Digital Arts Service Corps - digital media

Digital Media

admin — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:35:24 +0000

This sections contains resources for VISTAs surrounding the use of Digital Media (podcasting, broadcasting, filming, etc.)

The end.

lauren bratslavsky — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 13:38:28 +0000

It's been one year. And all the should ofs and could ofs are now expired. But I think I've accomplished a lot of good things, learned a lot and definetely had a great experience.

Sure, I could have blogged more, or made more programs, written more grants, etc etc etc. At least I can say that I have followed most of the workplan and hopefully instilled a foundation for a strong youth program at Media Bridges down the road.

Since the last blog, I have taught another great class - Ad Attack! The kids were middle schoolers and very receptive to learning about advertising and the NMMLP's list of persuasion tools. They knew they were being marketed to, but only to the obvious level. Hopefully they'll keep in mind the other marketing techniques and persuassion tools and practice being smart consumers. For anyone teaching such a class, I would suggest recording some recent commercials from the kids stations and also places like BET and MTV. I thought some of the commercials would be too mature for them, but these kids watch a lot a lot of tv. One student really liked the "bow chic a wow wow" commercial - the Axe one. So I also threw in info on sex appeal, since they already were aware of those commercials. Also, when preparing for such a class, come up with a tv/media watching survey and throw in some questions also about what they think advertising is. Then that will take you into a discussion about their favorite commercials and all that. Anyways, that class ended with some short videos that were, eh, ok. But I think the main point about ad techniques was well recieved.

The rest of my month was rather boring, tying up loose ends, making an end of year binder and all that. The highlight was going to Washington DC, courtesy of Danielle and that Housing Network conference. I presented with Nettrice Gaskins about Digital Media. I think it went well. And it sure was fun to go to DC for free and hang out with the ol' vista leader!

So thank you CTC VISTA project for exisiting and providing such a phenomenol opportunity. This has been the ideal situation for me, being between schooling and not quite sure what to do. I was actually able to utilize previous education, gain knew knowledge and experiences and of course look impressive on the resume (seriously). Future plans (which is basically now) are to move to Oregon. I'm in Ohio, so it's a serious excursion. I'm going to the University of Oregon for masters in communication and society. Maybe I'll continue down the path of media literacy, community media and media reform, as I have been doing the past year. But who knows where this will take me! And here's a note - if you are applying to school anytime following the VISTA year, whether you believe it or not, you are an impressive candidate for being in Americorps. And depending on your duties and experiences at your site, you may be able to translate that into a full ride! I'll be a graduate teaching fellow (fancy for ga) because I have Photoshop and Final Cut Pro experience, so I think I'll be teaching or assisting with those in some way (still don't know for sure). So if you're going to school, try to find the department (even if it's not what you are going to school for) that can utilize your experiences, and hopefully you too will be offered an assistantship.

Take care all! Rock out, don't crack out.

Let's Try This Again!

Renae Smack — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 05:07:05 +0000

Last week as I sat and I wrote, I was so impressed by the new set up to go with my brand new second term and so I added the picture and wa-la everything went away. So here I am again going to bring you up on what's been happening with Renae.

Back in April a group of us went to conference in Baltimore hosted by NeighborWorks.

I was very impressed by the commitment of the kids. In Baltimore their kids are doing really innovative things. I heard poetry, skits, role playing and a lot of other things they were involved in. Their community was a very big deal to most of the teens who attended the conference and I came away with this wonderful feeling. Some of the things they said in the role play made me examine myself. One young man was the executive director of a center. He had asked one of the teens at his center to come to the board meeting, when the teen arrived he handed him the agendas to hand out. He asked him to greet people at the door, the adult was the child in this role play so the adult actually never became apart of the meeting because the adult (young man) kept coming up with different things for the child to do. I had to ask myself do we really listen to them when they speak, do we treat them as if they should be grateful for the attention we give them, or do we appreciate their since of style, the fresh way they look at things, their ability to move on after they have been disappointed yet again by an well meaning adult who after all thinks they don't really know what they want. We don't give them enough credit, and we don't give them a chance to use the tools we give them. I'm am blessed to be working with a group of kids who are intelligent, trustworthty, honest and creative.

