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At the start of the Introduction to Innovation class at Robert C. Hatch High School in rural Uniontown, Alabama, the face of a teacher fills a wall-size screen at the front of the room. Beaming in from far away like a Zoom call, the teacher is part of a new approach to providing specialized education in underserved communities. This is the Connected Rural Classroom. It’s a novel rethink of the typical high school classroom, designed specifically to increase access to niche, high-quality education for students in rural schools with limited resources. A remote teacher on a big screen is just one part of the classroom’s unique elements. Designed to emphasize science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses and increase students’ technological fluency, the classroom is outfitted with a range of built-in cameras, adjustable lighting, flexible seating, and a slate of hardware for tech-centric programming. The classroom is supported by the state of Alabama and was created by Ed Farm, a Birmingham-based nonprofit focused on closing the growing digital skills gap in communities across the Southeast. “Especially in Alabama, there’s just a lack of high-quality STEM teachers and math teachers that those students in rural areas have access to,” says Waymond Jackson, president of Ed Farm. [Photo: Erin Little/courtesy Kurani] A high-tech classroom In contrast to the typical linoleum-floored room filled with rows of rigid desks, the Connected Rural Classroom looks more like a modern office. There are movable collaboration tables, standing desks, rocking chairs, ottomans, stadium seats along the back wall, and a line of focus booths looking through windows at the trees outside. The large screen sits at the front of the room on a dark wall that encourages better focus, with a small stage-like area at its foot for presentations by in-class instructors and fellow students. Calming colors and sound-absorptive materials tame the sometimes chaotic effects caused by a roomful of teenagers, and linear cues in the ceiling and floor subconsciously direct their attention to the room’s main instruction area. [Photo: Erin Little/courtesy Kurani] The room’s lighting is optimized for circadian rhythms, mimicking daylight to augment the single wall of windows in the room. There are also four programmed lighting scenes that can be used during different class scenarios, from stage-lit formal presentations to full-light active collaboration to a subtle dim setting for times requiring quiet focus. There are multiple cameras that provide the remote instructor with views of all parts of the room, and embedded technology allows the instructor to beam to a specific screen to interact with small groups, or directly onto a student’s tablet for one-on-one instruction. [Photo: Erin Little/courtesy Kurani] The classroom was designed by the architecture firm Kurani, which has been designing unconventional and often tech-forward classrooms for more than a decade. Founder Danish Kurani says this is part of making the room work not just for students but also for the teachers who may be sitting behind a computer hundreds or thousands of miles away. “We went to great lengths to essentially try to make it easier for the remote instructor,” he says. “It’s far more difficult when you’re remote, especially when you’re dealing with high school students. Like, how do you have presence in the room? How do you connect with them?” [Photo: Erin Little/courtesy Kurani] The zoom of classrooms The classroom design was developed with feedback from students and instructors, and in close collaboration with Ed Farm, which launched in February 2020 with funding from a partnership between the Alabama Power Foundation and Apple. The goal is to expand technology education for students and upskill adults in rural areas. Apple CEO Tim Cook, an Alabama native, was in Birmingham for the program’s 2020 launch. “Ed Farm is about clearing a path for anyoneof any age, background, or interestwhether or not they’re destined for a career in technology,” he said at the time. From top: The classroom at Robert C. Hatch High School in Uniontown, Alabama, before the redesign; the Connected Rural Classroom today [Photo: Erin Little/courtesy Kurani] Ed Farm has made physical spaces a cornerstone of its work, and developed the Connected Rural Classroom design as a prototype for improving the places where technology skill can be acquired. “There was this absolute misalignment between today’s workforce, today’s classroom, and tomorrow’s workforce,” CEO Jackson says, noting that working with Kurani, there was always the goal of creating a classroom design that could work across Ed Farm’s primary geography in the Black Belt of Alabama, but also beyond. “This is truly a model that can be scaled state by state,” he says. [Photo: Erin Little/courtesy Kurani] That hope informed the earliest stages of the design process. Kurani says his team started by researching existing public school classrooms across the country to understand their spatial and architectural conditions. They found that the average classroom is between 700 and 900 square feet, tends to have its door close to a corner, and