digital media training

CTC Program Building and Outreach

Organization: 
Technology for All
VISTA Name: 
Nichole Payne
Program Start: 
9/2005
Program End: 
9/2006
Project Description: 

With initial funding for equipment and supplies from the United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast and another anonymous grant, TFA has developed a Digital Media program at the Misión Milby Community Technology Center for youth in the East End. Over 60 youth signed up for this program. With the leadership, coordination and facilitation skills of our VISTA volunteer, Nikki Payne, youth in the program are learning skills for movie making, web design and other digital media tools.

Project Outcome: 

Through the efforts of the Americorps VISTA volunteer services, nearly 2,000 middle school and high school students in the East End community have benefited from using the Mission Milby CDC computer lab. The lab activities are coordinated by Nikki Payne, Americorps VISTA volunteer. It is expected that this number will double by the end of the program year, in August.

With a digital media grant obtained through one of our volunteers during our work with Katrina evacuees, Nikki studied digital media programs in Ecuador, Argentina and Chile. Nikki returned with curriculum and digital media best practices for distribution to other community technology centers in Houston.

Oregon Learning Lab Outreach Coordinator

Organization: 
Portland Community Media
VISTA Name: 
Ryn Shane-Armstrong
Program Start: 
9/2005
Program End: 
9/2006
Project Description: 

Ryn will participate in OLLIE productions as a trainer, work with community partners to plan successful OLLIE projects and events, and develop youth outreach and education efforts of Portland Community Media and Multnomah Community Television.

Project Outcome: 

In the past six months, OLLIE has provided digital media training to over 150 youth through 17 projects at 11 community locations. In addition, OLLIE has scheduled projects to serve an additional 180 youth over the next six months. Each round of OLLIE projects has balanced new and returning community partners. Our VISTA has served as a group coordinator for many of these sites, facilitating communication between the OLLIE staff and volunteers, the OLLIE coordinator, and community partners. Ryn has also begun to identify volunteers to support this project. He identified the post-production talents of a community partner and utilized them to finish a student project.

In addition, OLLIE’s curriculum design has evolved. Based on participant feedback, trainer input, and research into youth media best practices; the teaching methods, practice exercises, and time allotments for each segment of production have changed to better serve the youth we work with. Ryn’s insights about classroom teaching experiences and research into youth media curriculum are of great value to this process. I am looking forward to further utilizing Ryn’s expertise to design and implement our summer intensive “Adventures in Television”sessions. He is one of the leads for this project.

A very exciting part of OLLIE’s evolution is the creation and implementation of a graphic design identity package. Ryn has served as a lead contact in the process of recruiting and hiring a designer, developing a logo, and working with vendors. Currently Ryn is leading efforts to develop and refine copy that will promote the program in print, web, and video materials. Ryn also was able to develop his web design skills to create a first draft of a website for OLLIE: www.ollietv.org. Behind the scenes, he has created extensive outlines for future implementations of a site that will be useful to project staff, community partners, and program participants.

Impact Quote: 

An amazing thing about Ryn is the way in which he integrated himself into the media center community. He put himself ‘out there’ as willing to help, learn, and volunteer on his own time to help others and make the media center a better place. He has organized the staff on more than one occasion to attend cultural events and support each other. He is an exceptional asset to the Oregon Learning Lab for Information Education.

After School Youth Media Program Coordinator

VISTA Name: 
Taylor Hales
Program Start: 
8/2005
Program End: 
8/2006
Project Description: 

The After School Youth Media Program Coordinator will be responsible for designing and administering after school and summer technology and academic activities at Northwest Tower in 2005-2006. They will be responsible for creating fun, enriching and engaging activities with youth that introduce them to new academic concepts and provide creative outlets for self expression with a focus on using the digital tools we have at our disposal in our lab. Activities will be directed at both youth in grades K-8 and teenagers.

Project Outcome: 

Our project accomplishments were exceptional– Taylor helped NTRC to create a solid multi-media program for youth at its Northwest Tower site, and to expand our reach into a local high school, Michelle Clark. We implemented a Hip Hop Club at Northwest Tower, where Taylor has helped to develop a digital audio and literacy curriculum, and an Apprenticeship in collaboration with After School Matters at Michelle Clark High, where Taylor designed a curriculum around digital video production.

Impact Quote: 

Our community has benefitted greatly from our VISTA. They have come to know and trust Taylor and learned from his own skills how to employ digital technology tools to pursue their creative endeavors and develop their talent. We will continue to work with him in this capacity, as he has become a valuable part of our team.

Program Development

VISTA Name: 
Jeff Benton
Program Start: 
8/2005
Program End: 
8/2006
Project Description: 

The VISTA would be involved in a variey of activities including assisting and acting as a trainer in our Introductory computer classes for families, and working with volunteers to prepare the home computers that are critical to our community. The member would also be instrumental in building our second classroom, defining and preparing curriculum for delivery in this “high end”, multimedia learning environment. The member would become familiar with and provide assistance in our other areas including our “Cyber High at home” program.

