The Journal of Radical Aesthetics and Protest recently asked Open Youth Networks members, Ameenah Muhammad (18), Sadia Nawab (18) and Zane Scheuerlein (17) to write an article for their upcoming issue.
Click here for a sneak preview of their piece, 10 Radical Things About YouTube.
ANNOUNCING THE FAIR USE REMIX INSTITUTE OR FURI
Mix and Mash your way to a freer youth culture
To Get Application and Learn More Click Here: FURI INFORMATION/APPLICATION
Download Flyer Here: furi-flyer08.pdf
FURI is a two week digital media workshop for socially-conscious Chicago teens in which youth create several video remixes and mashups that are critical or satirical works of art focusing on political, social, and cultural issues, from a youth perspective. In the process, participants will learn about how political remix is a cultural right protected by the Fair Use Provision and First Amendment and Free Speech.
Up to 15 Scholarships are available to Socially-Active Youth worth $1,000. (Scholarships cover entire costs of tuition, travel, equipment fees, free copies of publications and yearly access to equipment and editing facilities)
WHEN: July 7th-July 18th 2008 (Monday-Friday 11:00-4:00)
WHERE: CHICAGO FILMMAKERS – 5243 N. Clark, Chicago
TO APPLY: Submit SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION by June 1, 2008
Here are examples of political remix videos from the blog of one of our Facilitators for FURI, Jonathan McIntosh.
YouthLAB members Marisol Becerra and Zane Scheuerlein have been invited to present The Cloud Factory at theAllied Media Conference in Detroit. They will be joined by members of Young Activists Organizing as Today’s Leaders (YAOTL) from the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization. Click on Allied Media Conference link below to get more details!
Their work will also be part of the Chicago Cine Youth Festival.
DIGITAL INTERACTIVE ACTIVISM
Interactive Skill-Share
Open Youth Networks and YAOTL
Saturday June 21st, Chicago’s Columbia College Film Row
3:00-4:00 PM
Youth environmental activists from YAOTL and Open Youth Networks will demonstrate how they are using new digital media networks and DIY participatory culture tools (blogs, googlemaps and social networking) to build awareness. The youth will screen their video, THE CLOUD FACTORY, a video funded by Adobe Youth Voices and Listen Up as part of the international TV series BEYOND GREEN. They will also share their Environmental Justice multimedia map — an online community map that documents the assets and toxics of Little Village through youth-produced photos, videos and stories. The audience will then contribute their own digital content to the map as collaborators with quick demonstrations in Flickr, wordpress, googlemaps and who knows what else. This highly energized and hands-on skill share session shows how the model of commons-based peer production can infuse new possibilities into the field of youth media.Learn more about their work, their videos and how to add to the MyMap at the YAOTL blog www.elcilantro.org
What is the connection? YouthLAB and Open Youth Networks, of course.
Henry Jenkins, Director of the MIT Media Lab recently was in the audience when YouthLAB members, Ameenah Muhammad, Sadia Nawab and Zane Scheuerlein presented YouTube-Sized at the DIY Video Summit. Read Henry Jenkin’s February 13th post called From YouTube to WeTube.
Also, we just learned that Mindy Faber was quoted in a Mother Jones article about youth activism and the internet.
Last but not least, Cafe Catedral in Chicago’s Little Village not only serves up a wicked Chai latte, has free wireless internet, serves amazing food at reasonable prices and was the on location site for the filming of Stranger Than Fiction but it was also the site of our most recent Open Youth Networks blog and google multimedia map training for the youth activist team of Little Village Environmental Justice Organization. See for yourself.
Side by side, these video speak volumes about the differences between Barack Obama and John McCain. One speaks about the hope and sacrifice of everyday people to achieve equality and justice. The other warns of what is not possible to overcome, such as ending a war or solving immigration policy. One speaks about his presidency as a collective effort of the people- “what we can do“. The other talks of individualism - “what I might do and what you cannot do.”
These videos also say a lot about the power of spreadable media and culture in “the networked publics” (Ito) to not just tell the story but to become part of the story itself. Obama’s campaign for presidency is a narrative about a transitional moment in American history. Hilary says Obama has pretty words but it is experience that matters most and Obama says words do matter and being right is what matters most. What issues come up for you as you view these videos be shared online right now? Please post reactions in the comments below.
Here is our question:
YouthLAB members Ameenah, Sadia, Zane and I just returned from L.A. where we presented our curated program YouTube-Sized at the 24/7 DIY Video Summit. It was held at the Davidson Center at the University of Southern California. The program was definitely a big hit and we had tons of folks giving us props afterwards including Henry Jenkins (MIT)! We also really liked what he had to say on all his panels. It was an amazing experience for all of us.
Other highlights of the Summit in our view was the Political Remix selection curated by Jonathan McIntosh and the Vlogging section curated by Ryanne Hodson. Here is a photo of Zane with Jonathan and another remix artist named Elisa.
