Welcome to the blog for Global Kids' Online Leadership Program. Scroll below for featured entries. You can also:

  • Click in the right column to review all blogs by program;
  • Visit teen posts to read all posts created by Global Kids youth leaders;
  • The library offers videos, pdfs, comics and more produced through the programs; and
  • Go to in the media to see all of the recent press coverage we have received.


July 1, 2009

[vvp] Global Kids Machinima "Discovered" Now Online!


After tonight's successful public premiere of the Virtual Video Project's 2009 film "Discovered" at the Sony Wonder Theater, we are proud to announce the online release of this serious issue machinima. Created by 15 Global Kids teen leaders over the course of the school year, they decided on the subject matter, wrote the script, created the avatars, recorded the voices, shot the footage, and edited the final cut you see here.

We are so proud of our GK filmmakers for their amazing work, creativity, and commitment on this project! Read more about "Discovered" and the Virtual Video Project here.

June 30, 2009

[vvp] Global Kids Youth Leaders Premiere Second Life Machinima "Discovered" Tomorrow in NYC!

Movie Poster for "Discovered" VVP Machinima FilmJust a reminder that tomorrow, July 1, fifteen New York public high school students will premiere their film Discovered. Discovered is a digital "machinima" film produced in Second Life that explores the powerful issue of child sex trafficking through the fictional story of one Mexican teenager. This is the final product of a year-long, intensive digital filmmaking program called the Virtual Video Project (VVP), an after-school program conducted by Global Kids, Inc in NYC. The students gathered regularly during the past year to learn about film production, human rights, and virtual worlds, culminating in a serious issue machinima film produced entirely by the youth filmmakers.

Come to the premiere of Discovered to meet the youth filmmakers and discover how digital film can be used for global issue awareness and civic engagement.

Event Details:
When: Wednesday, July 1st, 6pm-8pm
Where: Sony Wonder Technology Lab [550 Madison Avenue at 56th St.]
What: Meet & Greet Filmmakers, Premiere of Discovered, and Q & A with students

For more information, see http://www.DiscoveredMovie.com or please contact Shawna at 212-226-0130 x 143 or email: shawna@globalkids.org.

The full text of the News Release follows....

Continue reading "[vvp] Global Kids Youth Leaders Premiere Second Life Machinima "Discovered" Tomorrow in NYC!" »

[In the Media] GK Youth Leader Nafiza Featured on Edutopia Online

GK's own youth leader Nafiza was chosen to be part of Edutopia's online Youth Portraits series, in which they feature the digital worlds of various teens.

Digital Youth Portrait: Nafiza







Edutopia's portrait includes an interview of Nafiza along with short video pieces on her, her work in GK's OLP programs and what it is like to have digital media play a close relationship in her day to day life.

There are also sections, within Edutopia's feature on Nafiza, where other videos spotlight using digital media to learn world affairs and highlight the work Nafiza and other youth leaders put in within the VVP program to produce the 2007 and 2008 program short films "A Child's War" and "Race to Equality".

Learning World Affairs Through Digital Media







To visit Edutopia's full youth profile on Nafiza, click here.

June 29, 2009

[P4K] Global Kids' Tempest In Crescent City in Christian Science Monitor

GK-tempestatG4C

A recent article in the Christian Science Monitor focuses on video games that let you play with topics taken from the news around us. It spotlights Tempest In Crescent City as an example.

Another featured news game, “Hurricane Katrina: Tempest in Crescent City,” developed by Global Kids and Gamepill, focuses on how residents and the government coped after the 2005 storm hit. Players walk through New Orleans after the hurricane, communicating with neighbors and reporters to find a family member.

Read the full article here.

[media] Two New Reports on Transforming Educational Strategies

There have been two really great reports released recently, one by The Joan Ganz Cooney Center and the other by the Asia Society. Both focus on implementing global and digital literacy into the educational strategies.

Picture 1

In the report released by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, Game Changer: Investing in digital play to advance children's learning and health, it discusses the impetus of using gaming to help develop educational skills. The report states, "digital games offer a promising and untapped opportunity to leverage children’s enthusiasm and to help transform learning in America." To follow this up, they give recommendations and examples of various games which accomplish this significant task. One example used is GK's Ayiti, which is given as an example of one of the various health and learning games that demonstrates ways to transform learning. Ayiti is described as "a strategy game that asks, “What is it like to live in poverty, struggling every day to stay healthy, keep out of debt, and get educated?” Set in rural Haiti, players must manage the lives of a family of five, struggling with minimal resources to achieve a stable, safe, and healthy environment. The game is very difficult but provides win states and suggests that no problem is unsolvable."

It was also recommended to develop models or games, that best tap into community resources. "A number of promising afterschool models are already helping children from underserved communities become “tech savvy” and are developing innovative approaches to parent training that includes digital content such as games that can be used across settings. These models include the Intel-sponsored Computer Clubhouses, the Boys & Girls Club of America’s Club Tech, and locally-based youth-leadership programs such as Global Kids, One Economy, and Computers for Youth. National efforts to bridge school, home, and community uses of game technologies should learn from, improve upon, and scale-up these models."

