‘Nice to meet you!’ Revealing community gems through photography

Posted on July 16, 2015 by nicola in Digital Photography, Media Literacy, News, Workshops

Inspired by the popular series Humans of New York, we organized a workshop where participants document a library scene or subject and have the choice of conducting a short interview with their subject or writing a description of the scene. You can view the presentation here and the handout here.

One of our most popular classes, we had students ranging from complete novices to more practiced photographers. One of our participants runs a section on her blog Jittery Cook called Jittery Jabber where she posted her photos and interviews of the day. While some of the shorter work by other participants were uploaded to Twitter and can be viewed here. One of our participants conducted longer interviews and both her experience and photos are posted below.

Of her experience Marcia said

For me, an unexpected benefit of the photo workshop was that my vision (inwardly speaking) improved as I […] shot pictures fully knowing why I was reaching for this one and not for that one…..

Thanks to you for your good work!

The question that I had in mind is: What Are You Doing on This First Beautiful Weekend in Montreal in 2015

I found seven people who allowed me to get their photo and talk with them and five who would not….

Amita at the Atwater Library told me, ’I go to the library mainly to borrow books and read the newspapers to find out what’s going on in the world…food for the soul.’ Often she visits the library in Brossard close to her home.
Mitchel is the Atwater Library gardener who told me “I just moved from one part of Montreal to Mile End in a student house with five others, a brand new whole house.” Clearly he loves his new home and will be moving in all weekend, unpacking.
Maureen was “on her way to the Jazz Festival with a friend who reached out to her on this Friday because she lost her husband three weeks ago.” She said she felt “If someone reaches out, the least she can do is reach back.”
I found the four members of a family on the corner of Atwater and St-Catherine this sunny Friday in Montreal waiting for a walk signal. One daughter in a two tone hijab and blue dress would not stand for the photo with her sister Naira and brother Anas, but she was radiant as her mother Qaisai said she is out enjoying her three children. Usually she’s cooking, cleaning, and shopping or going to work in a sewing factory. Naira “works for a federal public service in Ottawa and comes to Montreal every two weeks to visit.” Anas was just “taking a break from cleaning” and seemed glad to be out and about with his kin.
Evelyne and Toto were on the corner of St-Catherine and the east corner of the park being renovated; she said she will take her two boys to play in Westmount Park” but they haven’t been to the Jazz Festival at all.
David received my introduction saying, “Enchante” and explained in English he was waiting for a friend “to walk the La Chine Canal.” He does free lance writing for papers such as La Press, but was born on the south shore and hasn’t been to the Jazz Festival this year because of “all the road blocks and construction on the bridges and streets this year.”
Finn and Gordon, who are part of the Humans in New York workshop are “Doing something that’s a surprise for Finn’s brother’s 11^th birthday and Finn is excited to find out what the surprise is all about. She’s 14 and goes to Royal West. He’s retired and was looking after his mom and dad (90 and 95) till his mom recently passed away. “We’re going to visit our other grandmother on July 5^th in Ottawa,” Finn told me.

Zine Making: Accessible Expression

Posted on July 16, 2015 by nicola in Digital Photography, Graphic Design, Media Literacy, News, Workshops

Popularly know as a DIY way to self publish writing and art. Zines are created by people interested in political issues, punk culture, or even cult TV shows, and movies. Zines are a way to share thoughts to your community and beyond. We used the medium to create miniature E-Books. People were inspired to create books of poetry, cookbooks, and photo experimentations.

The first class focused on photoshop (handout here), showing students how to edit stock photos to create something completely new. On the second class we introduced the website BeFunky. A free photo editing site where people were able to play with, and edit their photos quickly and easily. The ones below were made by Susan who said “[she] had always wanted to make greeting cards”.

Check out some other cool zines at the bottom of this post!

Other community work:

What I Want To Do, And What I Need To, Aren’t Always Separate Entities

Posted on July 16, 2015 by nicola in Media Literacy, News, Workshops

My experience at the Atwater Library has been completely undefinable. I struggle to put into words how much the experience has meant to me, and the amazing time that I have had working here over the past six weeks. I have learnt something new everyday and I have spent it doing what I love.

I am a big believer that anyone can learn how to use technology. Most people already have some of the necessary skills without realizing it. We are working to give everyone the same tools, and by doing so help bridging the technological divide. However, everyone has something to learn, and technology moves at such a breathtaking speed that there is no one who can say that they don’t have anything left to learn.

I had the opportunity to speak on CBC to promote the Creative Digital Media Workshop Series. While on air I spoke about the importance of Digital Citizenship, and how, just like in the real world, we have to teach people how to properly conduct themselves online. The importance of online communities is undeniable. In a society that is putting more and more of their personal thoughts and lives on the internet it is necessary to teach how to respect the person on the other side of the screen. We can form connections in a millisecond, forming relationships with people across the world, but we have to remember that there are people on the other side of the computer. Not just binaries.