Project Outcome: 

Jeff has taken the lead role in building our second classroom. This was completed the middle of February. Jeff is very effective in identifying what needs to be done and completing it with quality. He is an integral part of all aspects of our home computer program including scheduling and coordinating families in our classes, coordinating the work of adult and youth volunteers, and many, many other things that are needed in a small organization with a big mission.

Jeff has also attended a KQED workshop on digital story telling and is working with Domingo Vaszuez, a multimedia professional, to finalize the curriculum for our upcoming digital story telling pilot workshop. The workshop has been scheduled, 20 students have been selected, and all is a go for the week of Spring Break, April 10-14.

We are currently working with project SOAR to schedule 200-300 7th graders into our summer technology workshop. This one week workshop, for 6 separate sessions, will run from June 26 to August 4. We will be updating our first classroom to also accomodate the students. The curriculum we will use will be that piloted in April. Jeff is involved in every detail of this large, (and new to us) endeavor.

Youth and Volunteer Outreach and Training

Organization: 
Zumix
VISTA Name: 
Samuel Russell
Program Start: 
6/2005
Program End: 
6/2006
Project Description: 

The VISTA will assist in training volunteers for the radio, preparing youth to assume positions of responsibility at the station-including training new station volunteers themselves. He or she will also help to prepare technical infrastructure for the new firehouse facility that Zumix will move into during summer ‘07.

Project Outcome: 

Since Sam’s arrival, we have put a radio station on the air and are also streaming on the internet. We have undergone several rounds of training, preparing youth and adults to participate as music hosts and news reporters for the station. Sam has been involved in all phases of this process, helping to build the infrastructure, train radio staff and conduct outreach.

Sam also assumed partial responsibility for starting “The VIllage,” a weekly meeting of youth and staff that allowed for wide-ranging discussions of issues important to the Zumix community, Also, he was the key link between Zumix and the B.U. School of Digital Imaging, which resulted in a video documentary on Zumix. This video has already proven to be an effective outreach and fundraising tool for our organization.

Outreach and Youth Video Workshop Building

Organization: 
Reel Works Teen Filmmaking
VISTA Name: 
Will Quinones
Program Start: 
9/2006
Program End: 
9/2007
Project Description: 

Goal 1: To enhance the capacity of Reel Works Teen Filmmaking by broadening outreach and impact on New York City teens.

Project Outcome: 

Will assisted with the completion of the Spring 2006 class by helping to organize the graduation screening. Shortly before that screening, Will recruited students and professional filmmaker mentors for the Fall 2006 class, which began in early October 2006. The Fall 2006 class has now graduated (as of March 28, 2007) and again Will assisted with the organization of the graduation screening, our longest and best attended yet. This past winter, Will again recruited students and mentors, from regular partner schools and new partners, for the Spring 2007 class.

The Reel Impact program has been completely overhauled with Will’s input and support into a series of workshops and working meetings on distribution and outreach for graduates of the Lab. He has been in charge of distributing our films over the web at four different partner websites - including Reel Works, ListenUp!, Uth TV, and AOL. Will has been releasing a new film (from our library of over 100 films) every two weeks and last year we had over a million viewers of our work! Our first Master Class, a yearlong advanced film production class, was recruited for and began in the late fall. Will is currently arranging specialty workshops such as screenwriting and lighting for film for the Master Class students.

Our first ever benefit was held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in November 2006, and Will contributed to the creation of the “Labumentary”, a film about Reel Works’ mission, for the benefit screening. He also coordinated our student workers for the evening, who were charged with selling tickets for and running the raffle at the benefit reception.

This spring, we are in the process of strengthening our recruitment efforts with our partners at local schools and non-profit organizations. Will is part of the team who is meeting with these partners, educating them fully about our mission and requirements and developing deeper bonds in order to reach more students who might be interested in our programs.

All of these activities that Will has been in charge of and assisting with are directly affecting the ability of Reel Works to reach more and more of New York City’s teens who are interested in developing critical thinking, media literacy, self-esteem and relationships with professionals in the field of filmmaking.

"Youth Media Block" Program Building and Outreach

Organization: 
Media Bridges Cincinnati
VISTA Name: 
Lauren Bratslavsky
Program Start: 
9/2006
Program End: 
9/2007
Project Description: 

Goal 1: Research pre-existing youth oriented media curriculum, policies and programs
Goal 2: Develop manual with existing resources, create MBYC policies, procedures and journal outreaches for future use.
Goal 3: Grant Writing and research funding options focused at the Media Bridges Youth Channel and Operation Department
Goal 4: Research, design, implement a volunteer managment model to be used withthe MBYC.

Project Outcome: 

Lauren has been an integral part of ensuring a year- round, sustainable youth media program. She has been developing policies, researching, compiling content for the Youth Media Block and leading several of the outreaches and youth- media classes. The VISTA has also been vital in assisting the Education Coordinator with her duties such as classes, curriculum development, and community outreach.

