Follow-up with LYIA

For market research we took our final product back up to HAF in the Bronx and had five peers—young men and women who had already been through the program—go through the online class and share their reactions. They did this individually, so as not to be influenced by the comments of those around them.

They all took their time, really studying the material, watching the video (many of them saw themselves), taking the quizzes and reviewing the widgets. Some of them tried their hand at posting comments on the discussion board.

After they spent some time on the site, we asked them what they thought, how it could better serve it’s purpose, and whether they would have been comfortable on it when they were going through the program.. All of them loved the video; they felt like it was the right combination of entertaining and educational. They also liked the quizzes, and all of them said that they would like more of them throughout the lesson–which should be taken into account in creating other lessons. They all said that they would have liked to have an online component when they were going through the program.

Two of them mentioned the fact that they felt that having the curriculum online could potentially bring out youth who would use the online curriculum as a bridge to being able to speak openly and honestly about the issues that affect them and their community.

Online Curriculum Implementation

The LYIA Peer Education Training Curriculum is largely interpersonal and interactive, engaging youths through activities such as trust-building exercises (i.e. “icebreakers”), role-playing situations, and sharing personal experiences. We believe this is an integral part to the curriculum’s success, therefore a large challenge to implementing it online will be preserving the participatory aspects of being in an in-person, classroom session, and keeping youths engaged.

An online curriculum that allows youths to safely express themselves and connect and interact easily with peers can most likely be achieved by using a variety of social media tools. Here, we provide a few suggestions on how sessions or session components might be implemented online through the use of such tools.

+Wikis: Wikis are excellent tools for organizing information in a central location, where users can collectively contribute to or modify that information. Wikis can be public or private, so that only registered users can access and/or modify the content. A wiki might be useful as a source for private or sensitive materials, to provide an overall structure and table of contents for the curriculum, or for collaborative online assignments/projects.

-For a quick video introduction to wikis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7BAU2XX5Ws

-For an example of an education Wiki: http://latinoyouthinaction.wetpaint.com

+Blogs: These days blogs often function as personal webpages, and are excellent for connecting to others through an ongoing dialogue. Blogs might be useful for youths to keep journals about progress in the program and/or personal experiences, as well as a place for them to complete assignments online (for instance, sharing their outreach experiences for “HIV Training Session 7: Keeping Track of Success”). Having youths comment on each others’ blogs might help initiate an online dialogue similar to those within classroom sessions. In general, blogs will provide another venue for youths to express themselves as well as connect to peers; they may even be more comfortable sharing experiences through a blog than in person. It might be a good idea to create an LYIA blog separate from the main webpage and specifically for the Peer Education Training program, that youths can all link to; use it to post audio/visual/text content from the classroom sessions, as well as updates, quizzes, reviews, online assignments, etc.

-Some Blogging tools: www.WordPress.com, www.Blogger.com, or even MySpace

+Podcasting: Make audio recordings of classroom sessions, and distribute them online as a podcast. This can be useful for those who miss a session and need to catch up. They are easy to download (on a computer or portable electronic device) and easy to produce, requiring no more equipment/software than what is already provided by a Mac or Microsoft OS package. The link for downloading the podcast can be placed on a website, blog, or wiki.

-For more information on podcasts, Commoncraft gives a quick, simple video introduction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-MSL42NV3c

-For free, open-source audio editing software: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

+Polls and Quizzes: Use online polling and quiz tools for collecting information and reviewing lessons, such as www.surveymonkey.com or www.polldaddy.com . These can be easily integrated into other online platforms like blogs or wikis.

+Photo-sharing: Photo-sharing tools like Flickr serve as a repository for images, as well as provide a way to share and pool those images. It might be fun and useful to create an LYIA Flickr account and encourage peers to create their own accounts, linking to the LYIA account. You can also create an LYIA Flickr group, where members can pool their pictures together and discuss them in a forum. Again, this is easily integrated with other online platforms such as blogs, wikis, etc. Pictures/slideshows of classroom sessions can be posted to the LYIA account or group pool, for those who may have missed a session. Photo-sharing tools can also be useful for interactive assignments for a particular session. For instance, in the “Skill Training 2: Body Image Workshop” session, peers are asked to examine the ways people of color are represented in the media by searching through images and answering questions; youths can complete this activity by searching through images online or taking their own images on their cell phones/cameras, uploading them, and posting them to the LYIA Flickr group and/or blog. Youths might also use their photo accounts to create photo essays and slideshows of their experiences, post images of social marketing campaigns, or just in general, to share and comment on peers’ photos.