has a single wall of windows on the opposite side of the room. [Photo: Erin Little/courtesy Kurani] The design the architects developed is a prototype that matches those average conditions. Kurani sees it as a kit of parts that can be slightly adjusted based on the layout of a room or the location of its door and windows. “When it’s time to deploy it in schools, it’s very easy and we can tell all of them, Yes, we can easily bring this to your school. It will fit, Kurani says. Ed Farm plans to scale the Connected Rural Classroom design to other schools, but also to expand its focus on creating similar educational spaces for people of all ages. “One of the things that we were pushed on by Apple as we came up with our solutions, was to think about the problems and the things that we’re doing that are relevant to Alabama as a microcosm of what actually exists across this country,” Jackson explains. “We see community spaces and unused community assets as an opportunity to bring technology and technology infrastructure closer to those folks that we’re seeking to serve.” [Photo: Erin Little/courtesy Kurani]
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E-Commerce
The number of people who have come to me whispering, I want to be seen as a thought leader. And yet when I say, Amazing, lets put you on camera, Im suddenly met with . . . crickets. I get it. Putting yourself out there can feel awkward. Exposed. Vulnerable. Thats how I feel about dancing in public. Its my own personal nightmare. At Zumba, Im hiding behind the water cooler. At my wedding, my husband had to mouth the 1-2-3-4 count so I wouldnt lose the beat. And recently at a music festival, the band leader pointed at me to come dance on stage. I prayed he was pointing to the person behind me. Nope. As I sheepishly walked up the stairs to the stage, I realized something important: no one cares that much. No one thinks Im auditioning for So You Think You Can Dance. Theyre not judging meI was overthinking. So I danced. Honestly, probably not that well. However, once I stopped overthinking, I actually had fun. Thats the truth about visibility: Once you stop overthinking, you can start owning your voice. The Real Fear Behind Thought Leadership When I spoke at this years Fast Company Innovation Festival on this topic, I started with a few simple questions: Who wants to be more visible? Who wants to be seen as a thought leader? Who wants speaking invitations, press, clients, opportunities? Almost every hand went up. Then I asked, Who posted a video of themselves in the past month? Not even a third of the room. We say we want to be seen, but we hide. We tell ourselves were too busy, that social media is superficial, or that were not good on camera. Ive trained thousands of people to be on camerafrom my years as a national TV producer to now a public speaking and video coachand everyone can learn the skills of being confident on camera. So what holds people back? Fear. Fear of looking silly, fear of seeming salesy, fear that someone from high school will see our video and mock us. But heres the reality: Hiding from the camera is hiding from opportunity. If youre not showing up, people who should be discovering youclients, collaborators, journalists, recruiters, conference organizerssimply wont find you. Visibility isnt vanity. Its credibility. From ‘Accomplished but Anonymous to Seen and Successful After nearly 20 years producing and directing at Netflix, People, and launching Us Weeklys first-ever digital video unit, I left TV to help professionals grow through video and podcasts. But I had a problem: My own social media was a hodgepodge of work moments and my young children climbing on top of me. I was what I now call accomplished but anonymous. I had expertise and credibilitybut only to my circle of media executives and TV producers. I needed visibility outside my circle if I wanted clients to seek me out. So I started posting to social media, showing up on camera and speaking at seminars. It was awkward at first (not as awkward as dancing on stage!) but I got better each week. Over time, I had new clients, invitations to be a guest on podcasts, and corporate training opportunities. The success has metastasized since then. This year I gave two TEDx talks, I’m a national keynote speaker, and have a thriving business coaching professionals to be seen as experts through video and podcasts. None of that would have happened if I continued to be concerned about “being cringey.” And thats why I created my SEEN Framework, to help professionals show up authentically without feeling fake or cringey. The SEEN Framework Here’s a breakdown of what SEEN stands for.S = Self-Awareness I grimace when people say I know I should be on camera, but Im not good at it as if theyve failed in life. Youre an expert in your industry, not a full-time TV host. I have a degree in communication, so dont feel you should know this. And just because you own a phone does not mean you automatically know how to create content. (If owning a microscope made me a scientist, I would have saved a lot of money on tutors.) Being self-aware means recognizing what you havent learned yet. Be kinder to yourself. Being confident on camera is a skill, not a