- Currently viewing:
- 2008 > February
Entries for February 2008
Pacific Youth : An Update
[SUMMARY—Taking a break.]
(WORLD) Pacific Youth (the five week online social media pro bono course for twenty youth leaders from Tonga and Papua New Guinea) is having a week off…
The first two weeks have gone off without a hitch although one issue has arisen around the internet speed at the locations. Therefore we are taking a break this week to allow the participants to catch up.
Related post: The Launch and The Start
Filed by DK on February 28 2008 | READ IT »
1,000 Tweets
[SUMMARY—Says it all.]
Filed by DK on February 26 2008 | READ IT »
Danger Of Misquoting
[SUMMARY—Is it semantics?]
(GBR) Blogging and a social media strategy is not the same as social networking.
Blogs are online spaces provided by the likes of Blogger, Wordpress and Typepad.
Social media strategies are how you use these online platforms (internally and externally) to disseminate information, promote discussion and/or share examples of good practice (amongst other things like making it faster, easier, cheaper, sexier etc.).
Social networks are dynamic (usually) personal spaces such as Bebo, MySpace and Facebook.
Why am I writing this? I was misquoted in this article (check the comments section at the bottom of the page where I clear it up).
After all that it's great to see such a publication focussing on the positive potential of online practises and platforms. Here's to more.
Related posts: Wanted: Youth Work Bloggers, How To Become A Leader and Youth Work(ers) Challenged
Filed by DK on February 25 2008 | READ IT »
The MediaSnackers Meme #8
[SUMMARY—Keeping track of the growing MediaSnackers Meme.]
(WORLD) We probably weren't the first to apply the 'snacking' metaphor to media, although there seems to be a growing adoption in terms of describing the new youth-media landscape—we thought it would be good to keep an eye on the growing MediaSnacking meme:
In other words, could our media snacking habit be shifting our relationships and conversations to increasingly becoming wider, but more superficial instead of focused and deep? Or do you find rather that it opens doors to great relationships?
Great questions posed by the media philosopher.
There seems to be two ends of the spectrum of change—on the one hand, media snacking on bite sized movies, the more homemade the better is counter and on ther hand, a thirst for increasingly refined hig end production on entertainment formats like games and cinema—HD is here, 3D is back and full immersion ultra realistic games are fact.
Observations from this years Media Summit.
Media Snackers—Ok… so this is not actually a trend as much as it is a demo, but I had to include it. Consuming large amounts of media in small bit size portions all throughout the day has opened up countless new formats for advertising. We are all snacking on media whenever and wherever we like.
Listing five possible advertising trends this year.
…feeling like media snacking…
A short and sweet tweet.
Kids are early adopters of new technology and at Turner we have realised the importance of fulfilling their digital needs. The enhancements on Cartoonnetworkindia.com were inspired by our target group's evolving media snacking habits and the increasing number of broadband users and Internet penetration in India.
Vivek Krishnani, Executive Director of Marketing for Turner Entertainment Asia Pacific, talking about the changes in his sector/business.
The MediaSnackers Meme #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 & #7
Filed by DK on February 23 2008 | READ IT »
17 Out Of 1010
[SUMMARY—MediaSnackers partners with award winner.]
(GBR/USA) The winners of the $2 million Digital Media and Learning Competition has been announced (full list here).
They had a massive 1010 applications and only awarded 17. We are honoured and chuffed to bits to be a delivery partner for one of the winners…
Congratulations to Global Kids Inc for putting together a proposition which beat all the odds (read the The Virtual World Educators Network brief and their own announcement).
We'll be producing the podcast series for the online hub and looking forward to working with such an amazing bunch of youth-media practitioners.
Commiseration's to our other potential partner, Project Happiness.
Time to plan the trip to New York…
Related posts: Possible Partnerships and MediaSnackers Podcast#97
Filed by DK on February 21 2008 | READ IT »
Bonus Chapter For Free
[SUMMARY—Then buy the book.]
(WORLD) Those nice people at Millennial Leaders are making a bonus chapter of their book available for free—oh, and the chapter is the interview they did with me.
You have a choice whether to listen or read it here.
Then grab a copy of the book featuring other great interviews from Amazon (we're not taking a sales cut before you ask).
Related post: Gen Y Project: Audio and Millennial Leaders Book.
