Pokemon Go and Boston Organize Youth Search for More PokeStops
This summer, Pokemon Go and the City of Boston are teaming up to encourage kids to find [...]
This summer, Pokemon Go and the City of Boston are teaming up to encourage kids to find interesting spots in their neighborhoods. The city announced a joint program with Niantic Labs and several different city-wide groups called "Participatory Pokemon Go."
Throughout the summer, Boston middle schoolers and high schoolers will be encouraged to find local places of interest in their neighborhoods and make a 60 second video explaining why that spot should be included in Pokemon Go as a PokeStop. Niantic and the city will look through the entries and the winning videos will have their locations permanently added to the game.
Participatory Pokemon Go's goal is to promote civic literacy, media skills, and enrichment through neighborhood exploration.
To help kids learn these skills, the program is offering to send teachers (actually volunteers from Emerson College) to youth groups to teach a workshop about what areas to look for and how to make and edit the videos. Youth groups and programs who complete the workshop will also get a $100 stipend.
Not only is Participatory Pokemon Go a neat summer program, it's also a way to help reduce the disparity in PokeStops and gyms in low-income neighborhoods. A recent research paper looked at the concentration of PokeStops/gyms by neighborhood demographic and found a significant decline in non-white/Hispanic neighborhoods.
The program runs from July 10 to August 18. More information can be found on the program's website.
More Pokemon: Pokemon Go's Next Event Revealed / Pokemon Go to Release "Rare Pikachu" at Upcoming Conference / Pokemon Go Is Punishing High Level Gym Defenders / Which Pokemon Are Raid Bosses in Pokemon Go? / Ditto Kicks Butt in Pokemon Go's New Gyms / There's a Secret New Way to Get Pokemon Candy in Pokemon Go / Pokemon Go Warns Cheaters That Their Pokemon Will Start "Misbehaving" / Pokemon Go Makes Huge Changes to Attack Bonuses / Pokemon Game Confirmed in Development for Nintendo Switch