One of the ways to do this is to teach Digital Citizenship. For every workshop we had over the past few weeks we opened the dialogue for ethical photo taking and sharing. By creating a fun medium to explore these topics in we were able to open the discussion in a way that everyone was comfortable exploring.

Not only is the ethical side of Digital Literacy important but so are the sheer amount of possibilities available to those who use computers. Creatively they can suit almost anyone’s tastes. Allowing for development in projects that focus on poetry, photography and video, music, art, and literature anyone is able to spice up their work in a few hours. Digital art is often forgiving enough that beginners are also comfortable with making mistakes and trying new things.

Through Digital Citizenship we are working to build confidence, both online and off, and digitally is a great place to do so—There are many online communities that foster positivity and kindness.

We have had a diverse amount of people who showed up to all our workshops. We had people who were comfortable using their computers and cameras, and people who had never touched one in their lives. From children to seniors, everyone explored different forms of expressing themselves!

Leaving after six weeks, I can’t help but relate my experience to my present self as an Honours English and Creative Student; as well as my future self, the author and Professor I aspire to be. There are very few jobs at my current level that could give me the experience I need for furthering my education and my future career. I want to spend my life doing what I love and the only way I can do that is by practicing, and building my practical knowledge. The Atwater Library has given me that opportunity. Rather then committing myself to a career path I didn’t know for certain I would enjoy, I can commit myself to it knowing that I will love it. Interning at the library has shown me how much can be accomplished by hard work, and how rewarding it is to teach someone something new. Just like in the workshops where our goal was to learn skills that can be applied in daily life or to future projects, I have learnt skills that I will be able to use for myself!

Everyone wins when youth get engaged with digital media: Jeunes en action – CJE-NDG shows us how

Posted on May 10, 2012 by eric in News, Video, Workshops

At the Digital Literacy Project, we believe that offering digital skills workshops to community groups helps the participants gain confidence and become empowered to express themselves through media. This increases their sense of opportunities for their own personal goals. Further still, we think that engaging youth with digital media skills is important for the community in general. Helping reduce barriers to digital tools gets youth involved in positive projects, working on their skills and, more than likely, contributing to Montreal’s economy.

Youth have a lot to offer when given the opportunity to create.

We collaborated with Jeunes en action, a youth socio-professional integrational program of the Carrefour Jeunesse Emploi-NDG , again this winter. We worked on the second part of a documentary video project that we began in the fall of 2011.

We began with a screening of the documentary video we made in the fall. After having chance to look at what they had done, the participants were inspired to make their documentary video have more impact and to get the message out about Jeunes en action.

To tell the story of Jeunes en action, they decided that they needed to tell their personal stories as the goals and aspirations of the participant are deeply tied to the mandate of the Jeunes en actions.

Unanimously, the group wanted to strongly situate the documentary about their program in the neighborhood where they live. They felt that the story of Jeunes en action at the Carrefour jeunesse emploi-NDG could not be told without telling a bit about their relationship to their neighborhood.

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce became a major theme in the work and with almost nationalistic fervour they ‘represented’ NDG with their interviews, video footage and lyrics to original music.

At the Digital Literacy Project, we like working with video because it has the potential to bring a group together. There are many tasks required in video projects; everyone can find a role.

Participants:

Shoot video
Edit video
Work on soundtrack music
Write scripts
Plan and organize
Contribute to the overall messaging.

Jeunes en action participant Seven explains:

” I think this class is great because it brings together a group of people with a broad level of experience with computers, and we have to learn and work together, helping each other along the way to develop a final product that we can all say we helped make together.”

Working on a documentary video is great way of increasing digital literacy in a community organization setting. Participants learn that they can use media to express themselves and the goals of their community project.

This type of experience helps participants have the confidence to tackle other digital media projects for themselves or for a future project or job.

There were many people in this workshop that had little or no experience with digital media and by the end were motivated to pursue it further.

Mimi:

“I really enjoyed the DLP I really loved editing the video clips, it was a great experience and something I would be interested in doing one day in the future”

Cheryl-Lynn:

“At first I was not too sure about DLP and their whole project! But now its the end of the project and I wish it would never end! I love taking pics and videos. Now I know that it’s a great interest of mine. I have learned to edit as well! It motivated me to wanna make a short-movie…”

While video skills are relevant to many workplaces, the experience of working on a multi-facetted project are going to be relevant to every workplace environment. Participants have to express themselves and work together. Discuss abstract ideas and put them into concrete action.

Jeunes en action coordinator- Mary elaborates further:

“We truly feel that the DLP fits in with the mission of the Jeunes en action program: young people’s personal, social and professional development. The final product is certainly a big personal and professional achievement for all the participants, who had the opportunity to use their strengths and challenge themselves to learn new skills. The process of media production works on the social level by fostering team spirit in a diverse group of people working together.”

