Month: September 2008

Speaking, masterclass and consuting.

(USA) Delivered three sessions today in the City of Brotherly Love.

First up was a back to back speaking and mastclass session for the fantastic guys at Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage who pulled in a great crowd of their affiliated organisations in the city.

DK's presentation and 'master class' gave our constituents a lot of powerful, specific, cool, suggestions for reaching young audiences that they could implement immediately and at no cost.  His presentation about the media consumption habits of this audience was a real wake-up call, but everyone was very glad to get it.  Tremendous knowledge that got put to work right away.
Mike Barsanti, Senior Program Specialist at Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative

After lunch and to finish up was a roundtable consulting session with some of the team from Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance:

Your fresh approach and hands on 'you can do it' technique was a real eye opener for many. Coming out of your session with not just new ideas, but seeing those ideas laid out in actual practice made your session a highlight for us. We’ve already adopted several of the technologies you recommended and people love it.
John McInerney, Vice President of Marketing & Communications
Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance

I also sneaked in a cheeky visit to see Chris Lehman, Principal at the fantastic Science Leadership Academy—thanks to Chris and his students for being so welcoming.

Can you see it?

(UK/WORLD) Rightly so, there is much debate over the digital divide—in most of our gigs (be it training or speaking) it's raised as a discussion point over and over again.

It exists and is important. Droves of people (young and old) in every country lack the technology, infrastructure and/or access to be part of the social media movement (whether it be as a watcher or participant).

However, much of the discussion is usually around access/ownership of technology and/or the internet but not with the hidden digital divide which focusses on the lack of experience social media and technology creates by virtue of it being ever changing and progressive. Institutionally hard to remedy although easy to tackle one-on-one.

Then again, insitutions are just made up of individuals…

Related post: Mountains vs Waves

The hub for learning and virtual worlds podcast series.

(WORLD) The fourteenth RezEd podcast, produced by MediaSnackers with Global Kids.

Speaking with Scott Arpajian, one of the founders of Dizzywood and also Patti Purcell, the principal of Bel Air Elementary School who has been using the virtual platform in an educational setting.

0.00—0.24 intro
0.25—2.59 RezEd news from Amira and Rik at Global Kids (any news or events can be submitted here)
3.00—3.25 intros to Scott and Patti
3.26—4.29 explanation of Dizzywood
4.30—6.29 why Dizzywood exists
6.30—7.33 how Bel Air Elementary School got involved
7.34—9.46 what the school used the virtual platform for
9.47—12.22 lessons learned
12.23—13.21 educational gains
13.22—14.44 future use and developments
14.45—16.32 future for Dizzywood
16.33—16.39 thanks
16.40—18.28 Amira and Rik detailing the upcoming events for the RezEd community (any news or events can be submitted here)
18.29—18.37 outro

Subscribe directly through iTunes by clicking on this icon (download iTunes for free here).

Not using iTunes? Then just copy / paste this feed and drop it into your aggregating software.

Want to suggest someone or put your virtual hand-up to be interviewed? Then get in touch here.

Devour our other podcasts.

You can sometimes say a lot more.

(WORLD) It's a Monday. I bet you got a load of emails to answer, an intray piling up, periodicals to digest and lots and lots of stuff to do.

If you got a report to write, a paper to prepare, a plan to formulate, a policy or strategy to create—take a minute and ask yourself the following:

What would it look like if you couldn't use words?

A question we challenge most of our clients with when discussing social media purely because we know it can be done cheaper, quicker and sexier using online platforms and new technology.

Keynoting and masterclass.

(WORLD) I'm at Grainville Secondary School on the lovely island of Jersey getting ready to deliver the opening keynote for their E-Learning Conference.

The conference is being funded by the Education Sport and Culture Department and not only will I be doing a keynote but also two masterclass sessions illustrating many social media platforms and their uses.

DK was the first keynote speaker at our E-Learning Conference in September. He set the standard high having a rapid-fire, entertaining and thought-provoking style. His ideas and understanding of present day youth culture highlighted the challenges we face as teachers to engage and stimulate students in today's classrooms. As well as asking the questions, DK suggested ways in which innovative e-learning solutions can be developed. A fascinating presenter!
Sarah Johnson, Learning Coordinator, Department for Education, Sport & Culture, Jersey

MediaSnackers Speaking

The hub for learning and virtual worlds podcast series.

