Introductions
❖ Global Action Project: http://global-action.org @gapyouthmedia
❖ Research Action Design: http://rad.cat
❖ DataCenter: http://datacenter.org
❖ for more information: [email protected]
links & contact info
❖ What is happening in the world of youth organizing?
❖ Why is this research important?
❖ How did this work inform the framework we’re presenting today?
❖ What do we hope you, and we, will walk away with today?
Context
❖ Jesse Ehrensaft-Hawley, GAP❖ Meghan McDermott, Consultant (& formerly GAP!)❖ Cara Lisa Berg Powers, Press Pass TV ❖ Sasha Costanza-Chock, MIT, RAD❖ Chris Schweidler, RAD
❖ You….
Who’s in the room
Media Organizing
interested in reading more? http://bit.ly/tm101
Transformativetransmedia
❖ Participatory❖ Accountable❖ Cross-platform❖ Linked to Action❖ Transformative
❖ Stories that youth want to tell with their media: What are the stories they want to tell and what barriers do they face in doing so?
❖ Youth organizing and media strategy: Where does media fit into youth organizing as a strategy? How do youth organizers prioritize their media work, gauge its impact, and build audiences?
❖ Evolving technology and applications: What media tools are youth organizers using and how?
❖ Challenges faced by youth organizing and media: What challenges do youth organizers face in using media as part of their organizing strategy?
The Research Questions
Media is essential to effective youth leadership and movement building efforts
1.
1.
Media is an increasingly integrated means by which youth -- in structured, purpose-driven contexts -- work to change discourse through their artistry, political awareness, and community-based organizing experiences.
❖ What is compelling or stands out?
❖ What is surprising?
❖ What needs to happen?
Discussion
“You always hear about youth
violence, youth doing drugs,
youth having babies. People get
the feeling that we don’t care
about our lives or our futures,
we don’t have any hope. We
understand we can do something
about it, that we have power.”
- youth focus group participant1.
“As youth growing up in a low-
income community full of
disparities, I believe that
young people can play a role in
leading, reshaping
conditions...”
- youth focus group participant1.
“Seeing my mother and father,
migrant farm workers, struggling to
make ends meet for the family while
being discriminated for the way
they talk and look. Growing up in
the belly of the beast and joining
other farmworkers like my parents
to make a stand and change the way
migrants are treated in this
country all led to getting involved
in this work.”
- youth focus group participant1.
What are the stories young people want to tell with their media?
1.
“media influences the way we think
about our communities, and it has the
power to make us stronger”
- youth focus group participant1.
“Young people produced a video that
engaged students and parents
throughout the city to support our
work. We changed the mind of the
Superintendent from closing the only
high school in our community!”
- youth survey participant1.
What is the impact of your media?
1.
“media is a priority but we are still
in a learning space. We are still
learning how to effectively use the
media we have created already to build
momentum.”
- adult survey participant1.
What brought you to this work?
2.
Media produced within a political education frameworks amps youth engagement in organizing
2.
2.
Youth organizers ascribe tremendous value to using media, and the role it plays in deepening their organizing through political education work. Using and making media can facilitate a richer engagement by youth in the study of history, power and resistance, which then informs their frames, messages, productions, and outreach strategies.
❖ What is compelling or stands out?
❖ What is surprising?
❖ What needs to happen?
Discussion
Do you conduct political education?
2.
Political education about what?
2.
“It’s creating the space to have a lot of
time for storytelling to happen, so
lots of stuff can come out, like depth
and complexity…so people have
ownership over their stories.”
- youth focus group participant2.
Do you conduct media analysis?
2.
“We discuss the intended message and tactics
in a piece of media.”
“We "read" photos with students and break
down how photographs convey particular
meanings. We do not get deeper into ideology,
or investigate how the mainstream media
portrays communities of color, for example.
We would like to do more of that.”
2.
- survey participants
What does your media analysis look like?
How has media impacted youth engagement?
2.
“This particular year, media has become
one of our main strategies. The impact it
has is tremendous. We were able to
collaborate with Youth In Action to make a
video about racial profiling, and with
our networks, it was able to reach
national organizations. Newspapers
covered our issues more, blogs wrote about
our work, radio coverage. And our youth
feel more connected/owned the work. ”
2.
- survey participants
Best media practices in youth organizing today are cross-platform, participatory, in partnership & targeted
3.
3.