+Forums: If you want a more centralized and/or private discussion or feedback forum outside of using a wiki, you might try using a free discussion forum such as www.lefora.com.

+Sprouts: “Sprouts” are small applications, also called “widgets,” that function like mini-webpages. These can be used to create small and dynamic packets of information that are very easy to place, transport, and share online. For instance, you might create a sprout on how to put a condom on correctly, which might include video content, a text explanation, and links to other safe-sex informational resources; you could embed this in a corner of your website or blog, and peers can copy the sprout and embed it in their own blog. You’ll be able to track where your sprout spreads and who is using it, making it useful for social marketing projects as well. Youths might have fun designing their own social marketing sprouts, since they are both free and easy to make.

-Tool: www.sproutbuilder.com

+Video-sharing: Video-sharing is a great way to enhance a lesson plan (both on-line and in class) by focusing on the main messages of the session and by making visual some of the more complex or sensitive issues. It is also a great way to engage peers in participating in the creation of the video. For example, the session on HIV could be complemented with a clip on HIV transmission . Videos can be recorded on a number of devices (digital cameras, video cameras, cell phones, webcams) and uploaded onto a website such as youtube, vimeo and seesmic. They can also be posted directly onto the website of the organization. Basic editing software ($50-100) can be downloaded on most computers, giving enough internal/extermal memory, allowing the user to add text and collate audio, photo and video footage together. (Mac OS comes with imovie and Windows comes with Windows Moviemaker– photo/video editing software).

Caroline’s response to “Challenging Educational Imaginary – Film-based research” by Tom Barone

This reading took me back to foundation literature of Adorno & Horkheimer, Baudrillard and Merton & Lazarsfeld. It also generated the following questioning around which I will attempt to organize my response: how is today’s society shaped by the prevailing imaginary presented by the culture industry? How can social media play a role to challenge the prevailing imaginary? Can participatory culture generate changes of mass messages (or the prevailing imaginary)? What does it mean for social marketing?

I found the argument made by Professor Barone regarding how film create prevailing imaginary very compelling. It is also pertinent to so many other social issues which are often misrepresented by the media. The mass media, and by extension the culture industry, is still very driven by ratings and profit margin. And what sells is drama. Therefore, what we see and read about is always tainted by the need for extreme: the hero who survives the many struggles, the criminal who commits the worst of crimes. The ordinary is boring. And so ordinary people with ordinary lives who don’t have a lot of connection with a particular social issues or a particular social group will have their vision of it shaped by what prevails in the culture industry and the mass media?

To me, this has a pervasive effect on both the outsiders and the insiders. First, those who are not in contact with that issue/group (outsiders) will continue to have misconceptions of it. These misconceptions will eventually become a true representation in the mind of the outsiders who do not seek out a counterbalanced set of images. This “truth” will be shared with their friends and family and will further skew perceptions. Second, the group targeted by the prevailing imaginary (insiders) may come to believe that this is the reality with which they have to live, eventually replicating behaviors offered by the culture industry.

This is particularly true of ethnic and/or cultural identity and I will not go further into the issue because the literature on the subject is quite extensive. Suffice to say that the culture industry and mass media (in particular television and visual media) play a role in the formation of a child’s identity, the extent of which is determined by the presence of other influences such as parents, teachers, role models, etc. Unfortunately, in the case of single parent families or where both parent have to be away from home long hours because of financial constraints (often working two jobs), there are fewer opportunities to offer a counterbalance to images offered by the culture industry. So the insider that has little or no access to alternate images might adopt behaviors, attitudes and/or beliefs that adhere to the images he or she is presented with, while the outsider comes to expect prevailing behaviors, attitudes and/or beliefs generated by the culture industry and mass media.

