CO.LAB on tour

New York City

Queens is a melting pot. Collaboration and cooperation across cultures isn’t an abstraction here, it’s a way of life.

Learn

Learn

Students began by building, programming, and learning how to operate their Raspberry Pi digital cameras. After that, they read and discussed and arrived at a shared understanding of a poem dealing with themes of community and finding one’s place in the world.

Create

Create

After learning some basics of photography and visual storytelling, the girls journeyed through the neighborhood—finding inspiration, shooting photos, and forming stories based on the poem they had discussed.

Share

Share

Finally, the cohort returned to CO.LAB and, in an open process, collectively culled and curated their photos to create an exhibition that told the story of their overall experience.

What did we learn?

Working together works best

CO.LAB participant: Alejandra

"My first day was really fun...because we got to build these cameras, and build the computer, and usually students don’t get to access that sort of technology, so I think we’re really lucky."
–ALEJANDRA

CO.LAB participant: Fahmida

"I learned that open source is open to the community, and open to the person, where anyone can see it if they search for something. I think open source can really help you find anything."
–FAHMIDA

CO.LAB participant: Janette

"I think collaboration is important, and I think that people contributing to another idea is very important, because many more ideas can pop up from there."
–JANETTE

CO.LAB participant: Jasminda

"If you don’t understand something, don’t give up. Ask someone for help. Ask your classmates and teachers, because it’s all about collaboration.​"
–JASMINDA

Beyond CO.LAB

Big change through small, meaningful steps

CO.LAB introduces middle school girls to the principles of open source—and to a world of technology and collaboration that they may not have otherwise considered.

Red Hat is committed to diversity and inclusion in the technology industry because openness and broad participation feeds creativity and innovation. The best idea can come from anyone, so we make sure everyone has a chance to contribute.

CO.LAB is just one of the ways Red Hat demonstrates the transformative power of people working together.

Open source is like sharing recipes

Whether it’s baking a batch of cookies, or coding a digital camera you made yourself, learning how to do something is only possible when other people share their expertise and advice.

Our collaborators

The open source way

Open source is more than just a way to create software. It's about building things without limitations. And it's about forming new communities without boundaries.

At Red Hat, we're committed to showing what people can do when they make things in the open. Because when we share, we thrive.