This is a worthwhile read, but I think it would be better if it offered not just interactive exploration or a video, but a conventional document, too—ideally as the primary form of presentation. This is by the same creator who made the This Is A Teenager exploration.
Previously: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40053774>
In that presentation, I was happy with how succinctly they were able to get down to what makes environments "high-risk", and I found the classification of "a quiet place to study" as a basic necessity (and its relationship to the prevalence/absence of "chaotic routines") as being particularly striking and memorable:
> Researchers determined risk by asking lots of questions. For example, they asked whether the kid has basic necessities, like electricity or a quiet place to study.
> They also asked about factors that could destabilize the home environment – chaotic routines, parents who have disabilities, or relatives struggling with substance abuse.
(So many environments nowadays, even the ones that are ostensibly created to fulfill this sort of thing, are just total failures at actually providing them. I'm thinking of things like public libraries. I live in Austin and have a major axe to grind about the public libraries here, which are nothing like what you'd get if you were actually interested in the pro-social goals that you'd think a public library would have in its charter. A teenager looking to escape their high-risk environment or an adult who's had their feet knocked out from beneath them basically stands no chance at getting out of their predicament if their only option were to use the public libraries here, which would unfortunately act more like a vortex to ensure they stay in the suck. But this is all beside the point.)
I suspect but cannot prove that there's a similar link to the presentation of information—that the best presentation is simple static media, ideally printed, that is supplemented by these types of exploratory environments so that you can make the main resource come to life. Failing that, you'd want the printed presentation, sans interactivity, and then finally as a last resort, just dumping the person into these kinds of presentations. cf: the widely felt phenomenon of handwritten notes being better than notes typed on a laptop + Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death.
What specifically is lacking in public libraries in Austin, Texas? Ideally, you can also share a point of comparison, e.g., the libraries in Boca Raton, Florida have much better young adult fiction.
Have you considered a tablet with pen to not cut down so many trees (transflective is the new cool kid on the block i hear, ipad works pretty well ime)? By now i actually prefer its better searchability with ocr and miss pinch to zoom on real paper ;) Or do you think that the paper being wobbly is important? I mean i get missing the indentability. My experience as a student is its more important to move your hands and have an intuitive sense for location on a sheet of paper (more intuitive/faster navigable than with a typed word processor) to easily form deep memories with what you are dealing with (+spaced repetition!!). So in total tablet works great (for me) once you get used to it. :)
Please indulge me on your short tangent on Austins public library, how can they improve? Same budget?