Although this might sound like a gloomy scenario, I think that there is some validity to it, or at least to the idea behind it. But can social media really challenge the prevailing imaginary generated by the culture industry and mass media? Marshall McLuhan envisioned that the electronic media would lead to a global village based on transparency of information and communication. With the spread of mass media, McLuhan and many other “optimists” saw an opportunity for participation of the people. Is it really much different today? Do we think that we are living in a participatory revolution while we are just replicating old behaviors? I don’t know and to answer that would go beyond the scope of this blog (and the time that I have) but it is an interesting question (for me anyway). I keep coming back to the old article by Paul Lazarsfeld and Robert Merton (Mass Communication, Popular Taste and Organized Social Action), in which they argue that mass media act as a social narcotic. Because there is so much information about political and social issues, people can stay informed. The time that people could spend participating in organized social action on a political or social issue, is instead spent on keeping up with all the information available regarding that issue. At the end of the day, you can go to bed with a clear conscience that you are keeping yourself informed. The article, written in 1948, seemed even more relevant today where one has to spend so much time keeping up with the flow of information and communication. Just think about how much time you spend everyday cleaning your inbox, or navigating from one website to another, when all you wanted to do was look up a term on wikipedia!

But I digress. Going back to the prevailing imaginary. It is true that is has become easier and more affordable than ever to create you own content and share it with the world. This might lead us to believe that we can affect the imaginary and more easily offer that counterbalanced view of the world. And it might be true in a certain way because it does open communication channels that weren’t there before. But to what extent are we preaching to the converted? What percentage of the population uses social media? And more importantly, which segments of the population? Urban vs Rural? Generations? What are the demographics? In my point of view, we (users of social media) tend to be very optimistic when we think about the power of social media, user-generated content, etc. While it does offer the opportunity to present and access various discourses that would otherwise not find their way into the mass media, we have to keep in mind that it is only as powerful as the number of people it affect.

Grassilli Response to: “How to Turn Video Contest Into a Viral Extravaganza & Get Millions of Views on YouTube”

If your target is engaged, they are getting your message. That seems to be the philosophy behind the campaign in the case study “How to Turn Video Contest Into a Viral Extravaganza & Get Millions of Views on YouTube”.

The study looks at a 2007 campaign by eBillme, an Internet site for billing. The idea was to target online shoppers to trigger awareness and to “create a groundswell of recognition” that would get online retailers to follow consumers to the eBillme website.

The relatively simple campaign plan involved a call for video entries into a “Shopping Confession” contest. The incentive –four runners up get $1000 and a grand prize winner. They created a url www.shopandconfess.com for contestants to post their entries on, but all of the videos were housed on YouTube.

To build buzz around the contest, eBillme’s PR firm sent out notices to newspaper reporters and tv producers in the top markets around the country. They also ran ads on eBillme’s home page, as well as sending out emails to subscribers.

Ultimately, the group received 46 submissions that fit their criteria for entry of creativity, production and entertainment value. One of the entries was among the top videos of YouTubes home page for two days in a row, and was viewed 766,000 times!

The campaign garnered national media attention, in USA Today and The Daytime Show—a syndicated show that airs in 9 major cities around the country, as well as local coverage in Chicago, which was the home of one of the contest winners. There was mention in a total of 31 media outlets, which drove visitors to YouYube to screen the video and raised awareness of eBillme (although I had never heard of it prior to reading this case study).

The simplicity of this campaign was probably the biggest contributor to its success. It used a familiar and popular site-YouTube-to host its videos. By using YouTube, they had the added attention of people that surf the site for amusing videos every day. Instead of solely people who already had some knowledge of the contest.

The instructions were also simple. While there was some technical skill required (in shooting, editing and uploading the video) but not so much as to be offputting.

The simple program also has legs, after the Christmas 2007 launch, eBillme has done multiple contests with different themes each month. Again, simplicty, fun and most importantly a connection with the audience are the elements that will keep this program going.

HAF groups meet

Representatives from Group 1 (Video Instruction), Group 2 (us), Group 4 (Web Team), and Josephine met up in SL yesterday evening, following the meeting with Rafi Santo/Global Kids. We started to address some of the challenges in collaborating between groups, namely time constraints and scheduling. We discussed what might be some more efficient ways to communicate between groups working with HAF in the coming weeks, coming to no solid conclusion…but we did decide to try to organize a real-time SL meeting next Sunday sort of in lieu of the class meeting to discuss group projects. Josephine agreed to organize this with Jason, and send out emails.

