this opportunity to see the latest in digital government solutions, keep abreast of current policy issues and network with key government executives, technologists and industry specialists.
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