Spread the word...May digital storytelling training

danielle martin — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 21:00:31 +0000

You're invited to a unique opportunity to combine hands-on multimedia training and community program capacity building. The program is called Spreading the Stories (sponsored by MassIMPACT) and it's a 3 full day hands-on workshop where you'll create a digital story and discuss how to implement it in your own organizations. The workshop will be held at the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center on May 1, 8, & 9th from 9-5pm (with an orientation on Friday April 27th from 10-12noon).

Digital stories are a tremendous resource for community-based organizations. Most community efforts use stories to build relationships, to connect with others, and to advocate for themselves. Often, those who are effecting change on the ground lack knowledge of basic media skills that can capture and represent the images and voices behind these stories.

Spreading the Stories is a four-day intensive professional development workshop, where participants create digital stories -- brief multimedia narratives combining voice, imagery and video. Through the creation of digital stories, organizations can reflect upon, learn from, document, and share stories that emerge through their practice. The workshop is free, and is intended as both a production and a train-the-trainer event, where participants leave with their own digital stories and the skills necessary to teach others the process.

To expand the reach of digital storytelling, MassIMPACT, along with Creative Narrations, launched Spreading the Stories in the fall of 2005. Twelve organizations’ staff from the Boston area was trained in 2005-6, and many of these organizations have since used digital storytelling to self-produce promotional materials, enhance programming, and secure grant funding. In addition to gaining practical skills, participants found inspiration in the creative process and unique networking opportunities among the participating organizations.

In this next phase of the program, MassIMPACT intends to focus workshops on new communities, including (but not limited to) Asian, Latino, Cape Verdean, & Haitian groups and others in Western Massachusetts. In coalition with Inquilinos Boricuas en Accion (IBA) and Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, the workshop in March 2007 focused on incorporating digital storytelling into community programs in the South End to foster partnerships and inter-organizational programs and events.

The workshop is FREE for selected organizations, contingent that you vow to go back to your organizations and share 3 stories you help create over the next year. You can down the application here or on the MassIMPACT website http://www.massimpact.org/projects/digital_storytelling/spreading_stories.shtml , due by April 17th.

Leading by example...sort of

danielle martin — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 21:34:19 +0000

After a spent the week trying to catch up with all the VISTAs under my care, encouraging them all to blog and read the blogs, I realized I haven't really blogged myself. What AM I working on? Well the first three weeks as an official VISTA leader has been a lot about finding a balance between two new roles.

Role 1 : VISTA Leader at CTC VISTA Project at UMass Boston

This role was a little easier to figure out, since I've got the Project pretty much figured out by now. In fact, most of these first three weeks have been about helping the Project HQ staff get on the same page and think strategically about where the Project wants to go. I hosted a little strategic planning retreat at my new apartment in Medford, where we compared assumptions, knowledge of the Project and whittled it all down into some concrete goals and actions for the Project. Most of the fall will be consumed with populating the new CTC VISTA resource portal and putting the Digest together with Erin.

Role 2: Program Coordinator at massIMPACT

[I just got that title today, mostly because we had to figure out something to put on my new business cards.] Now, working with massIMPACT is all new. massIMPACT is a non-profit housed at MassHousing that works to provide support to technology in housing developments accross MA. So far, it's done work in digital storytelling train-the-trainer projects and partnered with Northeastern University among other things.

The first three weeks were mostly shadowing my supervisor, Thaddeus Miles, and being amazed at the amount of people he interacts with and is able to remember all their names and stories. Meeting everyone and figuring out the housing development environment has been fascinating for me because I know a lot about non-profits in Boston but not much about this group. The funniest part is how amazed folks are that I want to take the T to these meetings - I think it's a combo of fearing for the "white girl" in the Roxbury/Dorchester and not liking to walk on their part.

The other sub-role I have at massIMPACT is project managing the development of a collaboration portal for community digital storytelling facilitators at StoriesforChange.net. I've been reading as much as I can of emails from all the volunteers who want to build this site for sharing resources, curriculum, and lessons learned while providing place to publish stories as well. I'm excited because this site is truly a project fueled by the users (and not by a funder or higher power) and I get to work with new VISTA Jessica McCoy at the Center for Digital Storytelling.

On a personal note, I spent a good amount of free time these past couple weeks seriously thinking and researching my graduate school possibilities. I highly enjoyed the session at the Comparative Media Studies Program at MIT, especially because I connected with another prospective student (Ms. Audobon, who moblogs and with whom I had way too much in common with for Fate not to be involved) and a few of the current grad students. Imagine, Danielle at MIT....

Digital Arts Service Corps - massimpact

Spread the word...May digital storytelling training

Leading by example...sort of