Picture 2

The report by the Asia Society, Expanding Horizons: Building Global Literacy in Afterschool Programs, also discusses the importance of teaching global literacy within educational settings, to make sure youth of today are ready for what comes when they enter the growing global workforce. The report looks at how to prepare the youth through four different aspects, one of them being "Transforming Learning". In this section, various examples of how to integrate digital media into the classroom setting are given. "For older youth, many international organizations are starting to provide educational events in Teen Second Life. For example, Global Kids implemented the "I Dig Tanzania" summer camp, a program where youth in Chicago and New York followed a palentology excavation in Tanzania led by a team from the Field Museum of Chicago. Participants followed what the real researchers were doing through streaming video, asked questions over satellite phones, and then dug virtual fossils and assembled them together into an exhibit in Teen Second life. "

On page 54, the report discusses how to help youth find active roles, and uses GK's afterschool program structure as a good example of this. The report also mentions the use of various programs Global Kids runs in our afterschool programs including: the Power of Citizenry program, the Annual Youth Conference, Undesirable Elements, which is a youth-led theater program and our Playing for Keeps program, which works to integrate game design into serious issues, creating a serious game such as Ayiti, as examples of how to transform learning within afterschool programs.

Both reports are very interesting and well worth the read, so check them out!

June 25, 2009

[media] (o.o) Festival: NYC Digital Youth Media & Technology

The (o.o) Festival: First Annual NYC Digital Youth Media & Technology Festival will be this Saturday, June 27, 2009, at The New School, NYC.

We are so thrilled that this event by an incredible coalition has come together to support youth through NYC in our various after school programs. Global Kids has youth showing their VVP year end videos, youth from the Media Masters program showing their digital transcripts, youth from HRAP at South Shore showing their documentary about their school phasing out, and youth from our Expressions program showing the variety of digital media they created about social and global issues.

In addition, youth from the three NY Public Library sites implementing our Playing 4 Keeps game design program will be competing for the best serious game design and we can't wait to see what the youth have created.

The full press release is after the jump.

Continue reading "[media] (o.o) Festival: NYC Digital Youth Media & Technology" »

June 22, 2009

[vvp] Global Kids Youth Leaders Premiere VVP Machinima "Discovered" on July 1 in NYC

Movie Poster for "Discovered" VVP Machinima FilmOn July 1, 2009, 15 New York City public high school students will premiere their film Discovered --a digital "machinima" film produced in Second Life that explores the powerful issue of child sex trafficking through the fictional story of one Mexican teenager. Discovered is the final product of a year-long, intensive digital filmmaking program called the Virtual Video Project (VVP), an after-school program conducted by Global Kids, Inc in NYC. The students gathered regularly during the past year to learn about film production, human rights, and virtual worlds, culminating in a serious issue machinima film produced entirely by the youth filmmakers.

Come to the premiere of Discovered to meet the youth filmmakers and discover how digital film can be used for global issue awareness and civic engagement.

Event Details:
When: Wednesday, July 1st, 6pm-8pm
Where: Sony Wonder Technology Lab [550 Madison Avenue at 56th St.]
What: Meet & Greet Filmmakers, Premiere of Discovered, and Q & A with students

For more information, see http://www.DiscoveredMovie.com or please contact Shawna at 212-226-0130 x 143 or email: shawna@globalkids.org.

The full text of the News Release follows....

Continue reading "[vvp] Global Kids Youth Leaders Premiere VVP Machinima "Discovered" on July 1 in NYC" »

June 18, 2009

[teen] My Internship at Teen Central

My name is Vladimyr and since early April I've been interning with NYPL's teen central on Global Kids' Playing 4 Keeps program. When I first showed up at teen central, everyone was all over the place. But once everything had gotten settled and planned out, the sessions just went by. When we started talking about the game we wanted to create and what should go in it. The gamers(KIDS) just had fun with it, putting in their thoughts, and making it a great atmosphere for everybody. I don't call them kids, I call them gamers. Because they are truly fans of great games, they love great games, and I can truly say that I haven't been around this much gamers before in my life. I tweeted about the day we had to make our own mini game out of chosen objects. That day showed how much fun they have at teen central and the creativity they have, especially working together. I think the best session I've been to was when the guys from Large Animal gaming company stopped by. The kids had finish picking there topic for the game and actually drew pictures and made a storyline for it. A member of teen central named Dominique had to pitch it to the guys who stopped by because the other kids who helped wasn't there. He did a great job and the guys liked it. The gamers at teen central ended up picking Genocide as their game topic. Barry Joseph helped me get this internship because I had nothing to do after I had graduated high school. I would like to thank him and say that being at teen central was probably the best way I've could of spent my free time. I plan on being at the conference on the 27th, cheering teen central on. GOOD LUCK!biggrin.gif.

GKID VLAD.

June 11, 2009

[RezEd] Two GK projects highlighted at poster session during GLS

Global Kids projects were the focus of two poster sessions at this weeks GLS, one about the D.I.D.I. initiative and Selen Turkay's awesome study about our Science Through Second Life class at our high school.

