Verde Smoke

Got a chance to take over the mic for a few minutes at RYMAEC’s Web 2.0 open mic event for educators at ICA Boston…here’s some of the examples/links I cited:

Use of private Ning networks to have students collaboratively tell stories and document group projects:

Case in Bangalore, India, doing digital puppetry with slum youth:
http://kathegalakhanaja.ning.com

or see the case in my thesis:

http://verdesmoke.com/blog/thesis-defense-participatory-media-and-collab…

As I sat in a meeting today at the Community Innovators Lab, where I volunteered to help with brainstorm low-cost ways to create interesting content for their Co-Lab Radio blog, I realized I’ve been a bad participatory media advocate.  Because I haven’t blogged myself forever.  I blame Twitter and Facebook, where I spew updates to a very select audience of friends who I assume want to hear 140 characters of what I’m thinking.

In an effort not to be productive and not whine about the job search today, I created this one-page portfolio of my recent media work and tweaked my LinkedIn public page. What do you think?

For Technology 2.0: Yes, We Can! event, co-sponsored by Boston Neighborhood Network, Northeastern’s John D. O’Bryant African-American Institute, and the Organizers Collaborative on Saturday, Sept 12, 2009.

Here is the final version of my master thesis submitted on August 11, 2009.

Full Document (2.5 MB, PDF)

Chapter Pullouts:

As you might have heard, I’ve finally finished my graduate school work at MIT and am officially a Master in City Planning. In the next month, I’ll be finishing up some research and documentation for MIT@Lawrence’s reflective practice M@L Story Project and Lawrence Community Work’s Union Crossing’s StoryMill collaborative history project, packaging up my thesis content in some more digestible forms, and diving into the job search with full force.

Here’s how I described my job interests in an email today: I want to do research, curriculum development, training, and/or project management for multiple local sites, ideally some domestic and some international, focused on either youth or adults, but somehow always tying in the user-created multimedia aspect. Ideally, I’d like to continue focusing on on how non-profits can best utilize media and technology tools for local organizing and knowledge generation. Feel free to distribute my resume to all and many.

I’ll also be working on revamping this site, converting it over to Wordpress, and updating my portfolio with more embedded media. So be forgiving in this overall time of renovation.

Here’s few of the photos I took as a volunteer mentor on a day field trip around Boston with three Peace in Focus youth participants and photographer and workshop supporter, Thaddeus Miles. This community mapping outing was part of a two-week workshop on using photography as a tool for conflict resolution and youth voice, held at Madison Park Village housing development in Roxbury and Northeastern University. Check out the youth’s photo’s on a map on Flickr or the group’s blog at http://peaceinfocus.blogspot.com/

The advantages of participation, collaboration, and iteration shape the functionality of media tools like blogs, social networks, and user-created media sharing sites. At first glance, these tools should easily align with the stated values of many community and youth development organizations perched on edge of the digital divide in both the U.S. and abroad. The most critical growing disparity, thus, is not only access to these tools but also their integration into local programs that aim to empower individuals and build collective power.

(Give it a sec to download all the fun media files before you begin by clicking the arrows. OR view it full screen on http://prezi.com).

Also, download the handout/outline.

All the love to my lil’ brother and my beautiful new sister in law!

More on Flickr.