They might be young but they are more reliable then some adults I know and they work just as hard as everyone else at our center to make it the great place it is. Hat's off to you Yasmine, Soncerae, Lisa, and the rest of the Youth leadership program for all you do!

Our trip to Baltimore also produced another eyeopener. After we went through the classes we had to come up with a project to bring back home that would represent Being the Bridge You Want to Build. We were so hipe about it we planned it at the airport. It is titled Neighbors Helping Neighbors. We came home and began working on it even though we had another event planned for a week before this one would kick off.

So guess what, the Celebration Of Your Gifts to Us was a success. (The one planned the week before.) We celebrated the partners we have made over the last year and we had food served by the hospitality committee (man can they cook!) and we gave away some pretty neat stuff, certificates, magnets these neat cups I created while in Home Depot looking for flowers for my garden. Yes, and she gardens when she can find the time.

Well anyway needless to say , it was a wonderful event.
Then one week later our Neighbors Helping Neighbors Week kicks off. We were suppose to have a jump castle, all kind of fun stuff for the kids and It rains. We're hoping for this great neighborhood turnout because we've partnered with the City of Charleston, Family Services, Lowcountry Housing and Trust and a host of others to bring to the people all this great information and prizes and it's pouring down rain. IT WAS GREAT! People still came out the, Mayor of Charleston proclaimed it National Neighborworks Week and off we started.

I have literally been on roller skates since then. ( I take that back, I never took off the roller skates! ha-ha.) We identified eight houses in the neighborhood that needed small construction jobs done to get them to the point that they could get effective weatherization offered by another group called The Sustainability Institute. The identification of the houses came from a partnership we made last year with The Lead Base Initiative with the City of Charleston. We have a group name Mission Fuge who did all the work on the houses for the last 6 weeks. We have seen so much community growth and community pride since we began our mission one year ago, Rev. King and I. Then guess what? Summer camp opened. Here we go again!

And The Beat Goes On!

Renae Smack — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 16:20:31 +0000

Hi everyone,

Hey Pink House, say what!

Well the kids at the Pink House continue to amaze me with their dedication to the programs hosted there.

They are growing leaps and bounds due to the different programs offered here at the Neighborhood Resource Center. I can honestly say I can see this community beginning to embrace the PINK HOUSE in their community. Dondre and Darius Simmons presented a service learning project called Zig the Pig to the Ardmore/Sherwood Forest neighborhood association on last month. They are the get this ZIG Ambassadors for the project representing two schools ( St. Andrews Middle and Stono Park Elementary).They are also my newphews (oh I'm just so proud of how far they've come since they came here!) This is a first in the history of the community to have children as a part of the community meeting. Check out the first video we made!

What's A Zig Ambassador?

Go PINK HOUSE, SAY WHAT!

This group of kids created a commercial with the help of our parent involvement program here hosted at the PINK HOUSE. One of the parents used countless hours to assist the children in creating a video which they spliced and diced until they got Zig II.

The PINK HOUSE KIDS are now working on a computerized radio show to be hosted on Blogtalkradio.com. Wait to you see (or should I say hear) all the hard work these kids have put into this project.

Our prospective date to air is April 20,2007. Yes, that tomorrow, and boy am I nervous! I can only image how the kids are feeling about know. The time will be 4:30pm til 5:30pm.

On last week the local radio station who has partnered with us to make the radio show a reality, invited our kids to the radio station to see how radio shows work behind the scenes. They really got a lot of good information and they got a chance to talk on the radio to see how it feels. Hats off to Citadel Broadcasting for their involvement in the community. Thanks Ms. Toby Smith from Heaven Talk 1390 am and Gentry Via for his time and dedication to the community and to the PINK HOUSE KIDS!

Listen out for WPHK that those (WONDERFUL PINK HOUSE KIDS).

The Ardmore/Sherwood Forest Newsletter has a new face thanks to Rev. C. King and our new edition Ms. Shirley Washington. They took my amaturistic attempt at community reporting to a whole new level of community organizing, and communicating with the community. Hats off ladies, You did a great job!