Filed by DK on February 20 2008 | READ IT »
MediaSnackers Podcast#104
[SUMMARY—Talking with Idit Caperton.]
(WORLD) The MediaSnackers podcast focusses on individuals, organisations or companies who are simply impressing us and which are crying out for more discussion.
Idit Caperton is the founder of MaMaMedia and creator of the Globaloria Program which empowers and connects aspiring young web developers worldwide (amongst other things).
0.00—0.47 intros
0.48—2.27 Globaloria
2.28—4.17 why game design?
4.18—7.02 how to scale?
7.03—13.30 transparent learning in global communities/future developments
13.30—13.54 outro
Want to suggest someone or put your virtual hand-up to be interviewed? Then get in touch here or send me an audio message by clicking the icon opposite.
Subscribe directly to these podcasts through iTunes by clicking on the icon opposite (download iTunes for free here).
Not using iTunes? Then just copy / paste this feed and drop it into your podcast aggregating software.
Check out our other podcasts here.
Filed by DK on February 19 2008 | READ IT »
Innocent Kids
[SUMMARY—Great website example.]
(WORLD) We get contacted a lot by people looking to develop youth-specific websites for their brand or organisation. They're looking for examples and insights into what makes a good site, what other platforms should they be using, what video sites are the best, blogging platforms, interactive elements etc.
Now we can just send them to Innocent Kids.
Filed by DK on February 18 2008 | READ IT »
Vodcast Changes
[SUMMARY—Time to evolve.]
(WORLD) The MediaSnackers Vodcast is changing. Evolving.
Our monthly production will be replaced by a more "on-the-fly" approach. Editing and posting as we go all the relevant, interesting and insightful stuff like the events we attend, the people we meet etc. Why? Time, capacity and a need to demonstrate a more immediate approach with media (and not have to wait for the monthly vodcast to 'go live').
To all the partners, associates, young people, agencies, bands who have sent us their stuff to feature on our past vodcasts, a big THANK YOU.
If you're already a subscriber then nothing will change. If you're not a subscriber, find out how to below:
Filed by DK on February 16 2008 | READ IT »
MediaSnackers Vodcast#015 | RTS Lost TV Generation Event
[SUMMARY—What makes a good youth TV programme?]
(GBR) The MediaSnackers Vodcast presents yummy-youth-media-shots of interviews, insights or event coverage.
Interviews from The Lost TV Generation? : How To Create A Hit Show That Talks To A Young Audience event at Soho Hotel, 12 Feb 08, hosted by RTS Futures.
Filed by DK on February 15 2008 | READ IT »
MediaSnackers Podcast#103
[SUMMARY—The 103rd MediaSnackers podcast features C4s commissioning editor, Matt Locke.]
(WORLD) The MediaSnackers podcast focusses on individuals, organisations or companies who are simply impressing us and which are crying out for more discussion.
Matt Locke is the new commissioning editor for Channel 4 Education, talking here about how how the audience has changed which is in turn impacting on their commissioning strategy.
0.00—0.37 intros
0.38—2.12 a different approach to commissioning
2.13—3.17 the changing audience
3.18—5.58 cross-platform exploration
5.59—6.47 dillution danger
6.48—11.36 six spaces of social media
9.45—9.46 encapsulating project
12.08—12.18 outro
Want to suggest someone or put your virtual hand-up to be interviewed? Then get in touch here or send me an audio message by clicking the icon opposite.
Subscribe directly to these podcasts through iTunes by clicking on the icon opposite (download iTunes for free here).
Not using iTunes? Then just copy / paste this feed and drop it into your podcast aggregating software.
Check out our other podcasts here.
Filed by DK on February 15 2008 | READ IT »
The Void Between Blogging and Building
[SUMMARY—It exists.]
(WORLD) I bet you didn't even realise there was a void, hey?
Introducing Hubpages. Nothing new about that. It's been around for a bit. However, it has only been brought to my attention due to a rather attractive competition they're offering for valentines day, whereby you can win a MacBook Pro, iPod Touch, Sony Handycam and Canon EOS 30D. Nice.
