Create or Die 2 Session Notes

Session Host: Mani Saint-Victor
Reporter: Mani Saint-Victor
Participants: Sandra, Jeffrey,Chris Rabb,Andrew Humphrey

Discussion:

1. discussion generation

   a. games stimulate discussions around a theme
   b. distribution and amplification simplified

2. storytelling

   a. games allow for multiple endings

3. Allow safe exploration around a topic

What are some of the hurdles to game use in journalism?

1. preconceived notions about games

What shortcomings of the current model of news delivery can be overcome by games?

1. Attention acquisition and retention
2. Increased engagement and repeat engagement with concepts

What forms of journalism are better suited for games and which are not?

1. delivery of urgent and timely information- no
2. education of backstory, historical information –yes
3. stories around a theme vs detail and fact intensive stories.

Convener: Sandra Ordonez

a) Be yourself online. don’t pretend to be someone else.
b) don’t PR your audience….they want honesty and transparency
c) cultivating community is important. learn how to focus on establishing relationships!!
d) be ready to be unique and different. technology allows you the ability to experiment.

June 4, 2011

Convenor: Barbara Lewis

Participants: Bill Densmore, Amherst; Andrew Humphrey, Detroit; Melvin “Buddy” Baker, Saint Petersburg; Seunghyun Lee, Greensboro; Andrea Krewson, Charlotte

Buddy Baker talked about a journalism program with which he was involved that was focused on middle school students; there were 20 students in print and 20 students in photojournalism; the mentors were professional; the program lasted three weeks; there were field trips and introductions to local business leaders and municipal officials, including the police chief; the student teams wrote up the stories and developed the photos; at the end of the project, the print students created an insert for the local paper and the photojournalists had their work exhibited in a participating gallery.

Andrew Humphrey described a Saturday program in Washington, D.C. that concentrated on print and television; it was held from February to May; there were 12 to 24 students; the curriculum consisted of writing exercises, instruction in broadcast and new media provided by professionals, including anchors and editors. The students produced a publication, and they took their stories from idea to publication; the broadcast students did a video production; because Humphrey was involved he added a weathercast; for interested students, there was also a sportscast. Humphrey recommended that I get in touch with the Boston Association of Black Journalists. I responded that it was not the most active chapter and was practically defunct. He suggested that I join the National Association of Black Journalists. He mentioned Carole Simpson, who is now at Emerson College. He suggested bringing in guest speakers, including those who could talk about technology and blogging. The New Media Lab at MIT is a good resource. He said that I needed to draft an application and draft a profile of the kind of student desired plus reach out for teacher volunteers. Charter Schools would be one logical place to look for student who would consider applying since they had a base that was already motivated and also the schools that had school newspapers.

Bill Densmore mentioned HOME, Inc., which is a media literacy program that has been operating in Boston for many years. I mentioned that I had contacted Michel, who runs HOME, Inc. and would be meeting with him and the two other members of the initial planning group, Janis Pryor, who works at WUMB, the campus radio station, and Kenneth Cooper, who is on staff at the Trotter Institute, on June 14, 2011. Densmore also mentioned having students meet in non-traditional locations such as coffee shops and community centers in order to bring the community into the conversation plus considering co-working spots, which could serve as incubators and also branch libraries.

Humphrey emphasized that it was important to meet in news venues, in newspaper offices, in broadcast studios, etc.

We discussed a skeletal schedule with the following tentative deadlines: putting together the bare bones of the program by September 30, 2011; assembling a list of all the people interested in volunteering for the Boston Urban Journalism Program by October 30, 2011; putting together an advisory group by December 15, 2011; getting an application and any necessary legal disclaimer forms for parents by March 31, 2012; getting initial funding by May 15, 2012; having applications due by September 1, 2012; finalizing curriculum by October 15, 2012; choosing first class by December 30, 2012; starting program, February 2013.

Session Host: Elwin Green
Reporter: Carmen Lee
Participants: Carmen Lee, Lauren Harbury, Paradise Gray

Elwin described his website, Homewood Nation (www.homewoodnation.com), a website devoted to Homewood, the neighborhood in Pittsburgh’s East End where he lives. The website is the outgrowth of “My Homewood,” a blog he wrote on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s website from October 2005 through March 2010.

He described the Homewood 100 initiative as a journalistic experiment inspiried by NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen, who suggested that innovation in journalism could be sparked by attempting to cover 100 percent of any given subject. The Homewood 100 initiative attempts to answer the question, what would 100 percent coverage of a neighborhood look like?

After highlighting some of the website’s features, Elwin asked participants for thoughts on how to improve it or build it out.

Suggestions included:
Posting a video of himself telling why he started it.
Placing links to “Homewood Nation” on other websites
Posting videos of “Homewood Nation” members telling why they are part of “Homewood Nation”
Sending the link for “Homewood Nation” to Rachel Maddow, who profiled the neighborhood on MSNBC recently.
Improving the graphic design
Include video uploads from One Hood on the site
Partner with One Hood to have the students they work with work on the site
Sell “Homewood Nation” branded merchandise: t-shirts, buttons, mugs, etc.

Victoria Bouloubasis
Tamara Jeffries
Melvin “Buddy” Baker

Our small group explored these questions through a dialogue that focused on our own experience with specific stigmatized populations: the homeless, mental health patients and undocumented immigrants in the United States.

How is community created among those people? Is information disseminated well enough within the community?

There are two levels of communication:

• Communication within that particular community: A primary level where your group communicates with each other. The needs of that community then must be conveyed to the larger group.
• Outside communication: We need information about who we are to go to those people who might be allies, or have resources. Information on the primary level can produce change within the community to elevate their situation.

The dialogue continued. Tamara and Victoria highlighted that people living “in the shadows” must be tapped into a network of people dealing with the same issues in order to create a trusted community that can, in turn, become empowered. Tamara said, “When you have people who feel marginalized, and you don’t know there are other people who are dealing with the same thing – when people come out of the closet, then you have the opportunity for them to feel safer to engage with an ally population. More voices make a bigger impact. The issue is knowing each other. How to get people to understand that they’re not the only one. My perspective as a journalist, as an ally, I’m the one who says: you’re not by yourself. Here are our issues, let us disseminate our issues and make a complete circle.”

What are ways journalists can aid these groups is to amplify their message.

Victoria asked, “What is the access to media for these groups?” Online multimedia, for example Youtube videos, is a way to express something through the means that community has. It boils down to making sure that there are avenues of communication and having access, while having a sense of what kind of tools of communication are available to that community. You have to be more elemental – like posting at a bulletin board at a homeless shelter.

Buddy, who volunteers with homeless in helping them put together a resume, mentioned that it’s important to help these groups realize their own assets and skills. “Lots of times they realize they’ve done more things than they’ve thought about, they have more skills than they’ve thought about.”

How does a journalist cover “the invisible” with respect to that community?

“To me the basic responsibility of covering the invisible comes down to the reporter. Regardless of community outreach, if the reporter thinks it’s an important issue – go out every day and make yourself known, and they will call you.” Buddy

“There has to be trust created.” Tamara

“Sometimes they might distrust you because of prior experience with a reporter.” Buddy

“What we’re trying to do is to make sure that people have a sense that this is a big issue. If you’re willing to tell your story, you can help people understand that there are ways to help, ways to heal. Because access is cheap or free, there’s nothing to stop the people in the community from communicating from their own situation. So it’s not either or, it’s both. What we see is people who are communicating within the community can create bigger stories. “ Tamara

We conclude that we’ve have the means to come together, as journalists, allies and “the invisible,” and activate. New media not only informs, but activate us to do something.