Our next event is an appreciation meeting for stakeholders in the community. The meeting will be the first of it's kind. It will be hosted outside with food and awards to say thank you to businesses in the neigborhood who care about The Ardmore/Sherwood Forest community.

Well, I got some much to do and so little time.......

Renae Out...........

Hey PINK HOUSE Say What.......

Participatory Media Tools

Colleen Kelly — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 21:22:07 +0000

Examples of user-generated participatory media (after which you can pattern campaigns for your nonprofit):
1. http://moveon.org/
MoveOn had a contest to devise an advertisement for their campaign which would then be used by MoveOn as promotional materials

2. http://hornymanatee.com/
Fan Art - connected Conan O'Brian with his audience in a way nothing else could.

3. Pearl Harbor Memorial Foundation - http://www.pearlharbormemorial.com/
Created an online oral/living history with Drupal. Survivors could scroll over parts of the boat and mark where they were on the ship. Created an 800 number for non-tech folks to call and record their oral histories which would then be uploaded as podcasts and associated with that particular location on the ship. A user-generated oral history.

4. http://www.sinceslicedbread.com/
Getting policy ideas into the mainstream. Users post their ideas and the Top 21 are deemed "a slice above the rest"... Users can also go through various posted policy ideas and mark the ones they would like to see become a reality. CITIZEN-GENERATED IDEAS. Allows lots of feedback from your constituents.

5. NPR: This I Believe
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4538138

See Attachment for more participatory media tools and information.

Podcasting: Nonprofit Applications and Practical How-To's (from NTEN Conference, 2007)

Colleen Kelly — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 20:23:47 +0000

Podcasting: Nonprofit Applications and Practical How-To's
Production and Content Tips - very useful! Check out the attached presentation!

Giving Voice: Nonprofits on the Radio

These notes were taken on a presentation at the NTEN ’07 Conference by:
* Jake Shapiro – Executive Director of Public Radio Exchange
* Jenny Toomey – Executive Director of Future of Music Coalition
* Chris Guerre – Director of Media Relations at Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts
* Vince Stehle – Surdna Foundation

There was an FCC announcement that FREE (non-commercial) RADIO LICENCES (for the first time in 15 years) are being given to nonprofits for locally-programmed radio. This is necessary to promote localism and local artists. Anyone who is a nonprofit and is in an area where spectrum space is available is invited to apply. You can get more information at: www.getradio.org and http://www.prometheusradio.org/ and see attachment from the Future of Music Coalition for a good breakdown.

Irrational Public Radio
www.irrationalpublicradio.com
New option for NPR-esque listening

Public Radio Exchange
www.prx.org
Digital audio archive and online marketplace – anyone can upload sound pieces – GET YOUR PODCASTS/AUDIO STORIES OUT THERE!!!
- Generation PRX and “YouthCast” – a program of PRX for youth programming
- www.publicradioquest.com – Public Radio Talent Quest (a la “American Idol” but for public radio)– starting to take submissions APRIL 16, 2007

Future of Music Coalition
http://www.futureofmusic.org/
The Future of Music Coalition is a not-for-profit collaboration between members of the music, technology, public policy and intellectual property law communities. The FMC seeks to educate the media, policymakers, and the public about music / technology issues, while also bringing together diverse voices in an effort to come up with creative solutions to some of the challenges in this space. The FMC also aims to identify and promote innovative business models that will help musicians and citizens to benefit from new technologies.

Introduction to Digital Storytelling

Colleen Kelly — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 16:00:22 +0000

Digital storytelling originates in Berkeley, California at the Center for Digital Storytelling (http://www.storycenter.org). Influenced by popular education, third world cinema, and the community documentary movement, digital storytelling values the power of story as a tool for self-discovery and reflection, community building and education, organizing, and advocacy. These workshops guide participants through a process combining storytelling with modern-day technology and digital media. All participants create a three to four minute video through an intensive workshop format. Digital stories are based on participants’ own experiences and told through their own perspectives. Participants’ voices are recorded and integrated with photographs, letters, home videos, and other artifacts. These pieces can be viewed on DVD, VHS, CD, or uploaded to the web. [from Creative Narrations / massIMPACT Spreading the Stories curriculum].