CTC Program Building

Organization: 
HOME Inc.
VISTA Name: 
Aaron McGuire
Program Start: 
9/2006
Program End: 
9/2007
Project Outcome: 

This year we had a number of major accomplishments with AJ McGuire, including establishing a new course at the Social Justice Academy called Committee, that has added a core of projects for teens to complete in after school. After school projects for example, are incorporating Action Research principles that allow students to examine issues such as Global Warming and it’s impact on energy consumption and lifestyles, and equity in education in the Boston Public Schools and at the Social eeJustice Academy. The after school Mosaic program screened their videos for the entire student body in March, and we continued to make connections with new teachers and students both during school and after school. We have increase the number of teens participating in After School to 17. Our program has expanded to three full days per week. Two of our teens from the Social Justice Academy After School continued to work in our Summer Intensive at the Boston Neighborhood Network (BNN) in the Mall of Roxbury, where AJ was the lead program developer. Working in teams of 5 with three other team leaders, AJ helped to develop the curriculum, developed a web site workspace where projects could be posted and created a web based project tracking system based on the Drupal programming language.

Both of our VISTAs have been very dedicated and resourceful in supporting the media lab after school initiatives. They have found themselves being passionate about our mission to help teens develop creative, multidisciplinary media and education projects that foster teamwork and communication skills, community building, insight into critical issues, and ways to express those issues to others.

CTC Youth Media Program Building

VISTA Name: 
Anthony O'Rourke
Program Start: 
9/2006
Program End: 
9/2007
Project Description: 

The priority during Tony’s time at the clubs has been to develop programs specializing in youth media.

Project Outcome: 

Tony successfully created a project plan, lesson plans, program write-ups and evaluations for programs in the past year. These programs provide valuable skills to students in the following areas. Photoshop- design and tools, , Movie making, Robotics, Music Making, Diversity training, Literacy enrichment, Web Design, Graphic Design/Arts and the Techathalon (a state wide event). The Americorp Vista participated in outreach and recruitment with several community groups. He secured several donations for fundraising efforts through community relations he developed. During the past year, he visited the Young Champions program and urged them to participate in after school programs at the club site, greatly increasing the size and reach of our programs.

Impact Quote: 

Tony O’Rourke has performed above expectations throughout his time at the Boys & Girls Clubs of the East Valley. He has consistently documented programs and developed resources and trainings in supported of the computer and youth leadership programs.

Youth Media Program Building

Organization: 
Portland Community Media
VISTA Name: 
Gariet Cowin
Program Start: 
9/2006
Program End: 
6/2008
Project Description: 

OLLIE, Oregon Learning Lab for Information Education
The Oregon Learning Lab for Information Education, also known as OLLIE, is a collaborative effort between Portland Community Media and Metro East Community Media to meet the media education and technology needs of under-served youth, schools, and community-based organizations in Multnomah County, Oregon. OLLIE provides media literacy, tools and training to a variety of young people by bringing multimedia technology into the classroom.

RESPONSIBILITIES:
The VISTA will work with the OLLIE coordinator, educators from Portland Community Media and Multnomah Community Television, and area schools and community centers to meet the goals of the OLLIE project.

Specific responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Learn and be able to teach the OLLIE curriculum and equipment

• Participate in OLLIE productions as a trainer

• Communicate with OLLIE Coordinator regarding scheduling

• Keep a personal schedule of OLLIE training responsibilities

• Arrive at OLLIE projects on time and prepared

• Working with community partners to plan successful OLLIE projects and events

• Developing youth outreach and education efforts of Portland Community Media and Multnomah Community Television.

• Participate in OLLIE maintenance and development

• Research and submit OLLIE media works to
International, national and local film festivals

Project Outcome: 

In developing OLLIE’s digital distribution strategy, Gariet has achieved three major accomplishments.

First, Gariet brought the OLLIE program and Portland Community Media into the Youth Video Exchange Network (YVXN) as a steering partner. OLLIE’s participation in YVXN has allowed us to share broadcast quality student work with other youth media centers around the country, as well as acquire youth media content to broadcast on our own channels.

In parallel to his work with NYMAP, Gariet also researched and set up a blip.tv site for the OLLIE program. This site allows us to share our videos with others at any time, and in turn allows our visitors to post the videos on their websites and blogs.

Finally, Gariet developed a website for the project using the Drupal content management system. This site provides a comprehensive resource about the program for the communities we serve, and includes a searchable video database. Through his research and work with Drupal and blip.tv for our youth project, Gariet has set a course for the Media Center as a whole. Recently a staff member expressed that Gariet’s ability to explain the benefits and values of these technologies to others led to the media center to develop a digital distribution plan that incorporated the lessons he has learned. Gariet’s work has also had an impact on the larger community, including interesting and attracting a local foundation to provide operational funding for our project.

Impact Quote: 

Gariet’s technology skills and ability to learn and teach new technologies has been an extremely valuable asset to the OLLIE project. Gariet is also an excellent teacher. He is able to engage and inspire his students as they plan and create their video projects. Gariet’s positive attitude about working with this project and VISTA is enjoyed by those who work with him. His commitment to helping others and the value of youth media is appreciated.”
- Laura Craig-Bennett, supervisor

Transmission Project