art, technology and social justice in the south

Moving to rural Kentucky sure was an experience. But as the days pass I'm settling in more and getting more accustomed to living in such a small town. I'm really enjoying my work at Appalshop. I'm working specifically on the Thousand Kites Project, which is a relatively new initiative within Appalshop to promote dialogue around the criminal justice system. We do that through various forms of media: film, theatre, radio, and the internet. One of my big projects is to help develop the the web-based portion of the program. I'm working on creating a United States map through google maps that people can navigate to post their own stories, hear stories, see films clips, photos, etc. Through this site we'll be able to connect people on a national (for now) level to engage in conversation. We're also looking at other social networking sites such as Flikr and Facebook to be tools for access.

I'm also learning our content management system, which is exciting. I feel like I've become much more technologically savy working here!

I just got back from a fantastic five days at the Annual Meeting for Alternate ROOTS. ROOTS is a gathering of social justice artists from the south. It was incredible few days and I did a lot of great networking with people in this region. Technology is on the table and many in leadership there are looking to the younger people in ROOTS to guide the way in becoming a technologically efficient organization. We at Appalshop will be part of that process.

Now I'm looking forward to using what I've learned so far and really moving forward in a full and ready way.

Comment from Jules Goins on August 11, 2008 - 1:39pm

Great post, Julia! I am glad you are getting settled in your new community.

The thousand kites site and the social networking sites it is connected to reminded me of a blog post i was reading about establishing an organization's brand across social media. I don't know how much of this has already been mapped out, but it still might be a good read: 50 steps to establishing a consistent social media practice.

Keep up the good work.