Yes another one bytes the dust.
My ipod, “ET”, died. Despite restoring, resyncing, and whispering sweet-nothings to it, the click wheel is non-responsive. Sigh. And now I find myself wondering, which iPod am I? I have 14GB of music…am I able to make cuts to my playlists for a nano?…I am seduced by the iTouch technology…but what if I drop it?…and the most important question of all will linger until I make a decision…what will I name it?!
During the first phase of the video PSA project, the media makers have been given a 4 page proposal to fill out, which include a storyboard and “pitch” piece. Their mission is to convince the big time movie producer, (me), to fund their film. They must pitch to me their “30 second elevator speech” and use industry standard vocabulary to identify shots and angles in their storyboard. If I approve it, they will be given a camera, tape, and my blessing. The first team to be approved gets to use the marker for a week. (the marker was originally a $25 wall art from Bed,Bath & Beyond, until my dad added hinge on the side! We will use post-its to mark up the “slate”. This is low-budget filming, folks, we gotta be creative!).
So far, I have 2 teams who are reaching out to local middle school students and addressing peer pressure and responsible video gaming. Another team is exposing stereotypes, and another is investigating the cultural divisions in the city’s neighborhoods. An older team is taking on the truth about STDs, and another group is promoting after school alternatives to gang memership.
I’m super excited about their ideas and keep pushing back “What is your message?” “Who needs to be in your audience?” and “Who are you helping in the community?”.
I too experienced joy at both of the Springsteen shows Sunday and Monday at the Garden. The E Street band wrapped up the first leg of the “Magic” tour. They will embark on a European tour after the holiday and then come back to the States in January. My sisters, Dad, and I enjoyed “No Surrender” and “Jungleland” especially on Sunday, and I was pretty fired up about the throwbacks on Monday - “E Street Shuffle”, “Kitty’s Back”, and “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy).” “Born To Run” and “The Rising” still resonate, and “Reason to Believe” is done in a rockin rowsing way. Off the new album, the crowd caught onto the sweet summer song “Girls in their Summer Clothes” and nodded along solemnly to “The Last to Die.” Although Peter Wolf joined the stage for “10th Avenue Freeze Out” and Bruce gave a shout out to “the home of the World Champions”…no “Dirty Water” was done…But it wasn’t missed! The crowd was kept plenty busy with the high energy encore, which included “Badlands” and closed out with the jig “American Land.”Thanks Boss.Dad, me, Meg(and my floppy hat) getting ready for the show Sunday :
Dad and the Doctah :
This was our view of the Boss :
This is my sister trying to touch the Boss :
More teams formed today! There will 10 total video PSAs produced by February 08!
I just signed on to update the Teen Voices web site on a monthly basis. I am excited to be partnered again with this great organization. I am NOT excited to have to pick up where years of a variety of “webmasters” left off…with no site map…or comments in the code…or templates…Sometimes the most difficult web design jobs are the ones like these! It sounds like a simple job when you are asked to update a site’s content, but when the code is messy (its not exactly w3c compliant!), the folder hierarchy is not mapped, and the workflow is not optimal, it can in fact be far more arduous! I also have to be careful of my hours, and resist the urge to spend time “cleaning house”, when I am being paid by a non-profit with limited funds. It is an online magazine, too, so I am wondering why it isn’t syndicated?! RSS to the rescue!! That’ll have to be “phase 2.” Happy to be on board ( and get some extra spending money/Christmas cash )!
PS :
I realize that I never posted about the 2 sites I made (from scratch) this summer :
and
Here are the video production teams from today’s section :
I kicked off the video PSA project today with one section. They had LIVELY discussions while brainstorming ideas.
Students formed their own teams and brainstormed on sticky paper ideas for their videos. They were instructed to organize their ideas by the following 3 questions : What is your message? Who are you helping? (the organization in the community that could use the PSA) and Who needs to know? (the community of people that needs to see the PSA).
I just read this interesting article on MIT’s Civic Media blog…
Despite the nationwide broadcasting blackout imposed by Musharraf on Nov 3, Pakistani citizens are using SMS text messaging over private networks as well as web forums and blogs to help organize protest efforts, communicate with each other what’s really going on, and to get the local news out to world wide news outlets. In fact many people who do not normally participate on the web, are joining forums online, and getting their television news broadcasts from online outlets like Youtube. “…the government’s attempts to gag the media in the wake of emergency rule has been met with much defiance both online and via cell phone networks. Journalists, bloggers, activists, lawyers and concerned citizens throughout the Pakistani diaspora are making use of various media outlets to maintain the flow of accurate information and organize protests.” Check out the WIKI posting only a day after the emergency rule, and even teenagers, who don’t normally get involved in local politics, are generating support and discussion on Facebook. The entire article is worth reading.
OK I need to vent here…
I have been enrolled in the ALM ET program at the Harvard extension school for going on 2 years now. I have been paying out of my own pocket $850/course to get my masters degree. Why do I need the master’s degree? In order to have the “PERMANENT” stamp of approval on my record. Why do I need to become permanent? In order to (a) increase my salary lane (b) stay at my school if I ever took time off (c) be “allowed” to take on certain responsibilities of which I am already capable and pretty much doing (d) be eligible for tuition reimbursement. Yup, I need to pay up now in order to not pay later. But Ill be done with my coursework by then and wont get any reimbursement for what I took as a provisional teacher in order to become permanent. Sigh.
When inquiring today via phone to HR about tuition reimbursement, I was told that all I need to know is “on the website” and nearly hung up on. I was logged into myBPS, and on the HR home page but the doc was not there. In an ever so patronizing way “Uh-yeeeah-aaah”, I was led through the Superintendent’s page (cuz that’s HR?!) and a series of illogical clicks to finally get the tuition reimbursement word doc open - off of the bps web site, NOT in the portal after all. “Uh-yeeeah-aaah” its actually not “on the web site” at all! Exasperation. Sigh. Blech. Done.
So I really WAS paying attention at the Boston Media Makers meeting on Sunday at Sweet Finnish, and not just posting from my camera phone…In fact, I was supercharged up afterwards with ideas and new contacts and just plain happiness to be around people who “speak my language.” Aaaaaw. I aimed to get ideas about how to logistically get the students mobile blogging while in Germany and Paris, and the crew of about 15 or so (including a babbling baby) gave me some leads and solid tips. Thanks!! I gotta run out the door now, but Steve Garfield posted links and a summary on the group’s blog that sums it up…Ill post later about the “gems” I got.
Thanks again to Steve for inviting me!