We also discussed using Skype to have group meetings in combination with Twiddla (the whiteboarding tool suggested by Josephine) for communicating with each other visually. Currently, it seems easiest to get everyone to meet up in SL, but maybe something to think about for the future.

We briefly discussed ways we might collaborate, but soon decided we would all need to be further along in our projects before being able to address those ideas more productively. Josephine made the point that projects did not have to be “finished” by the end of the semester and that the process was just as important as the final product, though I got the feeling that all of us kind of wanted to have a final product by the end of the semester, if possible.

Some of the things we did discuss:

Group 1: would need a spot on the website created by Group 4, to place or embed a video they are creating with LYIA

Group 2: would need 2 types of spaces for their project on the webpage- 1) a place for social media created by LYIA youth and others (i.e. links to blogs, myspace accounts, etc.), so that they can all be found through a central HAF/LYIA online source; and 2) a space for the online curriculum that will be culled from the classroom curriculum currently being taught by LYIA (this space needs to be open to growth as it may eventually house the entire online curriculum; may possibly incorporate dynamic aspects in the future?)

Group 4: may also be working with other groups, other than 1 and 2? is still working on things…

In preparation for the meeting this upcoming Sunday, I think we agreed to try to make some progress on our projects, and to try to have some materials/prototypes to show others on Sunday in order to facilitate further collaboration between groups.

Braudaway Response to: “A Self-fashioned Gallery of Aesthetic Practice”

We need to find creative ways not just to represent others in our research but also to help these individuals to describe their own experiences. The challenge is to go beyond creating insightful texts about the human condition to moving ourselves and others to action, with the effect of improving lives.

Creativity in Research Methodology and Representation

In “A Self-fashioned Gallery of Aesthetic Practice,” Carol A. Mullen gives an overview of qualitative approaches to arts-based inquiry and educational research, where research findings offer a “critique of socioeducational issues through artistic production.” Arts-based research allows for experimentation (in research methods, data collection and representation, pedagogy, etc.) and engaged participation (between researcher, subject, and audience, blurring the “roles” of each). Creative forms of research representation such as stories and performance (ethnotheatre) can provoke political agency/social transformation by fully engaging participants – putting bodies in motion, “eliciting response” and “demanding attention.”

Armchair Philosopher Vs. Action Practitioner

Arts-based inquiry is concerned with practice, mobilizing audiences to action and new ways of seeing where “the researcher is concerned with issues of community, participation, and positionality (one’s own social location and values).” Action is purposefully a conscious part of the research, and findings should “display the reality-altering impact of the inquiry process.” This emphasis on practice is in line with the educational objectives and methods of LYIA, which employs youths to be peer educators and social marketers, thereby giving them a performative, lead role in the educational process.

Narrative and Performativity

The incorporation of narrative and performance in both methodology and research representation is I think especially pertinent to the objectives of our group project. The classroom learning modules developed by LYIA incorporate many learning activities that involve individual self-expression, sharing of experiences, physical movement (such as trust-building exercises), and role-playing. These types of activities help foster an atmosphere of trust and community, conducive to learning reception, self-expression, and active participation, in addition to motivating peers to extend this knowledge and community outside of the classroom (outreach and activism). They allow youths to become active participants in their own learning processes by becoming critical evaluators of their own experiences and activists with an agenda that is close to their hearts and of which they can greatly contribute, rather than spectators of a lesson plan or text (here, a dimension of feeling is added to thinking, and the personal becomes political). As Mullen points out, performance creates an especially conducive space for inquiry, learning, and expression, where the participant feels an embodied sense of connection to the “open script” being performed; she or he also plays an integral role in the dialogue and interpretation of the given text. Preserving these creative, engaging, and participatory elements of the learning process (indeed this performative ethos) as the classroom curriculum is transformed into an online version, is therefore critical.

Group Meeting 3

For our third group meeting, we met up in Second Life and sat around a camp fire to discuss and draft our project plan. We used the project plan format suggestions in the VLE Wiki as a guideline.

