Global Kids' Digital Media Initiative

“You have to find hope in hopelessness itself…the human spirit is enormously strong,” were the final words I heard from Ishmael Beah as I exited Second Life. Although he related it to the war in Sierra Leone and his missing family, it is a powerful statement that we can all relate to and incorporate into our own lives. Unfortunately, I could not stay to hear the various questions people had for Ishmael, but I did have wonderful help from fellow TSL residents who filled me in on the questions presented to him and his elegant responses. I am getting a little ahead of myself though, but I just wanted to begin with that quote because it really left a wonderful and lasting memory.

Let me start at the beginning, since it is after all the most convenient place to begin. Hello! I am Nafiza, or Nafiza GKid. First thing I should clarify is that I am NOT an adult; I have the last name GKid because I was brought into Teen Second Life by Global Kids when I first joined their Virtual Video Project program. Currently, I am a Global Kids Intern on TSL and my very first ever online-facilitated event was this one, in which Ishmael Beah was streamed into TSL on the Eye4You Alliance island (10/18/07). I joined this program because…well there are several reasons. The most obvious is because I feel strongly about global issues and love seeing other people’s perspectives on these issues. The other reason is that…I wanted to have this experience—not for a resume or a college application—but for myself. I think that if I can prove to myself that I am capable of doing something, then I can prove it to any other person in the world.

Another part of it is that I have facilitated a workshop in the GK Annual Conference, so I did want to see what it would be like to do something like that in Second Life. Trust me when I say, that although you have to concern yourself with public speaking and expression in real life, dealing with some of the messes that can occur in Second Life can be somewhat more frustrating. At the same time, it is much easier to “brush-off” misbehavior on SL than it is to do in real life. The one thing that makes doing this in SL so hard is getting people to stay active, interested, involved, and to keep their attention. Also, I think they were very anxious to hear from Ishmael that they became impatient and also frustrated/bored when I was doing the screening. I can’t say that I blame them because it can be pretty boring to just sit there and watch someone typing. I tried to ask them questions to keep them engaged though, I don’t know how much it helped, but they seemed to respond very quickly and well to the questions so that was a good sign. One thing I can say for sure is that they did enjoy and they were somewhat mesmerized by Ishmael while he was speaking because they responded to all the things he said. Some times in awe, after hearing the reality of war, and sometimes with applause for his elegant words. Although they did not have the same privilege as I did to meet him in person, I think they still understood him to be the warm but strong individual he is just by hearing his voice and words. Lee Soothsayer commented that the event was “deep and very informative”.

Continue reading "[sl/intern/teen] Ishmael Beah & My 1st Event!" »

Posted by Nafiza - TSL Intern/VVP at 3:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A diverse group of New York City public high school students have produced an important animated new film that focuses on the increasingly serious issue of child soldiers.

The film, A Child’s War, will be presented this Friday, September 7, at 6:00 pm at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens. Entry for the screening is free. The press is invited. The young animators will be available to discuss their work. The Museum is located at 35th Avenue and 36th Street in Astoria, Queens. It can be accessed by subway (R or V trains to Steinway Street; N or W trains to 36th Ave). RSVP: afterschool@movingimage.us.

A Child’s War is the culmination of the year-long Virtual Video Project, an after-school program conducted by Global Kids, Inc. in collaboration with the Museum of the Moving Image. During the past year, the students gathered regularly to learn about film production, global issues, and virtual worlds, producing A Child’s War, a year-end project on the plight of child soldiers in Uganda.

Global Kids is the foremost nonprofit organization in New York City specifically dedicated to educating students in underserved communities about international and public policy issues.

Throughout the 2006-2007 Virtual Video Project, the students used machinima (digital movies made in online virtual worlds) to create short films and public service announcements that relate to important global issues.

A Child’s War is a short video that displays the students’ spectacular understanding of both digital media and important international issues. Through A Child’s War, the 20 young creators vividly illustrate a poignant story that documents the fictional life experiences of a former child soldier who has come to the International Criminal Court to testify against the warlord who forced him to murder hundreds of people, including his own family members.

A Child’s War was created in the virtual world of Second Life, one of several “virtual worlds” that offers a three-dimensional environment where online participants from around the world are represented by avatars in social and workplace interactions that mimic and reinvent the physical world. Second Life has millions of users and a growing non-profit community.

