Imagine yourself at the Learning Lab at WHYY

From its 7th-Street entrance, you pass into a lobby whose walls are covered with giant screens showcasing cutting-edge digital art, public broadcasting productions, and digital content produced in Lab workshops and courses.

The lobby opens into the Lincoln Financial Digital Education Studio, a working production studio, filled with community members working with new-media pros.

A concert virtuoso stands on the stage, preparing for a master class with students from Settlement Music School. Surrounding the stage are technicians, readying videoconference equipment to connect the class to schools in Chester County. Soon, seniors will be taking their seats to watch the performance. The master class will eventually be repurposed into a datacast, sent directly to the home computers of Settlement's members and alumni, and carried on the Lab's own website.

In the Training Space, a media producer/instructor is teaching hands-on video production to outreach staff from community development organizations. Nearby, in the Project Shop, staff from the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, Greater Philadelphia First, Leadership Inc., and the Forum of Executive Women are working through the assortment of digital technologies that will make possible a multi-site, region-wide town meeting on leadership.

Meanwhile, the technical director is fielding calls and making matches between those who create content and those who need it: Delaware's Department of Education is calling to schedule a virtual tour of Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site. Montgomery County's intermediate unit wants to book a videoconference with a University of Pennsylvania professor for a high school class studying the Schuylkill River. The Human Resources Planning Group is looking for organizations interested in a free, datacast workshop on employee performance reviews. Philadelphia's Department of Health calls to schedule the weekly health information update for school nurses.

Every day the Learning Lab at WHYY is alive with creativity, invention, and energy, fulfilling its mission:

To share the power of digital technology to foster a more connected and informed community in southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware.