Teen Workshop: MDGs Media Mashup

29 November, 1:15-2:45pm EST (location: Ex Press Bar, 3rd Floor)

We held a workshop for teens, geared toward raising awareness of the Millennium Development Goals via fun activities like creating a 30-second TV spot, storyboarding an online game, and making a skit or a song.

Facilitated by Luma Alsaleh, Marlon Barrios-Solano, Sandra Behar, Paul Cochran, Tina Gongsakdi, Debra Cole, Hugo Berkeley, Josephine Dorado, Medard Gabel, Idrissa Mamane Rabiou, Ben Robison, Bhaskar Sahrawat, Robert David Steele (Vivas), Naveena Swamy.

Those who participated in the workshop are invited to continue discussions by posting comments and links to the workshop results page.

The workshop was divided into the following activities:

Activity 1:
Tolerance and Media
Show pictures of men and women in printed ads, and let the student themselves explain how these pictures might promote hatred, stereotypes, , tolerance, equality/inequality of individuals.
Facilitated by Idrissa Mamane Rabiou and Bhaskar Sahrawat.
Key lesson/value: Tolerance and Media.

Activity 2:
News Reporting
As consumers and potential producers of news, how do we approach international news with a critical eye? What makes us good readers of news? How can we inform ourselves of bias in the news media? Where can we search for alternative news sources? What constitutes ‘fair and balanced’ reporting? What can we do to improve the quality of news we receive?
Compare what was reported on Darfur and what really happened.
Facilitated by Hugo Berkeley (Film/TV Producer, A Normal Life), Paul Cochran (Journalist, Lebanon), and Debra Cole (Attorney).
Key Lesson: Freedom and Media
Here are the materials from this workshop:
Crisis and Conscience: News Media for a Developing World

Activity 3:
Violence and Media
Ask students to list number of shows and ask them to categorize them in which they feel which ones promote violence and which don't. Compare the results of the students to the results that have been published by the Parents TV Council.
Facilitated by Luma Alsaleh and Sandra Behar.
Key Lesson: Violence and Media

Activity 4
Music and Media
Participants will brainstorm to develop one of the following projects or a project of their own, tying music to MDGs:
1. An international network of young musicians that use music to bridge cultural divides, to educate and empower other artists, to bond our culture to a sense of universal responsibility and to raise money or support for important causes.
2. A website/partnership that allows participants worldwide to create, mix and
remix an evolving song that expresses solidarity and universal responsibility.
Facilitated by composer/programmer/violinist/media artist, Ben Robison. Ben co-founded Musicians Alliance for Peace, which holds an annual global network of concerts for peace called the Music for Peace project.
Key Lesson: MDG awareness
To continue discussions started during the workshop, check out the MDG Music for Peace Project wiki.

Activity 5
Movement & Media: Media_Movement_Score
Using improvisational movement games, students will explore and experience the power of collective intelligence and the emergent creative potential of collaborative processes and its relation with group and creativity. A Connected body awareness is the ground for a new understanding of information and communication technologies and any development goals.
Facilitated by Marlon Barrios-Solano. Marlon is a programmer, choreographer, dancer, video artist and teacher and works primarily in interactive art and performance.
Key Lesson: MDG awareness

Activity 6
Game Creation for MDGs
Ask students to come up with a concept and storyboard for a game that will raise awareness of one or all of the MDGs.
Facilitated by Tina Gongsakdi, Video Hub Producer; Medard Gabel, game designer for Design Science Lab; Robert David Steele (Vivas), founder and CEO of oss.net; and Naveena Swamy, game designer/co-founder RoboTech Center®.
Key Lesson: MDG awareness

Those who participated in the workshop are invited to continue discussions by posting comments and links to the workshop results page.