Notes from group meeting on the Project Plan Format:

*a) what is the “problem” / issue your project is addressing? Provide some background about the target population (socioeconomic conditions, language, ethnicity, race, gender, sexuality, educational level, intergenerational relations, regional-neighborhood conditions, cultural norms, etc) and the problem(s) attitudes, beliefs and/or behaviors your project will attempt to change.*

-(objective) Our group project will be to collaborate with Latino Youth in Action in supplementing classroom learning modules with online and social media tools, that they can use both in-class and outside of class as well as provide suggestions for how to integrate classroom learning modules into a fully online curriculum in the future

-(target population) to be culled from LYIA/HAF literature, but it might be good to mention specifically the peer educators in the program who will be responsible for teaching others the tech skills, building on the plans/suggestions we provide for them (their own ideas on how to implement online/social media), as well as implementing them into the curriculum

*b) what are the barriers to attitude, belief and/or behavior change?*

+lack of resources (web cams) and access to computers/internet/equipment/audio recording equipment, etc. (very important, may want to ask Jason specifically what he suggests in terms of this challenge?)

+working from the older curriculum (not too important, but should be mentioned)

+designing effective and engaging instruction manuals for learning how to use social media tools (not to overwhelm them, to make learning these tech skills “fun” and engaging, etc. )

+technical skill level of youths

+making online learning modules and social media engaging for youths (how to make them truly interested and/or committed to using these tools?)

+creating/making online tools foster the type of ‘intimacy’ that in-classroom activities provide

*c) what is your intervention “selling” or “teaching”? that is, what alternatives is it promoting? what rewards does it promise?*

- (selling/teaching) the curriculum already provided by LYIA, as well as computer/equipments skills and online/social media tools and skills

-(rewards) wider reach in terms of collaboration, distribution, access to learning materials etc.

*d) how can you measure its effectiveness (what has been learned/what has been effected?)*

Our group will solicit feedback from LYIA youth before finalizing all learning module materials, as well as a “feedback session” after the in-class training session

*e) /how/ will the particular platform you have chosen (i.e, virtual world, Facebook, etc.) enhance the intervention/the learner’s experience? what qualities of social media you are using are particularly useful for attaining your goal of connecting with your target population?*

-Allows people to participate in the community without necessarily having to reveal their identities if they are afraid of that – they can test the waters with an avatar – helps to overcome a barrier of entry such as stigma, fear of revealing one’s orientation, etc.

-Also, gives tools for self – expression with wider distribution, not dependent on physical proximity or time-dependent

Group 2 Project Format and Elements Outline:

1. Instruction Manual (print and web version)

2. Individual curriculum session plans (divided between the 3 of us) where we provide:

a) ways/suggestions to implement online and social media tools in classroom learning modules (how they can use the tools in class) – these should be very specific to the elements of each particular session/lesson

b) ways/suggestions to supplement modules outside of class i.e. for “absentees” (a way for those who miss meetings to catch up, for those who need further review outside of class, and also, a way for them to engage in other resources outside of class) using online and social media tools

c) ways/suggestions to integrate the sessions into a fully online curriculum/version in the future

3. In-person training session, using the instruction manual for teaching the senior peers tech skills (which they can then teach to other peers)

4. Collaborate with other groups working with HAF

5. Elicit feedback from Jason/LYIA members on the Design, Suggestions, and Implementation of the session/lesson plans and instruction manual, before finalizing them

6. Upload materials to a place online somewhere, either on our blog or on the website that the other HAF group is working on (so that there is both an online and print version of our curriculum modules)

Group Meeting 2

We met with Nelson, director of HAF’s Latino Youth In Action program as well as peer youth educators in the program, at their headquarters in the Bronx. At the meeting we learned more about the program, and discussed the needs and goals of the program, in terms of our group project. We listened to the experiences of peers in the program, and solicited their feedback in terms of how we could best serve the program’s needs using online and social media tools. LYIA allowed us to take a copy of their classroom curriculum for us to work off of for our project.