Why Use Stories for Community Building and/or Organizing?

Stories can gather knowledge and coax out leadership
Stories connect individuals based on common experiences
Stories can create the conditions for change
Storytelling fosters participation, dialogue, and voice

CTC VISTAs have used digital storytelling in various ways in their work. Morgan Sully, developed an open source toolkit on CD to bring to sessions he did at The San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender Community Center. Roxanne Johnson, at, built upon this toolkit to train her AmeriCorps volunteers and youth at the Twin Cities C-CAN/CTEP Project in MN. Former VISTA Dean Gransar and current VISTAs Kevin Palmer and AJ McGuire at HOME Inc are using digital storytelling to teach media literacy in schools. Danielle Martin (massIMPACT) and Jessica McCoy (CDS) are currently developing an online resource for community digital storytelling facilitators at StoriesForChange.net.

Here's an example of a story, made by a teen at the BGCB Cyber Summit in Spring 2006.

Vanessa (age 15) was a representative from the Roxbury Boys & Girls Club at the 2006 BGCB Cyber Summit in April. This is her digital story about misrepresentation of her neighborhood in the local media.

Introduction to Distribution

Colleen Kelly — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 15:55:37 +0000

So far, digital distribution (or digital delivery) discussions among VISTAs have been focused on video sharing, mostly among cable access stations (such as the NYMAP or Digital Bicycle projects). With the explosion of video sharing sites such as YouTube, Google Video, and Blip.tv, the ability to share video content has become almost second-hand to young web users. Factor in the ease of peer-to-peer network technology and we have an environment where youth could certainly be sharing all sorts of their own digital content.

Inherent in this area too are stumbling blocks such as copyright (see Creative Commons), digital rights management, and loss of video quality.

How can VISTAs tap into these trends and resources to support their efforts?

Here's some topics identified around this area:

-outreach to local community organizations to share content
-Podcasting
-Videoblogging
-issues around distribution of youth content

Digital Media Group Updates March

danielle martin — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 20:23:51 +0000

The Digital Media group had a great call last Friday around finding, developing and sharing curricula for digital media programs. We're aiming to share as much as possible on the CTC VISTA wiki page <http://www.ctcvista.org/node/558> and shoot more proprietary stuff to each other by email. Kevin and AJ also added a bunch of new pages so check out the Digital Media section for more content!

The next conference call is scheduled for Friday April 13th at 2pm EST.

Here's the individual updates...

