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Initiative gives youths insight on digital media
March 25, 2011
Two weeks ago at New Start High School in Highline, a student discovered that she can be a photographer. Since January, Brianna has been attending the photography workshops that the Common Language Project offers through the Seattle Digital Literacy Initiative. Each Friday, CLP staff members Sarah Stuteville and Alex Stonehill visit Brianna’s school with lessons on how to produce still photography, among other digital media sessions.
“She really latched onto it,” said Stuteville. “Alex and I spent some time with her talking about her photos and how great they are and what she might try, and ever since she’s been at every session.” Brianna is set to graduate, and with her talent for photography Stuteville told Brianna that she would be a great fit for a photography program at a local community college, like South Seattle. “She just lit up. She said, ‘Really? I would like to find out about that,’” said Stuteville.
The Seattle Digital Literacy Initiative is reaching other students, just like Brianna, and giving them insight into the realm of new media and information, with hands-on practice. The Initiative is a co-project of the CLP and the Department of Communication in its pilot year. Every week, the CLP team visits high school students from more than 12 schools in the Seattle area.
Stuteville and Stonehill, along with Jessica Partnow, Chantal Anderson, and two YMCA instructors rotate in teams of two in their visits to area high schools.
“Youth are at the forefront of the shifting in the landscape and new media is helping kids engage in international issues,” said Stuteville. The courses they teach address digital media and news literacy in a way that high school students can easily grasp, and oftentimes they fit in with the curriculum the students are already learning at school, “especially with the media concepts visits,” she said. “With high school students, when they’re talking about media, it’s something they all have an opinion about, and they’re already engaged. Those visits fit well with a lot of different classes, like social studies, politics, current events, and history.”
“Information Neighborhoods” is one of the most popular workshops among students, in which they learn to navigate the web and interpret various messages one can come across on the Internet. “We talk about the different information neighborhoods you can find yourself in, from entertainment to propaganda, to journalism and advertising,” said Stuteville. “The young people we work with are really excited by media, saturated in it, but haven’t been given the skills to talk about it, and I think they’re as overwhelmed as anybody else.” In this class, the CLP team shows examples, and leads conversation on what can and can’t be trusted on the Internet, and why.
Another workshop that stands out for students is Interviewing 101. In this course, students learn how to conduct an interview properly, using journalistic skills to empower oneself. Stuteville says she starts the session as an interviewee, giving the students free rein to ask any questions of her, which can sometimes be a bit awkward. “They ask me how much I get paid, or if my husband ever got mad at me because of my travelling,” she said, “but I have to answer them because the point of it is that you have a right to ask people anything if you’re acting as a journalist – it’s your job.” Students also learn the definitions of good information, what journalism is, and who can be considered a journalist.
Over time, the CLP team hopes to broaden the content of their workshops. With technology evolving constantly, there are no boundaries to what they could come up with. Workshops that may be included in future school visits include, “Social Media for Social Change,” “Your Rights as a Student Publication,” “Ownership of Media,” and “Learning How to Do Deep Research.” But getting the right people together to teach these courses is half the battle.
“My next big challenge is getting more people involved so we really can talk about this incredibly challenging but also exciting task in a comprehensive way, with lots of voices and points of view represented,” said Stuteville. With more media professionals on board, more school teachers will see the advantages of bringing the Seattle Digital Literacy Initiative into their classrooms.
But classroom visits and after-school workshops are just one part of the 3-piece Initiative. Teacher training is the second piece of the puzzle. On March 23, the CLP, in partnership with the World Affairs Council, hosted, “Global Classroom: Protest and Participation in the Middle East Exploring News Media Stereotypes and Bias,” where teachers gathered to discuss how young people are navigating a digitally connected world, and the media landscape their students are inheriting. More teacher training events are in the works.
The Summer Digital Literacy Institute serves as the final piece of the Initiative that will bring together high school students for a summer camp. The week of June 27, the Department of Communication and the CLP will host 30 students and at least six instructors, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in a weeklong camp with emphasis on media production. Students will learn how to use equipment, interview professionals in the field, and go on local field trips to collect sound and material, all leading up to the composition of a final project.
So far, the pilot year for the Seattle Digital Literacy Initiative has been successful, but a much more detailed job than any of the CLP team members could have imagined. “The business of teaching youth how to be smart, savvy and confident media consumers and producers is a really big job,” said Stuteville. It’s also been quite the learning experience.
“It’s got me thinking a lot about representations of youth in media, and how what we show as an example doesn’t necessarily focus on youth, kids of color, or underserved youth. It got me thinking about how rare these representations are in media, and how we can find and incorporate them into what we are talking about,” said Stuteville.
She’s also learned that there are still people in Seattle who don’t have regular access to computers and the Internet. “There’s a lot of disparity in the city as far as what kind of access kids have to this kind of education, equipment, and technology. I didn’t really understand that until we got started on this.”
As the Seattle Digital Literacy Initiative develops, the CLP team will continue to meet and engage with high school students along their journeys of becoming well-educated media consumers and producers. Whether they’re learning what it takes to become a journalist, or if they’re like Brianna and just need some encouragement to realize their dreams, Stuteville said, “These days, understanding media is definitely a first step toward understanding how the world works.”
