ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects on the connections among the three authors and our joint project, the redesign of an existing learning space for youth into a cyberlounge for interpersonal and online connectedness. The three partners include Debarah McFarland, former director of program services at the Champaign-based Don Moyer Boys & Girls Club (DMBGC) and a long-time resident of Urbana-Champaign; Deven Gibbs, at the time an architecture student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC); and Sharon Irish, who holds appointments in architecture and library and information science at UIUC and who introduced Deven to Debarah and served as academic supervisor of the former’s work. Grounding the discussion in this interinstitutional collaboration between UIUC and the Don Moyer Boys & Girls Club allows us to draw some lessons from this experience that will hopefully contribute to future service-learning efforts.