We think they were the best posters in the session, but perhaps we're biased. :-)

Images below - enjoy!

Continue reading "[RezEd] Two GK projects highlighted at poster session during GLS" »

June 8, 2009

[SL] Philanthropy in virtual worlds

The Chronicle of Philanthropy's podcast series latest episode spotlights Philanthropy in Virtual Worlds and features a discussion between host Allison Fine and MacArthur Foundation's Connie Yowell and our own Barry Joseph.

Episode 7: Philanthropy in Virtual Worlds

Connie Yowell, director of education at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and Barry Joseph, director of the online leadership program for Global Kids, discuss how nonprofit groups are working in virtual spaces like Second Life. Allison Fine, the host, also offers ideas on how virtual worlds can help organizations raise money and promote their causes. (Running time: 12:36)

Check out the episode on their site, listen to it below or download it.

June 4, 2009

[teen/tsl] Relay For Life on Global Kids Island!

For the past two summers, I've worked with Global Kids and various approved adults to bring the Relay for Life Second Life to the teen grid. We've been pretty successful in the past, but I'm bringing it back to Global Kids Island this year and it's better then ever.

With very much help from Fayandria Foley on the Main Grid through email and IM; and Nuala Maracas (also known as Nuala Maven on the Teen Grid) we're taking the grid by storm. It's only been about two weeks and we've already raised over L$45,000 (that's about $160 USD). The teens have totally blown our mind and done way more than we could have ever imagined.

On June 1st, the main grid Relay had an event to "Paint SL Purple". Even though it was a Monday and many of the teens were in the middle of finals, we decided to hold an event on Global Kids. We had a party and a wonderful purple-filled turnout! With my somewhat new found estate manager powers on the islands, I was able to take some terrain textures and make them purple and I turned the entire island Purple. I must say, it looked very rad.

June 1, 2009

[staff] OLP April/May Staff Reflections!

The April/May staff reflections are now up!

A quick overview of what OLP thought about for these past two months: Rafi raves about his past conference experience and discovers a new course on creative, thought-provoking technology at NYU, Barry walks through his tweets and discusses six trends around education and virtual worlds, Rik talks about his experience in Chicago at the HASTAC meeting and looks at ways of conversing with non-techie audiences about digital media as a learning tool, Amira discusses the divide within learning and non-learning institutions using digital media, Krista looks at the uses of machinima and Tabitha reflects on her time with the Virtual Video Project.

Read the reflections below for a more in-depth description:

As always, thanks for reading!

May 24, 2009

[p4k] Final Training for New York Public Library

Below is a brief video from the final Global Kids' final training for the New York Public Library for the Playing For Keeps Capacity Building Program.

More info about this program at http://www.playing4keeps.org.

May 20, 2009

[conf] GK Teens Produce Live Video Documentary about Global Health Conference


On March 27, Global Kids held its annual youth-organized conference at Baruch College that brought together 300+ youth and educators from around New York City. The theme of this year's conference was Global Health, with the slogan "Be the Vaccine!"

One of the most remarkable parts of the 2009 GK conference was the live video documentation of the event. Six Global Kids leaders filmed the event "guerilla style," which was then edited on-the-fly by GK staff, resulting in a compilation video about the entire conference that was shown during its closing session. It was a perfect example of the Global Kids's participatory learning approach, having our youth film the conference on their own and for everyone to enjoy the footage that their peers shot. We hope that you enjoy it as well.

Thanks to our guerilla videographers Fio, Jessy Jo, Chanel, Tawana, Amana, and Grace and our MCs Lindsey, Leon and Ashley!

May 19, 2009

[conf] MacArthur Island Launch a Success!

MacArthur Island Launch Event
We are happy to report that the public launch of MacArthur Island in Second Life was very successful. The launch featured a live conversation between the avatars of Jonathan Fanton, President of the MacArthur Foundation, and Cory Ondrejka, co-founder of Second Life now at EMI.  Over 150 avatars, plus another 20-some viewers of the live webcast, gathered to participate in this discussion on the future of virtual worlds and philanthropy.

Mr. Ondrejka and Mr. Fanton both spoke very well from their respective and unique positions as a virtual world visionary and a philanthropic pioneer.  They described quite movingly the potential of these technologies to promote the public good, spur new kinds of collaborative action, and capture people’s imaginations towards a better future.  And Connie Yowell of the MacArthur Foundation did a fantastic job moderating the discussion, fielding to Mr. Fanton and Mr. Ondrejka a wide range of questions from the virtual audience.

Click on the image above to see the video archive of the whole event, graciously provided by our friends at Treet.tv. Or visit MacArthur Island yourself at this teleport link.

Continue reading "[conf] MacArthur Island Launch a Success!" »

May 17, 2009

[P4K] The end of an era

We were very sorry to see our long-term partner, and digital advisory member, GameLab close its doors this month. GameLab partnered with Global Kids on the powerful game Ayiti: The Cost of Life and over the years published numerous game titles.

It may be the end of an era, but its also the start of something new and we look forward to what comes next for those behind GameLab.

Others commenting on the passing of GameLab:


gamelab.jpg

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