The big Main program on Saturday night was unbelievable. USC is going to try and feature all of the programs on their website. The photos below are borrowed from marc Davis and Digital Natives from Flickr. To see more photos search under the tag video247 at Flickr.com
John Seely Brown and Jochai Benkler, Chongalicious, Mimi Ito, Howard Rheingold and Henry Jenkins, I Heart the Internet by Ryanne, A Girl Like Me and George Bush Don’t Like Black People.
Let’s face it - most people don’t think of research as sexy and exciting. But at Open Youth Networks we think that research is radical!
Why? Because research is an essential way that youth media groups can understand and expose the problems that youth face using concrete data and evidence. Research also gives us insight, not only about the problems but about the solutions. Research empowers us to advocate to policy makers and our constituencies why the work we do is necessary and effective.
That is why we are happy to announce that Open Youth Networks will serve as the “Guest Editor” for the March edition of IssueLab. This brand new exciting website collects and publishes nonprofit research on important social issues from across the political spectrum. OYN will be highlighting recent studies that give new insights on the importance of youth media organizations in areas such as public and democratic media, global justice, community-based economies, education, environmental activism, civic engagement and arts access. We will feature research, case studies, white papers, community ethnographies, surveys and other data sets about the following:
We will also be asking non-profit leaders in the field for their suggestions on Research Worth Reading. In fact, if you have any ideas, please let us know in the comments box below! Thanks.
Ameenah Muhammad, Sadia Nawab and Zane Scheuerlein will join Open Youth Networks Director, Mindy Faber in Los Angeles from February 8-10 for 24/7: A DIY Video Summit. The three youth will present a curated selection of youth media works in a program curated by YOUTHLAB called YouTube-sized: Youth Personas, Protests, Paranoias and Pleasures.
The summit, which takes place at the USC University Park Campus in Los Angeles, will explore the incredible dynamic at play as millions of people flock to online video sharing sites like YouTube, Revver, imeem, Stage6 and Eyespot where they watch and contribute video content around the clock, 24/7.
Video creators, scholars, activists, policy makers, technologists, and entrepreneurs will gather this February at the USC School of Cinematic Arts for 24/7: A DIY Video Summit, the first-of-its-kind international event focused on the fate and future of visual media in the 21st century.
Highlights Include:
• Panels and talks with speakers such as Yochai Benkler, John Seely Brown, Joi Ito, Henry Jenkins,
Lawrence Lessig and Howard Rheingold.
• Free public screenings showcasing machinima, documentary, video blogging, vidding, political remix,
youth media, anime music videos and art videos.
• Lecture and hands-on workshops on video blogging, video standards, copyright, editing, machinima,
animation, distribution, platforms and remix techniques.
• Networking and social opportunities at lunches, dinner, reception and birds-of-a-feather meetings.
The summit is the first event held at an academic institution to unite the creative minds involved in the spectrum
of DIY video communities emerging in this new media ecology. The goal of the event is to catalyze
relationships and dialog to further the public interest in independent video spaces as well as provide a showcase
for new forms of work emerging from various amateur and grassroots video creation communities.
YouthLAB members, Marisol Becerra and Zane Scheuerlein were recently chosen to receive a $10,000 award for their Open Youth Networks project, “The Cloud Factory,” a video about the youth of Little Village and their fight for environmental justice. The video is part of an international series of youth-produced documentaries being produced by Listen Up in NYC for broadcast television. Beyond Green is funded by Adobe Youth Voices
Their video was one of 15 chosen from several hundred entries. Here is the complete list:
1. Bronx River Art Center – Bronx, NYC, USA
2. Fah Diow Foundation – Thailand
3. Light House – Charlottesville, VA, USA
4. Media Education Centre - Belgrade, Serbia
5. Perpich Center for Art Education – Golden Valley, MN
6. Polimorfo – Bogota, Colombia
7. Profile Productions – Israel
8. Say Sí - San Antonio, TX, USA
9. Voiceless Children – Nairobi, Kenya
10. Worcester Roots – Worcester, MA, USA
11. Video Volunteers/YUVA – Mumbai, India
12. Manana Youth Center – Yerevan, Armenia
13. 5ta Ave. Producciones – La Habana, Cuba
14. Instituto Criar – São Paulo, Brazil
15. Open Youth Networks – Chicago, IL, USA
The series of short documentaries about how youth experience their environment will eventually be packaged for television broadcast. Open Youth Networks Director, Mindy Faber and a group of her students from the ETHS club, Youth for Social Action were awarded a similar grant from Listen Up in 2004. Their video, History Lessons, aired in the series Beyond Borders on the Independent Film Channel and won a 2007 George W. Foster Peabody Prize, broadcast television’s highest honor.
Congratulations Marisol and Zane. Check back to this site for updates soon.