For any other reason I wouldn't have even looked at the site. But the compo did get me trekking around their pages wondering what on earth is it. Is it a wiki? A blog? A web page creation tool? Well, yes and no. In a way it's all of these. The idea of a Wiki is you create a 'page' on a chosen topic. Same with Hubpages, however other people won't be editing your page. As with a blog, you can write multiple entries, and visitors can read all others you read. And finally, as with a web page, you can monetise it with adsense and others, revenue split with Hubpages 60/40 in your favour.
OK, so assuming I've got all that right (I haven't signed up yet), then the big question is "why, would you want to sign up exactly, when there's plenty of other services out there that offer pretty much the same thing?."
But the clues in the question (or rather the answer is in my paragraph above). Not everyone wants a blog, they might only want to write a few articles, or maybe aren't technically turned on enough to want a whole website dedicated to themselves? maybe people just want to know that their words are going to get search indexed and be available to all the blog sites?
It appears that the selling point of Hubpages, is really that you're building something simple. It's a step up from a simple blog post, minus all the commitment, yet its nowhere near as much hassle as creating your own website, but with all the benefits of generating revenue from it.
Selling the idea of creating a blog or a website to those that don't have the motivation or interest to build on it continually, might just find this site 'the' page to get them started on sharing their knowledge.
So without further ado… Hubpages.com—quite a good idea actually.
Filed by Mark on February 14 2008 | READ IT »
UK Politics
[SUMMARY—New media vs old politicans.]
(GBR) Your guess will be as good as mine as to why DK wanted me to write an unbiased report on the launch of UK Politics YouTube channel, and more specifically Gordon Brown's less than enthusiastic statement that politics and new media should mix. Not too long ago, I wrote an article on younger generations and new ways of communicating politics from fear of being ridiculed by their politician peers, however, this new venture using YouTube to promote awareness and opinion on politics seems pretty good. The question now is two-fold.
Firstly, will the quality of the content be provocative or propaganda? Gordon Brown's robotic voice churns out a spiel of jargon that he's been told to say and probably has no idea what he's talking about, however the concept is actually very encouraging. It's supporting free speech and pushes people to mould their own views and develop a standard of how they want their country to be run. It is getting rid of the "not now, I'll do it later, I can't be bothered" stigma that is attached to a lot of things that need to be fulfilled in life (washing dishes, cleaning bedrooms, election voting…) and getting young people to take an active interest in wider issues than just Facebook notifications. Political parties should not use UKYouChoose as a platform to push their policies onto unsuspecting, easily influenced young people, but to open their minds to an important aspect of society.
Secondly, will young people know that this platform exists? The concept is great, but unless people know that it's out there, ready and waiting for them to manipulate and connect with others around the world, it's a wasted entity. Marketing and advertising is needed. It's great that they've got YouTube on board, so the branding is already there. I'm sure if people have the equipment, the motivation, the know-how and the judgement, they will exercise their right to express their opinions.
DK asked me, "Why can't Gordon Brown look into the camera?"—does he want to fuel my dislike for GB even more? Here, Brown is attempting to 'engage' with the youth of today, he is addressing US (hence personal pronouns) yet is not looking at us. Fair enough, he could have been asked to look at the interviewer, however I believe this is unlikely—GB wants to include and encourage us. Is DK trying to goad me into saying Brown has a heart of stone, no charisma, no warmth and should have stayed Chancellor? That he is an economist and not a politician? Why, I would never make such slanderous a statement.
Posted by Jess
Filed by DK on February 14 2008 | READ IT »
Pacific Youth : The Start
[SUMMARY—Our pro bono project kick off.]
(WORLD) Today sees the start of our pro bono project, Pacific Youth (a five week online social media course for twenty youth leaders from Tonga and Papua New Guinea)—read more about it here.
Apparently, the project was featured on Tongan TV news the other day—wow!
Relted post: Pacific Youth : The Launch
Filed by DK on February 13 2008 | READ IT »
Mencap Training
[SUMMARY—Short training film review.]
(GBR) Last week we delivered a bespoke training day for Mencap—a national learning disability charity.
MediaSnackers deliver a great day and their extensive experience and knowledge in online technology and how young people are using the technology is such a great benefit to us. The training is always fun and never boring and they tailored their session so that the young people with learning disabilities who attended the training, were included and had an opportunity to contribute. Mencap are developing projects for young people with learning disabilities all the time and it has been so valuable to not only understand how online technologies relate to young people but also where the future of technology is heading. I highly recommend that if you haven't already, book a training session with Media snackers.