•    AJ (HOME Inc) -big screening/presentation in front of whole school of youth work, congrats!;
•    Colleen - moved to CTC VISTA Project HQ to work on outreach, communications, and the CTC VISTA wiki
•    Dan (Pui Tak Center) – created templates for org newsletter, annual report, and website.
•    Derek (Phillips Community Television) – workshop on graphic design and logo development for high school youth (9 weeks long, 1 day week); created new website for PCTV in Drupal (interested in Drupal working group); working with Youth Media Network trying to step up more community outreach, so working on marketing and coordination for the fall screening; might work on manual for youth program on a starter manual for new youth
•    Elisha (TINCAN) - first tasks included updating documentation from former VISTA; working on a new grant to extend the current program to work with small town museums to digitize their collections, get it online, and create videos about themselves; working with community outreach to get more contributors for the History website; outreach to History teachers in the area
•    Gariet (Portland Community Television/OLLIE) - still implementing OLLIE program with schools and working on Youth Video Exchange Network video sharing (with some technical difficulties with format)
•    Jessica (CDS) - ongoing mentoring of a youth project; learning to communicate with community partners (listening skills);
•    Julie (BNN) - teaching herself Audience software (for community billboards) and working on Roxbury studio programs to train the youth to use the software.
•    Kevin (HOME Inc.) - applying for C4All grant to hire a consultant to upgrade school's technology centers for accessibility and do data research; created organizational handbook for HOME Inc (lots of project management and strategic planning experience)
•    Lashanda (Benton Harbor African Arts and Culture Council) - working with Helen Mitchell, the Executive Director, whose working with one of the local community newspapers, to add newspaper and journalism to the after school program
•    Leena (YMCA of Greater Boston) - getting oriented into afterschool program and working with current staff to integrate more technology into current programs; implementing Kinetic City curriculum (science and engineering projects); looking for more formal curriculum structure formats
•    Mike (The Media Aid Center) - working on Media Aid Center community kiosks in the community and putting microphones for audio recording.
•    Naomi (OTXWest) - helping out with updating the website; added stuff to curriculum for classes; getting more digital media elements into existing programs; Project Soar summer program with schools doing digital storytelling
•    Ramon (The Media Aid Center) - making phone calls to organizations for outreach, field trips, potential volunteers, and new members; working on camera angles curriculum for summer program and how to set up a green screen
•    Ray (Computers4Kids) - starting to think about life after vista (degree in engineering); set up new machines from Dell; attendance for workshops is getting better; plans to spend last couple months to sit down to crank out instructor manuals;
•    Renae (Pink House) - working on a online radio show with youth, with volunteers/ local celebrities from the neighborhood (through BlogTalkRadio.com); will send me an update.
•    Richard (Grand Rapids Community Media Center) - working on a United Way grant for the MOLLIE program; the GRMC as a whole is fundraising to support the whole center and also to recruit youth for summer program to do video about community; looking for audio curriculum for a class
•    Shaneka (Westside Youth Technical Entrepreneur Center) - was supposed to the ICCN Manager's training this week but flights got canceled; still doing the video production/music; connecting with middle school; Illinois Inst of Tech Women's month program for girls with HD cameras to do interviews with different generations of women and the video that was produced was played at a cultural event;
•    Tony (Boys & Girls Clubs of the East Valley, AZ) - going to a WTEA Wisconsin Tech Ed March 26th; a bunch of tech events like an awards banquet, tech field trip to CA (need to raise money); still writing grants for new furniture from IKEA donation request from local store;

Youth Development

Colleen Kelly — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 16:38:58 +0000

Tips for Teaching

There are many methods and approaches but the ones that work best are youth-centered and hands-on. On subsequent pages are several methods and approaches for planning and getting started with your DAY program, including project-based learning, portfolios, after school and in-school activities. Also, creating the space (DAY studio) is important, as well as developing the actual activities for your program. Upon request are some great lessons for teaching digital art (on CD).

Digital Art Youth Program (DAY)

In 2000, three community-based technology centers across the country launched "ArtTech", a five-week summer program that introduced youth to multimedia. Soon after the project was renamed the Digital Art Youth Program or DAY. Nettrice Gaskins created a resource guide for practitioners that was made available upon request. She also ran a local DAY program at the Boston Neighborhood Network from 2001-2004, with the help of an AmeriCorps VISTA (Derek Hixon). The Boston program served nearly a hundred local youth between the ages of 13 and 18. Additionally, Nettrice worked with a public high school in Dorchester to create school-based curriculum for teachers and students.

Creating the DAY resource guide has been a labor of love for Nettrice (she did not profit from it). For more information about the guide visit the DAY web site.

Computer Animation

In 2005, Nettrice taught three computer animation classes at the Massachusetts College of Art. Two of the classes were for 12-18 year olds and the other was for high school students. For these classes Nettrice developed a web site and curriculum. The activities culminated in a CD/DVD and screening of youth work. The work can also be seen on the web here: Digital Media Channel.

Youth Entrepreneurship

Wikipedia defines entrepreneurship as "the practice of starting new organizations, particularly new businesses generally in response to identified opportunities."

Organizations such as National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship have the mission "to teach entrepreneurship to young people from low-income communities to enhance their economic productivity by improving their business, academic and life skills."

One of CTC VISTA Project's participants, The Young Entrepreneurs Society (YES), has a mission of "North Quabbin/Franklin County youth unlocking their potential through entrepreneurship, job readiness, financial and technology education and action" and does so with programs such as a buisness center, cyber cafe, and social service marketing projects.

What other projects or ideas are floating around about entrepreneurship? Here's a place to start!