30 July 2010

Margaret Chen – Founder/Editor in Chief, www.iCUBED.us
BA, Child Development Psychology and International Relations/Political Science
MA, Anthropology


- Why did you launch iCUBED.us? Was there a purpose?
iCUBED.us (global webzine for thinking teens) was envisioned as a way to ‘shape the future’ by bringing youth aged up to 25 in touch with each other and with news and information with a positive message, teaching them that one is never too old or young to make a difference.

From the start as an online magazine ‘written for, by and about youth’ I planned to connect with organizations serving youth around the world to provide their youths with opportunities to become ‘published writers’, to get to know their individual talents by participating in monthly contests in various formats with prized awards like world famous judges, a chance to be broadcasted on television, even scholarship stipends.

I’m delighted that those ideas were well received by students truly from every corner of the world, and by many of the entities that we contacted… however, many chose to use our ideas without consenting to share access to their youth.

The most difficult thing for a first time writer, in ‘the olden days’ (when I was young), was to get a first piece of writing published, so I wanted students to have this as early as possible, get it out of the way. iCUBED.us’ one year writing internships qualify for the IB curriculum’s CAS (Creativity, Action and Service) credits and our secret agenda is to teach our youthful interns to put their focus on looking for the positive things happening in and around the world, it’s our way of counteracting the mainstream media’s unhealthy focus on disaster and sensational topics - it’s as if good news just isn’t ‘sexy’ enough to draw in an audience.


- Have there been any surprises?
The surprise, if it can be called that, is how much I’ve learned from our teen interns and supporters. For the most part they have submitted ready to publish writing, topics they picked, and at such tender ages, had such intelligent and mature things to say. iCUBED.us is an empty shell without our teen contributors and supporters, and if nothing more comes of this enterprise, the most satisfying thing is knowing that the quality and level of the teen writing – again, most of which needed no editing – has proved that teenagers, more often than not, don’t fit the stereotype of angst and hormone ridden troublemakers, they are in fact quite capable of deep thinking and do in fact care and want to play a positive part in what is happening to their world.


- Have you been satisfied with iCUBED.us’ progress?
As a reformed ‘perfectionist’ which I define as ‘one who looks for perfection in others’ *smile, I have to admit that we are faltering, there’s too much competition for the attention and time of youth today and I am particularly conscientious about not making iCUBED.us ‘sticky’ to the detriment of school work or healthy offline activities. We are now in a middle space – being a social enterprise - we limit our own growth because we do not take sponsorship from commercial interests, and we are competing now, since our establishment in 2005, with some pretty sizable competition. At the moment it’s mainly funded by what remains of our initial fundraising and what I’m putting in as the founder and chief editor, but this can only be an intermediary solution. Lacking a sizable marketing budget, we rely on word-of-mouth for publicity and this is a challenge we need to overcome – growing a thriving business looks easier than it is to do.


- What have been notable high points in iCUBED.us’ journey so far?
There’ve been many highs. The accolades we get from third parties like the prestigious internationally recognized School of Media and Journalism at University of Hong Kong agreeing to incubate us, UNESCO Bangkok offering to link with iCUBED.us, the positive comments and reviews from our outreach to organizations like Channel V, Ocean Park, Crossroads and UNHCR, but most important is the fact that we have managed to mobilize some rather dedicated, motivated and intelligent young people. Certainly our Board of Advisors impresses me *smile. As an unrelated bragging point, at least five of our youthful writing interns have turned out to be the top student of their class, valedictorians – which is a testament to their character and yet it reflects positively on iCUBED.us as well.


- Where do you go from here?
This is the most difficult question to answer. It’s clear to me that iCUBED.us ‘as is’, does not offer an optimal experience for youth and because of this I want to take the necessary time to assess what is doable, how and what we might add to make sure that youth who spend their valuable time with us would reap as much benefit as possible. Our commitment to ‘a focus on positive and uplifting news-making’ and to giving youth a chance to ‘discover their innate talents’ by encouraging and exposing them to as many experiences as possible, will not change, it’s a question about what more we could add to the fold. My sense is that it has to do with science and maths, not only words and the practice of ‘open communication’.


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