Lewis Perkins, Project Manager, Transactive Team
Filed by DK on February 12 2008 | READ IT »
90 Day Jane
[SUMMARY—The dark web.]
(USA) Technology and the web is value-neutral. It is given meaning by the people who use it and the context in which it is used. It has an incredible potential give us the ability to connect globally, inspire change plus provide opportunities to creatively communicate.
The mainstream media does a great job at covering all aspects of the negative side (which is why we tend to focus on the good stuff here), however, in between the "my-house-party-appeared-on-MySpace-and-10,000-strangers-turned-up-and-trashed-it" and the "behind-every-click-there-is-dangerous-pedophile", there comes a chilling example of how dark it really can be…
90 Day Jane is a blog of a girl who is 'allegedly' chronicling her last 90 days before committing suicide.
Fake? PR stunt? Real? You decide.
UPDATE 13.2.08: this was pulled from the blogs last post before it went 'off-the-air':
I wanted this blog to be about personal discovery and truth. But the correspondences I have received have taught me more about those qualities than I could ever express. 90DayJane has become its own entity and has influenced me. In fact, it has changed my perspective as a human being.
I feel a massive sense of responsibility to my art, but more importantly the readers of this blog. My closeness to this project must have made art seem like reality to many people. That is not a reaction that I expected nor can I morally justify. This is why my project, 90DayJane, will be taken down in the next few hours.
Filed by DK on February 11 2008 | READ IT »
Podcasts Replace Essay
[SUMMARY—But only in media studies.]
(GBR) Pupils can now earn some of their marks by doing blogs, podcasts or creating websites. This represents a fairly significant change in the way they are able to gain course work marks and an increasing (though seemingly reluctant) acknowledgement of the importance of technology (particularly new media) in young people's lives by the educational powers that be.
A positive thing but raises a question: is this change likely to be reflected in other subjects?
If the use of New Media and ICT as a course work option is relegated to only those subjects where it is perceived as being directly relevant to the course content (ie: Media and ICT) then this seems like a disappointingly tokenistic gesture (what about the oprtion of students gaining course-work marks in English for writing a blog, or in art for designing a website). If new media and other alternative 'tech' methods of creating course work are permitted in other subjects I would be interested to know the time frame in which this is likely to happen. In a field which is developing and changing so rapidly it is essential that the tools available to young people are as current and vital as possible (I can imagine young people just starting school now sneering at us in a few years time for still using outmoded "Instant Messaging" for example).
Use of blogging, vod/podcasts, wikis and all the other various new media developments that are so ubiquitous in young people's lives should be implemented across all subject areas, not using these resources (and continuing to write essays, with (gasp) pens) is akin to people of my generation going to school and being asked to write with feather quills. Relevance to young people's lives is essential.
I welcome this change in the A-level Media syllabus but hope it is only the first step of many to drag UK education (kicking and screaming) into the 21st Century.
Filed by Barney on February 9 2008 | READ IT »
The MediaSnackers Meme #6
[SUMMARY—Keeping track of the growing MediaSnackers Meme.]
(WORLD) We probably weren't the first to apply the 'snacking' metaphor to media, although there seems to be a growing adoption in terms of describing the new youth-media landscape—we thought it would be good to keep an eye on the growing MediaSnacking meme:
I have developed a bad habit. I snack too much. No, I'm not talking about in real life (though that's probably true, too). I'm talking about in my information consumption habits.
Chip Griffin talking about his snacking 'problem'.
A recent NY Times article highlights the rise of midday 'media snacking' by cubicle dwellers, a trend that's affecting not only office culture, but online media producers and the advertisers who help support them as well.
Even cubicle workers are snacking.
A key theme for the 'digital natives'—those who have grown up immersed in technology, especially the bracket of 15to24 year olds, is impatience. They want to get things done quickly, using multitasking and 'media snacking,' with community interactions playing a central role. Yeah, social networking—it has a long ways to go yet. And users need to have control over the technology, allowing it to express their originality.
Discussing the unqiue habits of digital natives.
I think it unlikley, no matter what the advertisers might tell us, that anyone would settle down to watch a 90 minute movie on their mobile (in its current form). What is realistic is that the mobile suits our increasing appetite for media-snacking; taking bite-sized chunks of entertainment to fill our downtime, commutes etc.
