Using the Reading Hack website

www.readinghack.org.uk

The Reading Hack website has been developed by The Reading Agency and digital youth

company Bold Creative in consultation with young people. The website is a place where

young people can join in with the national programme, get recognition for their skills and

share ideas with others.

The Reading Hack website is for young people. While practitioners can browse ideas and

competitions to share with local groups, only young people aged 13-24 should sign up and

take part in online activity.

This guide provides practitioners with more information about how the website works.

There is also an explainer video (aimed at young people) which practitioners may find

useful. You can view the explainer video at https://youtu.be/y60XE8FMrAg

Why should young people use the website?

- Links what they’re doing locally with the national Reading Hack programme

- Provides a way to track their experience and skills to showcase to future employers

or colleges and universities

- Provides a platform for idea sharing

- Access to opportunities, competitions and prizes including money can’t buy

experiences

- Adds a competitive element to their local activity

Benefit of the youth website for libraries

- Open access to bank of youth-led ideas for young people and practitioners to search

- Youth-friendly brand and design encourages engagement in reading-inspired activity

- Access to competitions and articles to inspire and excite local activity

- Provides a space where youth-led groups can set up projects and help to recruit

other young people

- Provides a platform to feature national volunteering opportunities

Features on the website:

Hacks: These are local or national opportunities that young people can actively get involved

with, such as volunteering for the Summer Reading Challenge or World Book Night. These

hacks are ‘live’ – i.e. they are currently taking place in one or more locations and young

people can join in locally. If the hack isn’t currently happening in their location, young

people might want to start local activity. By joining the hack online, young people can

record and share their progress others.

Hack designs: These are templates for types of hacks that young people can turn into a live

hack (as above) which others can then join online. Again the activity itself will most often be

happening locally.

Create a new hack design: This is where young people can add their own ideas.

Groups: Young people can set up groups which either reflect their existing local group or

start a new online group. By becoming a group on the Reading Hack website young people

can do hacks together and compete in the leaders board. They can also search for and join

local groups online.

Skills advocacy: Young people get their own personal profile where they can record their

volunteering hours, get skills badges and download a letter that confirms their hack

activities, skills gained and hours spent volunteering. This information is held privately on

their own profile.

Leaders board: Young people can compete as groups or individuals to win prizes and see

where they rank in the top ten. They can compete for: most hours spent hacking, most

hacks completed, most designs created, most hacks lead, most popular hack designs, and as

a group for most hours spent hacking and most hacks completed.

Regular content

The website will be regularly updated with content to inspire and support you and your

Reading Hack group.

- Hot reads: These are suggested reading lists which link to live reviews, such as the

World Book Night list or our top ten reads.

- Toolkits: Downloadable PDFs offering advice and guidance on items such as planning

your hack, spreading the word, leading a team and more.

- Tips and advice on volunteering: a series of blog articles including promotional

videos, accreditation advocacy and signposting to further advice

- Competitions: activities and challenges where young people can win prizes,

exclusive opportunities and get involved with local campaign that might be taking

place

- Blog: including guest blogs from young people and ambassadors with ideas for what

to read

Reading Hack pathways on the website:

Young people can search for ideas on the website using interests, skills, volunteering-

relevant hacks and location (for ‘live’ hacks that are happening).

The website also allows young people to participate in Reading Hack at varying levels of

engagement, which means that young people of different age groups can find something

suitable for them.

- Participate/join in - A young person can search for a live hack that someone else is

running and simply click ‘join.’ This means they can join in the activity without the

need to lead or promote the activity. They can also try out hacks that take different

amounts of time, such as hacks that take minutes or days, rather than weeks.

- Create - A young person who has their own idea for a hack activity but doesn’t

necessarily want to run it themselves can create a new hack design on the website

for others to pick up. They can add tips, toolkits and recommended reads to go with

their idea to help others lead it.

-

-

-

- Lead - This is where a young person takes a hack design and makes it their own, by

clicking ‘hack it’ on a design. By turning a hack design into a hack they are turn it into

a live opportunity where other young people can join in. This may be running a local

event or setting up a group, and will be of interest to those interested in developing

their skills in more depth.

Safeguarding

Ensuring the safety of users on the website is of paramount importance to us and we have

taken the following measures to ensure that users are safeguarded:

- Users cannot email, interact or talk privately with each other; all interaction is visible to

the public. Users can only interact in terms of sharing hack ideas, joining groups and

hacks together, for which there is no private chat room or forum

- All personal information is private including name, location, age and skills advocacy

- The public facing profile only shows an avatar with username, hack activities and a brief

biography written by the user

Protecting and reporting - The Reading Hack website will be regularly post-moderated (i.e. content is checked

shortly after it is posted) and any potential offensive content deleted or suspicious users

suspended

- In the Terms and Conditions and FAQs users can access the

readinghack@readingagency.org.uk email address to report any concerns they may have

which we can investigate and deal with accordingly

- Users can report suspicions or offensive content by clicking a red flagging button next to

all content. A report will be sent to The Reading Agency team to investigate and remove

accordingly.

How young people can use the website

Young people can sign up for free at readinghack.org.uk and start hack activities

immediately.

Use the explainer video to show young people how to use the website and what they can

use it for:

If they have any further queries they can contact the Reading Hack team on

readinghack@readingagency.org.uk