Afterward, we met in Harlem to discuss our project goals and implementation, and to divide the curriculum between group members to look over and become familiar with, so that we could later begin to draft a complete project plan.  At the meeting with LYIA, we were informed that they were currently working on an updated version of their classroom curriculum, that would be divided into specific subject areas.  The person responsible for the new curriculum was unavailable; Lora agreed to try to contact him in order to find out some more about what the updated curriculum would entail, specifically the new categories (so that we might implement this into the structure of our project).  Toward the end of the meeting, we wrote an email to Jason outlining our preliminary thoughts and goals for the project:

“Jason,

Our group (#2) has met with HAF/LYIA and we subsequently had a group meeting. They provided us with their old curriculum which they are currently updating. They were not entirely clear on what their needs are regarding what/how online elements would serve them but were very excited at the prospect. Given this, creating online interactive learning modules as you previously suggested might not be what would serve them best. What they need is a) a way to enhance certain parts of their curriculum (currently being updated) via social media tools as well as b) an online component that will allow people who miss parts of
the training to catch up before the next class or simply go back to for review. Given this, our group suggests to revise the project this way:

1) For each component of the curriculum, suggests social media tools that will make the training more interactive.
2) Create lesson plans for each component on how to use the suggested social media tools. For example, component B might benefit from video skits uploaded onto a blog. We would make a lesson plan outlining this and why we think it makes sense, as well as how to do it.
3) Work with HAF/LYIA on implementing one of these social media tools(i.e. blog).

Please let us know if you think we are going in the right direction.

Regards,
Lora, Jenny, Caroline”

Group Meeting 1

We had our first group meeting near the school where we began to outline a general project mission for our group:

“We think the basic idea of our project will be to translate the classroom curriculums given to us by HAF (on the 4 subjects Jason mentioned: health/stigmatization/violence/substance abuse) into online versions that will fully utilize the resources available within an online platform – that is, incorporating multimedia and “social” media (video, images, hyperlinks to resources, blogs, discussion forums, etc.) into the curriculums we’re given. What features and resources available online will help make the curriculums more engaging and/or effective? We think participation, narrative, and interactivity are probably key here. Also: perhaps incorporating a combination of social media and social marketing into the curriculum.”

Minutes:

1. Without the curriculums from HAF, it was hard to do a lot of specific planning, in terms of the project plan. We did decide that we would need to do some more research on A) the target population (this might just be completing all the readings and meeting w/ HAF, but could possibly include collaborating w/ group #s 1 and/or 3) and B) find out more about the target population’s experience/education/usage of computers and online platforms, so that we can adjust our curriculum accordingly.

2. We went over the Project Plan Format that is on the class Wiki – many of the Project Plan parts will be incomplete until we receive the curriculums from HAF. However we decided to divide the subject areas up between us, for research and drafting the online curriculum versions – then we’ll meet again, and revise them together.

3. We decided that I will set up the blog by Wed/Thurs and email you guys the login instructions, so that you can post the reading response assignment that is due on Sunday. Caroline will begin drafting the Project Plan…though, again, that will be incomplete until we get the curriculums from HAF…and email that to us by this weekend to look over and revise, if need be.

4. We decided on a loose and tentative Timeline (required for the Project Plan Outline). It is of course subject to change, as needed. Please let me/Caroline know what you think about this:

This Week:
-set up blog, I will do this and email you guys the login info. by Thurs. at the latest
-preliminary Project Plan draft – to be done by Caroline and emailed to us by the weekend
-individual assignment – reading and response – due on blog by Sunday

Week June 23-30 (Next Week):
-Another in-person group meeting on Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully by that time we will have received the curriculums and we can all come up with a general protocol for how we should draft our curriculum, that will apply to each of our subject areas.
-Do curriculum drafts for our assigned subject area, based on the protocol we come up with during our meeting – including any sketches or prototypes
-Complete final draft of the Project Plan and send to Jason/post on Blog
-Continued research on our target population (meet with HAF?)

Week June 30 – July 6
-Continue to work individually on the online curriculum for our assigned subject area
-Gather materials, sketches, and prototypes to show at the next class meeting in SL
-Individual short projects are due around this time I think, post on Blog

Week July 7 – July 13th
-Group meeting (this one will have to be on Skype or SL, as I will be out of town) to go over the progress of our subject areas, and help each other revise
-Begin drafting our progress reports for Jason
-request feedback from HAF and Jason

Week July 14th – July 20th:
-Revise our online curriculums based on the feedback we are given
-Begin to come up with a final version

Week July 20th (Last Week I think):
-Post Final Versions on blog
-Final Report to Jason

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