personality trait. E = Expertise In my very first job in TV news, I decided who got on-air as an expert. If I picked someone who wasnt actually an expert? I could get fired. (And I really needed that job.) To be viewed as an expert, establish both your credibility and your point of view. Ask yourself: What do I believe about my industry that isnt being said enough? What are people constantly misunderstanding about my work? What problems am I obsessed with solving? These insights become your content pillars, your speaking topicseven the early chapters of your book. One of my leadership coach clients recently told me, My book is basically already written thanks to our messaging work. Thats the magic of defining what you stand for: It clarifies everything. Forget about building your “personal brand”share your professional perspective. E = Exposure When I asked the crowd at the Fast Company Innovation Festival what word influencer brings to mind they said: shallow, and freeloader. Tough crowd. But when I asked a friend what she thought the word meant, she said: An influencer is a thought leader in their industry. Forget about semantics. And dont shy away from messaging people you dont know wellsome of my most meaningful business relationships, like partnerships, collaborations, and clients have started online! N = Next Level When I began in TV over 20 years ago, to be visible you needed to be selected by an editor or a TV producer. Instead of feeling that social media is a burden, see it as an opportunity. Stop waiting for gatekeepersbosses, publishers, networksto choose you. Create your own opportunities. Start a video series. Host a webinar. Pitch yourself to a podcast. Launch the newsletter youve been thinking about since 2017. One of my clientsa health care consultantfollowed this exact path: We created a video series and podcast, and she doubled down on posting to social media. Within months she had three new clients (including her dream client) and within a year she was invited to moderate conferences nationwide. When you stop waiting for permission and start creating, doors swing open. The Mindset Shift: Stop Hiding, Start Shining Thought leadership doesnt start with followers, it starts with ownership. Own your ideas, your voice, and your visibility. Create your own stage. When you stop hiding, you start shining. Thought leadership isnt about being loud or cringey. Its about sharing your point of view, and having the value you bring be seen and recognized. So stop overthinking and start owning your voice. People want to hear it.
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E-Commerce
Earlier this month, the House Oversight Committee made public more than 20,000 pages of documents from the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epsteins estate. The documents were released as thousands of individual text files, images, and scanned PDFs, a monumental trove most wouldnt have the time or patience to sift through. But what if you could navigate the source documents as easily as you do your inbox? That was the thinking behind Jmail, a Gmail-style interface for accessible browsing of Epstein’s released emails launched Friday by Kino CEO Luke Igel and software engineer Riley Walz. Walz, a serial website builder previously dubbed San Franciscos Tech Jester, is also one of the masterminds behind the Panama Playlists, which earlier this year exposed the Spotify listening habits of some famous people, as well as a tool to track San Francisco’s parking cops (the project lasted just four hours). In an X post announcing the Epstein project, Walz confirmed the pair used Googles Gemini AI to do optical character recognition on the individual emails, making them more readable and searchable than the source documents. The site also includes verification links to government originals. “You are logged in as Jeffrey Epstein, jeevacation@gmail.com,” the Jmail website reads. These are real emails released by Congress. Just like a real inbox, the messages are sorted from most recent, dating up to the eve before Epstein’s arrest in 2019. Theres also a working search feature (search Trump, and youll get 1,000 results). In the sidebar, you can sort by Inbox, Starred, and Sent. Copying Gmails ability to star important messagesexcept this time crowdsourced by the internetthe most-starred email, with 228 stars, is correspondence with Epsteins brother, Mark L. Epstein. It contains the now infamous line: Ask him if Putin has the photos of Trump blowing Bubba? The lower sidebar section is sorted into Labels, which, in Gmail, separates emails by category. In Jmail, it is a list of people who regularly corresponded with Epstein, including journalist Michael Wolff, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon, to name a few. The House Oversight Committee released the original emails on November 12. Since that release, the president has signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which requires the attorney general to make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in the possession of the Department of Justice within 30 days.
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E-Commerce
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