By streaming the video in Second Life, disseminating it online, and presenting it at screenings such as Friday’s at the Museum of the Moving Image, the students hope to raise awareness about a critical global issue.

The Virtual Video Project is part of Global Kids’ Online Leadership Program (OLP) and made possible with funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The OLP helps underserved youth learn about important international affairs issues and exercise their leadership skills through innovative media forms. Students in the OLP’s Virtual Video Project meet twice a week throughout the school year. The after-school program educates them about film production, digital media literacy, youth media, civic engagement, and global education. Throughout the Virtual Video Project, students learn about Second Life, construct a storyboard based on a global issue of their choosing, create a series of public service announcements, and create one short film such as A Child’s War.

You may watch A Child’s War at: www.holymeatballs.org/2007/06/vvp_a_childs_war_released_year.html

You can watch their earlier piece about digital media and youth at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=7TlSGH9-IVM

Read the youth leaders blogs: www.holymeatballs.org/machinima/

To learn what you can do about this issue, go to: www.holymeatballs.org/2007/06/acw.html

About Global Kids, Inc.

Founded in 1989, Global Kids' mission is to transform urban youth into successful students and global and community leaders by engaging them in socially dynamic, content-rich learning experiences. Through its leadership development and academic enrichment programs, Global Kids educates youth about critical international and domestic issues and promotes their engagement in civic life and the democratic process. Through professional development initiatives, Global Kids provides educators with strategies for integrating experiential learning methods and international issues into urban classrooms. Global Kids’ programs reach over 11,000 youth annually. For more information, visit http://www.globalkids.org.

Contacts

Global Kids
Jonah Kokodyniak, 212-226-2116
Jonah@globalkids.org
or
Mariam Communications
Tom Mariam, 914-939-4294
Tom@mariam.biz

Posted by joyce at 2:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Global Kids' Online Leadership Program has filled the positions opened in the summer of 2007.

Thank you to everyone helping to spread the word, such as Moo Money, 3pointD, NMC, Second Life Times and the blog Future-Making Serious Games.

Continue reading "[jobs] New Job Openings at Global Kids" »

Posted by Barry at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Today on Global Kids Island, we held an event to premier “A Child’s War” – a machinima video created by Global Kids youth leaders in Queens, New York, followed by a GK leader youth panel discussing the creation of the film, and finally, we unveiled the details about the Global Kids CRC Machinima Summer Camp in Second Life!

Teens from all over the grid came over to Global Kids Island to partake in this event, most of which were eager to learn about the Machinima Camp details. We are very excited to start receiving and processing applications immediately for this program, so make sure to send yours in asap if you are interested.

Information about the Machinima Camp can be found here.

Application for Machinima Camp can be found here.

Also, please make sure to stop by Global Kids Island and grab a copy of this month’s newsletter to learn more about the Machinima Camp!

Posted by Mercury at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The following video was the year-end project for the Global Kids youth leaders in Queens, New York who spent the year working in Global Kids' Virtual Video Project, at the Museum of the Moving Image, funded by the MacArthur Foundation.

The video is based on research done by the youth about the situation of child soldiers in Uganda and the upcoming trial at the International Criminal Court.

You can watch their earlier piece about digital media and youth at here.

Read the youth leaders blogs here.

To learn what you can do about this issue, go to our recent blog entry about this.

Please help spread the link to the video, either here or on YouTube, and leave your comments for the Global Kids youth leaders below.

Posted by joyce at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Hey everybody, today is our final workshop and it's our 55th meeting. This year has gone by really really fast and im going ot miss you guys. This year went really well. All of our sessions were very productive. I'm glad everybody got their PSAs done. Everybody worked hard on that and everyone's came out really good. Everyone who worked on a PSA should be really proud of their work. Personally, this workshop helped me develop better public speaking skills which would really help me later on. This year, I learned a lot. I was introduced to Second Life and machinima and I actually got to make one of my own. I also learned that there were many more global issues than I expected.

Posted by VVP Alex at 5:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey guys, today's 6-hour workshop went pretty smooth. We had plenty of time to work and my group and me got three scenes done. We had ALOT of difficulties getting extra actors, but once we got a hold of them, the filming went pretty well. At first everybody got impatient but everyone in Global Kids Island pulled through for us. The scenes came out pretty good and I hope Tuesdays workshop goes just as well because we're running out of time and we need to get this done fast since regents are coming up for students. Most of my group left me alone to work but Idan, Joe and Nafiza came and helped me out with everything and got everything organized to film the scenes. We got more accomplished than I expected and I felt that we made good progress. And hopefully we'll keep making good progress as we continue next Tuesday.