How mobiles won't affect the film industry
More people are turning to the Internet for entertainment, enjoying a 'media snack' whenever and wherever they're in the mood for a break. Buzzed is a great example of original short-form video content that puts the power of the Internet to good use. It's interactive, engaging and entertaining—delivering value to our viewers and sponsors alike.
Erick Hachenburg, CEO, Metacafe talking about a new interactive online show.
The MediaSnackers Meme #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 & 6
Filed by DK on February 8 2008 | READ IT »
CBBC Experience
[SUMMARY—Work experience reflections.]
(GBR) So instead of heading off to university at the beginning of a very bleak January like the other poor souls I know, I got on packed train to West London every morning. BBC Television Centre to be more precise. I scored this placement after MediaSnackers took me up to Sheffield to the Showcomotion Children's Media Conference last July—that was a great but exhausting few days—not without it's rewards though: the 'digi-journos' got taught how to use filming equipment, how to blog and I think most importantly, we learnt loads of things about 'the industry'. The Mediasnackers team bumped into lots cool, funky media types, most cool and funky of them all being Joe Mace, Head of Entertainment and Development at CBBC. He loved our work at the conference so much, he ended up offering placements to those who wanted them at CBBC itself! So I grabbed this opportunity with both hands. I'd be crazy if I hadn't.
Filed by DK on February 7 2008 | READ IT »
Teenagers Teaching Tech
[SUMMARY—Teenagers Teaching Tech.]
(US) No-one will doubt that kids lead the way with technological know how in most families homes. Its been that way for quite some time now. However, it doesn't appear to be going anywhere. Kids still have the knowledge, parents still struggle to keep up, and products are still purchased and supplied with manuals that really don't need much explanation, other than 'have a fiddle and you'll get the gist of it'.
How long do you think we'll have to wait before some smart cookie figures a way to get these smart kids on the ends of phone? Or chat client or even working in learning centers that can not only provide a decent consumer service to the public, but also to cross a technological divide as well as a social one?
This thought was inspired by a story I found today about high school students teaching courses in Photoshop, game design, Web design and MS Office etc, all free for students and community users to take advantage of.
Filed by Mark on February 5 2008 | READ IT »
MediaSnackers Vodcast | Episode#014 | February 08
[SUMMARY—Another mouth-watering MediaSnackers Vodcast to devour.]
The MediaSnackers monthly vodcast is a ten minute shot (more or less) of yummy-youth-media-goodness. Featuring content made, produced or focussed on young people and media from around the globe.
Featuring: The Unblocker by Mohamed Billawal : theoneminutesjr.org; trainers recruitment job video ad; E-democracy interviews; Into The Inkwell by Rhiannon Evans, University Of Wales Newport; Got something on me by The Rivers.
Subscribe directly to these podcasts through iTunes by clicking the 'subscribe' icon opposite (download iTunes for free here).
Not using iTunes? Then just copy / paste this feed and drop it into your podcast aggregating software.
If you have any short video content (under two-mins) relating to youth media projects, are involved in any aspects of youth media or are a young person producing digital content (audio/visual) and want to discuss submitting pieces for consideration, please get in touch.
Watch the other MediaSnackers Vodcasts.
Filed by DK on February 3 2008 | READ IT »
MediaSnackers Trainers Job Ad
[SUMMARY—Looking for… well, check out the video.]
Filed by DK on February 3 2008 | READ IT »
Bradford Youth Summit 2008 : Part Three
[SUMMARY—Short film review of our training and event support.]
Music by The Rivers
Check out the event blog here.
The young people had a fantastic couple of days with the Mediasnackers' workers and were buzzing from the experience. The Mediasnackers team took on the challenge of working with some hard to reach young people and showed a lot of patience and commitment. Highly recommended their work to all youth workers.
Colin Ward, Youth Media TV Director, National Media Museum
Related posts: Part One and Part Two
Filed by DK on February 3 2008 | READ IT »
Bradford Youth Summit 2008 : Part Two
[SUMMARY—Quick update.]
(GBR) Just a quick update on our digital journalists youth training for the Bradford Youth Summit.
Check out some of the stuff created below (or check out the event blog here or the flickr set here):
Filed by DK on February 1 2008 | READ IT »
Viewing a list of entries for February 2008, you may also explore current and other entries, search or get our newsreader feed.