Media is now a core component--and need--of the current organizing landscape. Underscoring that effective organizing with media is as much about process as product, the qualities of a well-rounded media practice include a clear strategy to work across platforms, to engage youth in all aspects of media work, to utilize the capacity of media partners, and feature audience targets in line with campaign goals.
❖ What is compelling or stands out?
❖ What is surprising?
❖ What needs to happen?
Discussion
How does your organization use media?video
tumblr
radio
music
sms/txt
photography
twitterblog
youtube
org webdistribute/shareconsume/view/listenmake/produce/create
3.
Who leads your organization’s media work?
3.
Media has become one of our main
[organizing] strategies.
Newspapers covered our issues
more, blogs wrote about our
work, and we pushed for radio
coverage. We expanded our media
outlets and now youth feel more
connected to the work.
- youth focus group participant3.
3.
What media-related work are youth in your org doing?
Have you partnered on media work?
3.
[Partners are]“... a good way to share
resources, trainings, produce media
and create a broader distribution
network”.
- survey participant3.
3.
“Our young people in our organization
produced a video about what they have
done to address the condition of their
schools. The video was able to engage
students and parents throughout the
city to support our work. We were able to
change the minds of the Superintendent
from closing the only high school in our
community through interviewing
students who currently attend the
school as well alumni.”
- survey participant
3.
Who are your primary audiences?
3.
Where do you distribute your media?
Youth continue to face barriers - from structural obstacles to like access to training & equip, funding
4.
4.
Important challenges to using media range from intergenerational power dynamics to ongoing structural obstacles like access to training and equipment.
❖ What is compelling or stands out?
❖ What is surprising?
❖ What needs to happen?
Discussion
“The story that’s not being told is
that youth and kids are dealing with
the problems themselves already. ...we
have this idea that problems don’t get
dealt with unless the adults are
involved in the picture, even when
you’re young, humans are amazing…
there are a lot of strengths that we
bring to the table.”
- youth focus group participant4.
“One of the barriers that I think is
really big is just lack of programs or
places you can go and tell your story
and have people listen or just make
something from your story. At schools
they make it so penalized. Everything
is negative and there aren’t those
positive places to go. When they do
have those positive places to go, they
look for ways to take them away.”
- youth focus group participant4.
“One huge barrier that I see is youth
are demonized in the mass media. The
amount of bullshit that we feed kids
through mass media. It’s a constant
source of ‘this is how you’re suppose
to be’ and then we turn around and
say ‘look how messed up youth are’.
It’s just a cycle.”
- youth focus group participant4.
“It’s really hard to get people to try
to tell their stories because there
are so many stigmas attached to
being gay, being poor, being
homeless… there are so many
stigmas.”
- youth focus group participant4.
“we need more funding to hire paid
staff. It would be great to have a
dedicated media associate as part of
our organization, but at the moment,
our organization is so small, we’re
having interns handle most of our
media work.”
- adult focus group participant4.
“…[t]he thing that I’ve seen happen is
that a lot of the youth in programs
where we do make media start to gain
some basic skills, but there’s this
threshold that they don’t necessarily
feel compelled to push through…
because they need a job and they’re not
at a point yet where they can be
compensated for their work or there’s
not opportunities to be compensated
for their work.”
- adult focus group participant4.
4.
What barriers do youth organizers face?
4.
Where do you want to see growth in impact?
4.
What support do you need most to continue or to build your media work?
4.
Do you have paid communications staff?
4.
What training would you find most valuable? 5=highest rated
Recommendations
(Re-)Invest in youth organizing. Ensure long-term commitment to the impacts & power of youth challenging systemic inequalities.
❏ Fund youth organizing at high levels❏ Underwrite media strategy and production❏ Support paid positions for youth organizers as media
producers❏ Support youth-friendly media trainings & curriculum❏ Invest in partnership development❏ Support youth organizing media work that is cross-
platform, participatory, and action-oriented
R.
Be transformative by design. Media must be a well-integrated means by which youth -- in structured, purpose-driven contexts -- change the discourse and build solutions to systemic inequalities through their artistry, political knowledge, community-based social justice values.
❏ Make media and political education complementary strategies to build critical consciousness
❏ Amp up analysis: media access does not equal critical engagement
❏ Foster safe, peer-to-peer youth spaces for self-determination and leadership
❏ Forge intergenerational relationships❏ Build clear accountability structures that include youth❏ Ensure media-making is a core practice, not an add-on R.
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