(WORLD) The fourteenth RezEd podcast, produced by MediaSnackers with Global Kids.

Sarah “Intellagirl” Robbins is a PhD Candidate at Ball State University and is also the editor of the Second Llife Education blog.

0.00—0.24 intro
0.25—2.10 (with special intro from delegates at the Second Life Education Community Conference) RezEd news from Amira and Rik at Global Kids (any news or events can be submitted here)
2.21—3.15 Sarah Robbins intro
3.16—5.21 history of educational practice in Second Life and virtual worlds
5.22—7.16 manifestation of community
7.17—9.20 SLED blog
9.21—8.00 how virtual platforms impacted on learning
11.00—13.54 potential
13.55—15.09 challenges of using virtual worlds
15.10—17.44 trends and shifts
17.45—15.50 future
19.12—19.21 thanks
19.22—21.04 (with special outro from delegates at the Second Life Education Community Conference) Amira and Rick detailing the upcoming events for the RezEd community (any news or events can be submitted here)
21.05—21.13 outro

Subscribe directly through iTunes by clicking on this icon (download iTunes for free here).

Not using iTunes? Then just copy / paste this feed and drop it into your aggregating software.

Want to suggest someone or put your virtual hand-up to be interviewed? Then get in touch here.

Devour our other podcasts.

Keeping track of the growing MediaSnackers Meme.

(WORLD) We probably weren't the first to apply the 'snacking' metaphor to media, although there seems to be a growing adoption in terms of describing the new youth-media landscape—we thought it would be good to keep an eye on the growing MediaSnacking meme:

Producers of televised drama know it too and they have decided that the days of hour-long “appointment” TV, where you sit on your couch and do nothing but watch your chosen show, are limited. Hence the rise of “snack drama—shows broken up into episodes of under four minutes intended to be viewed online or on your mobile phone.
How digital life is shaping media production and distribution.

I've already seen fresh phrasing pop up to accommodate this new tool: “micro photoblogging,” “photo rivers,” and “picture streams.” Anyway, it's part of what folks are calling Media Snacking, meaning you can share and consume 'byte-size' portions of information, such as Twitter or Twitxr, without all the time investment. Nom, nom, nom … YUM.
You can now snack on photos.

I guess this sounds selfish but when you surround yourself with creative minds, absorbing their media all day, everyday, be it blogs, podcasts or videos, you sometimes just want a mini media snack, not a full blown mind meal.
A less-is-more apporach to online media consumption.

What truly is a byte sized media snack?
Good question.

Duncan Wardle, VP of Global PR for Disney Parks, discusses the concept of “media snacking” and how it plays a role in the larger social media space with Christine Deerin, Divisional VP, West Coast for D S Simon Productions. Recorded at the Ebay & Ragan Communications Social Media Revolution Conference.
LINK

View all ‘MediaSnackers Meme’ posts

New creative consulting gig.

(WORLD) Matt, Bobbie and I are up in Liverpool visiting the Everyman and Playhouse theatre and arts venue to begin an exciting two month piece of work to explore the use of social media in Proper Clever, a new production for their youth audience.

Here's the production blurb:

Claire and her gang are proper clever… and they know it. They're friends… .and they're sure of it. They're watching from the sidelines… and they have a plan. Then Bex, stumbles into their virtual world. Sad and desperate she's the perfect test for their experiment, one that will bring down the most popular girl in school.

Frank Cottrell-Boyce writer of 24 Hour Party People, Millions and Cosmic brings us a multimedia story for the myspace generation about clever versus smart and how to satisfy the hunger for knowledge when everyone's eating burger and chips.

The production has a a run of three weeks (3 October—25 October) and we've already have some tasty ideas although today we're meeting with all the team making it happen from the set designers, cast, marketing team, outreach/community workers plus the Director and Writer to ensure we understand all aspects of the said production.

We'll keep you up to date with project over the coming weeks.

View the ‘Proper Clever’ project page

MediaSnackers Consulting