A few of the participants actively make music in their lives. Doing a project like this offers another venue to work on their music practice. The participants made all the music and wrote lyrics and raps for this project. During the project the participants discussed the question:

“What does it mean to make music for a documentary video about a community program?”

It is different from making music in which you only represents yourself. The challenge is to make it ‘cool’ yet ‘appropriate.’

Geoff notes:

“I really enjoyed the digital literacy program as a musician it was really cool to incorporate my music with video footage we all put together, I really enjoy it….”

In our experience, we see a lot of very talented young people with a lot drive. It is great to make a space for them to deepen their skills and confidence with digital media. We see a lot of young people who are very excited to contribute to their communities.

We need to get their energy out in the community!

Please check out ‘Taking a Walk with CJE in NDG”

Mindful Management of a Digital Identity

Posted on March 12, 2012 by eric in Media Literacy, News, Workshops

Co-written by Eric and Shanly

In February, Dr. Shanly Dixon was invited to speak to four classes at Vincent Massey Collegiate. She was asked to address the issues that surround career planning and the content we produce and share on the Internet. Her talk Mindful Management of a Digital Identity addressed the challenges young people currently face in balancing potential audiences as they actively participate online. Eric Craven, the Fostering an Information Society Project Coordinator for the Digital Literacy Project at the Atwater Library collaborated on the presentations and together they had the pleasure of addressing a group of very digitally connected and engaged students.

At the Digital Literacy Project, we are continually investigating, monitoring and evaluating the importance of our online identity and how it affects many aspects of our life. This topic is a bit of a moving target. However, we feel that it will continue to be a relevant issue due to continuous changes in the technological landscape and our collective attempts to adapt to and use the social media at hand.

As technology becomes increasingly pervasive, people are inclined to use websites and accounts to create and disseminate their identities. As a result, we have empowering opportunities to communicate and share information. However, this also results in having to navigate some challenging privacy issues.

During our presentations at high schools many of the students argue that online identities (in the form of our various online profiles) should not be considered as part of the selection process for opportunities such as college admissions or employment. This is a valid perspective as young people often target their online interactions to a very specific audience of peers. However, the reality is that increasingly the information we place online is collected and analyzed by a variety of interests such as corporations, marketers, and governments. Many of us do our own research about potential colleagues, classmates or dates. We can expect that potential employers are equally as proactive and vigilant.
Read these two titles from Forbes Magazine to get a sense of how this is being discussed in the business world.

What Employers Are Thinking When They Look At Your Facebook Page

Facebook Can Tell You If A Person Is Worth Hiring

We at the digital literacy project have been taking a pro online culture approach, which encourages mindfulness. One thing that researchers, educators, policy makers, marketers and parents can all agree on is that young people are online and engaged with online culture.

Shanly Dixon, in her discussion, explained that the nature of information alters as it moves online. We need to remain mindful of the fact that once we share information online it becomes difficult if not impossible to control or completely remove it. Content can be collected by third parties through data mining. It may be stored on servers, archived or forwarded and as a result what we share may potentially be accessible long after we wish it would disappear. Additionally, information can spread far and fast online once it’s out of our hands. It’s important to consider whether we will be comfortable with all aspects of our digital identity in years to come. The information that we share ads up to create our digital identity and our online footprint can last a lifetime.

We also addressed the way in which the information we share offline often varies according to the specific contexts. Whereas, the integrity of context collapses online and as a result people from all parts of our life potentially see every other part of our life. This makes it important to consider all of the possible audiences our information can reach.

Managing our online community is very similar to managing our offline community. In discussing what approach we should take, we found our selves using the term ‘mindful’. We suggested that students assume that future college recruiters, employers and selection committees will search for them on the Internet when considering them for an opportunity.

Online spaces can serve as important tools in sharing your strengths, skills and interests. With a bit of care, your online identity can be a powerful asset. We discussed the value of being mindful about how you present yourself online, evaluating whether the content you share reflects your current and future goals and be aware of all of your potential audiences. For instance if you plan to pursue a career in the arts there are a range of online sites where you may be able to connect with other young artists and share or promote your work creating a dynamic online identity as an artist. However, it’s important to review the privacy and copyright policies for these websites.

Digital literacy education empowers young people by providing facts about how their information is treated online, what information they may be unintentionally sharing with organizations, the importance of reading and understanding privacy agreements and copyright, amongst other key topics.

One of the most interesting discussions with Vincent Massey students occurred around changing definitions of privacy, the importance of valuing privacy as a collective social good and how we can respect, protect and advocate for privacy going forward. Often young people are perceived as not being concerned about privacy but the students at Vincent Massey expressed overwhelming interest about the security of their information online and about the challenging privacy issues that they are currently facing.

For more information:

Dr. Shanly Dixon – shanlydixon.com

Technoculture, Art and Games (TAG) – www.tag.hexagram.ca

Vincent Massey Collegiate – www.vmc.qc.ca

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