Posted by VVP Alex at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey
This is Brandon. My voice group was me, Angela, Hassan, and Miguel. At first me and Hassan and I were fighting over the part for Anthony, but I won anyway. It was fun though.
This is the end of my blogging history.
See ya
:)

Posted by VVP brandon at 5:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey everybody, during Tuesday's workshop me and my audio group finished up on looking for all the sound effects. We just encountered a minor setback. We had trouble dragging the audio sounds onto a folder on our desktop so everytime we would drag it, the link/file wouldnt play. So hopefully we'll figure out on Thursday. Tabitha is also leaving for vacation and won't be back for 2 weeks i think? So i just wanted to think Tabitha for her leadership and the fact that she always keeps us on track with everything. So I'd like to thank her for her time and effort she put in our work and the time she put in to help us with our machinima projects. Hopefully we can finish putting everything together by Thursday's workshop so Tuesday, we're able to start filming. I'm part of the actor's crew. So I have alot to do after pre-production. Hopefully we'll finish in time so we can screen it. See everyone on Thursday!

Posted by VVP Alex at 9:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mercury Metropolitan, the TSL resident intern, and Brooke Barmy, a participant in the current GK Intern Program and GK regular, were the featured interviewees of the most recent Second Life Insider podcast. It is an excellent overview of life in the teen grid. Throughout the episode they refer to a number of things about Global Kids Island - Moo Money's machinima classes, our Virtual Video Project, the simulcast with Mia Farrow on Darfur, our plans for the upcoming SLCC, and more. Check it out!

Read the post here.

Download the podcast here.

Posted by joyce at 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While we look forward to Moo Money blogging here about her activities on GK Island, she has been blogging elsewhere, and others are noticing. Here is a short blog report on Moo's involvement with GK Island and highlights her recent video tour of our islands.

Read the post here.

Posted by joyce at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey guys, I just got on to blog to talk a little about Tuesday’s workshop. Tuesday we discussed the pros and cons about deciding either to film Global Warming or Child Soldiers. We talked about how it could be harder to make a second life machinima on Global Warming because the subject in general was too broad. Too many things to discuss in one machinima and it got kind of controversial because people can interpret the machinima in too many different ways. People would really have to think before they get the message across. Child Soldiers on the other hand was more specific in detail. Even though the fact that it’s about other countries that have this problem occurring, if we make a machinima on Child Soldiers, it may get some of us to get involved with that problem because if we can send help to other people from different countries, we can definitely do something to try to reduce the percentage of children being abducted from their homes and forced in to the military.

Children's families are often murdered in order to be able to abduct their children. In the end, the majority of the group voted for Child Soldiers. Towards the end of the session, we watched a documentary on children in Uganda living in fear everyday. The fact that they were taken from their homes…some people should really help or do something about it. I feel it’s great how they don’t lose hope in anything. They have dreams and hopes to be free and come to America to live a good life. Some of us here take advantage of that, like some people give up just because they failed in something, but we have lots more opportunities to gain another chance unlike the kids in Africa. They're trying to survive and they know that they can be taken away anytime, but that doesn’t stop them from dreaming. I hope somebody stops this one day. Anyways guys see you all on Thursday. Take care!

Posted by VVP Alex at 9:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well yesterday I heard about the shooting at Virginia Tech. 33 dead including the shooter. The security waited after the first shooting, because they thought it was already contained. But they thought wrong, and it ended as a tragedy . This is the most tragic shooting event that has happened in the U.S .

Posted by VVP Ronald at 4:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Check out Moo Money's first machinima video made from the teen grid as her avatar there Machinima Guru. She focuses on and gets some great footage of the Global Kids' Islands.

Check it out here.

Posted by joyce at 11:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On the second podcast from the Second Life Insider, Moo Money discussed her recent arrival on GK Island, the process it took for her to get there, and (starting at 50:58) begins a fascinating half hour discussion about what adults don't know about the teen grid. One quote: "the teen grid is the third world of Second Life." Must listening!

Check out the podcast here or listen to it below.

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Click here to download.

Posted by joyce at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)