Reactor Conference May 2012

by Helen Goss

I was very keen to be involved in this conference as I have an active interest in how young people use new technologies to communicate and interact with their communities. I saw this as a chance to observe first hand how young people in Europe are working with other young people, helping them to tackle the issues that are a part of their lives. I also wanted to contribute, wherever possible, a UK perspective and help when any collating of information was needed.

I saw my role in this week of activities as a motivator and presenter of information regarding current research and project work within the field of Social Media and Youth work in the UK. I wanted to inspire and provoke thinking around how and why the participants used these technologies in their everyday work with the young people in their organisations.

My presentation at the beginning of the conference was an overview of the evolution of these new technologies, focusing on how a young person is now able to become the creator of their ‘services’ instead of just a consumer. I hope that I highlighted the necessity as a youth worker, to be aware of this, in order to support young people in developing within this ‘bubble’ of new media. I used my experience of growing up in line with the evolution of this revolutionary technological age as a way into thinking about how young people engage with the technology around them.  My role though out the rest of the conference was to assist in gathering the information that came from the investigations carried out by participants so that they could be presented online in a useful way.

At the time of the conference in the UK there was a study being carried out by the Nominet Trust, to investigate ‘How digital technologies can support young people to engage socially and economically with their communities’, now called ‘the Digital Edge’ (http://www.nominettrust.org.uk/knowledge-centre/articles/digital-edge-using-technology-to-support-young-people) which came up with ten messages for exploring digital innovation with young people. The paper resulting from this study is called ‘The Digital Edge, Using digital technology to support young people’ and can be found here (http://www.nominettrust.org.uk/sites/default/files/The%20Digital%20Edge.pdf) It is a provocation paper written for the Nominet Trust by Tim Davies, David Wilcox and Alex Farrow. The technologies suggested for use in this paper are ambitious but the thinking behind the engagement of young people using technologies they come across in their everyday life can be used as poignant starting points. I think with a bit of work, it would be possible to include a simplified and accessible version to the users of Vivo in the context of Youth Work within Europe.

Which brings me on to the issue of working with disadvantage groups, a subject which, the conference sort to address. There were many examples of great films produced by young people, for young people communicating the issues of their communities, this medium is very powerful and accessible. Many projects were already present online making them available for others to use and learn from. There were some thought provoking presentations by the team which, demonstrated how to listen to and engage with disadvantaged and disenfranchised young people in a way that empowered them into action or inspired youth workers to ‘pay attention’.

The conference presented the triangle of social media, youth work and human rights as a way to focus on how European youth work and young peoples issues can be communicated through the use of social and audio-visual media.

I observed many innovative and talented approaches for getting young peoples messages across. The conference helped me to understand what ways social media could assist meaningfully in the communication of these methodologies so that others could benefit from the great work already achieved.

I was very pleased to have been invited and given the opportunity to work with this experienced team, they made me feel very welcome. I loved the easygoing nature surrounding the whole conference, this attitude helped the participants relax and learn in a fertile environment where many things were able to grow! The balance of informal and structured sessions along with the opportunity for participants to attend and deliver workshops was just right. I must mention the Sweded workshop, which was my favorite and will be used in my practice in future. I was also very grateful for the opportunity to mix with the participants in the ‘social’ moments as I learned much about the way people are working with new media in many parts of Europe.

Thank you again for your fabulousness!

Helen Goss –   wayout media

more about WAYOUT MEDIA here: http://wayoutmedia.com/

The Video Volunteers project has been funded with support from the European Commission [Education and Culture DG, Youth in Action Programme] and the Council of Europe [European Youth Foundation – Category B]. The publication (communication) itself reflects only the views of the authors, and neither the Commission nor the Council of Europe may be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

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VIDEO VOLUNTEERS might be coming to an end! But always remember!

Everyday is a good day to make a video!

From the ViVo group of Spazio Giovanni, Italy, a video reminder of how you can spread your message across by creating a video in 4 steps!
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Focus Group videos from Greece, Slovakia, Italy, Hungary & Spain are here:

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The Video Volunteers project has been funded with support from the European Commission [Education and Culture DG, Youth in Action Programme] and the Council of Europe [European Youth Foundation – Category B]. The publication (communication) itself reflects only the views of the authors, and neither the Commission nor the Council of Europe may be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

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The team of Video Volunteers just concluded a trio of educational videos!

The 5 basic elements of Storytelling

is a video production presenting how you can develop your storytelling when you create videos! Find out about it in mute, black & white and a funny story!

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How to make good Facebook photos

is a video production about the 3 basic composition rules when taking a photo! Sofia, the hilarious protagonists, learns from making mistakes!

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Feedback: why is it important?

is a video production about the method of Feedback and how to use it. Gyula is having trouble making his video and Sofia is messing around with her feedback. Watch what happens here:

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The Video Volunteers project has been funded with support from the European Commission [Education and Culture DG, Youth in Action Programme] and the Council of Europe [European Youth Foundation – Category B]. The publication (communication) itself reflects only the views of the authors, and neither the Commission nor the Council of Europe may be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

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The REactor Conference & Workshops on media with disadvantaged groups was held in Budapest this May with huge success. We would like to thank the team of lecturers and all the participants who brought their knowledge and experience and shared it during the conference!

To get a  glimpse, check the NEW! Video Report on the REactor Conference here:

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The introduction was followed with some questions by Peter Dral regarding to the days of the conference:

• Which memories will we preserve?
• What did we learn throughout the conference?
• What was the best thing in the conference for us?

He also offered us that we can contact the organisers (Andrew, Helen, Kriszta, Ludo, Peter, Sofia) anytime for advices, help and support.

In the next round we had to discuss in small groups the ways on how we can make the connection stronger between media and young people by sharing our experience with them. The task could be imagined in the following way: 6 tables, 30 chair, 2 hours, brainstorming, changes, different groups, understanding, arguing, new ideas, discussions, innovation, solution finding/problem solving.

After lunch there was an opportunity to process thoroughly and present a chosen topic to the audience. There were presentations in 4 different topics – „Founding and fundraising”  by Kirill Babichenko, „Combining non-formail and formal education with media” by Wirginia Loboda, „How to reach young people” by Ester Lomova and „How to negotiate with potential funding partners” – by Vedran Senjanovic.

The organisers invited a guest: György Lissaner, who works for Open Society Institute. He introduced the organisation and the Youth Initative program in a few words.

In the evening we got a great assignment. Kriszta Zsiday divided the participants into 4 small teams. The task was to tell the days of the conference and the experience:

• 1st group: in a form of a poem
• 2nd group: in a form of a theatrical play
• 3rd group: in a form of a visual piece of art
• 4th group: in a form of a surprise

Before dinner the groups had to present their results which were super!

The dinner was followed by the official closing and celebration. As everyone may think, there was a closing party as well!

I thank the trainers for the super programs and the willing participants for their great workshops.

 REactor – „I liked you in that way”

by Em Muri

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Today was the best day ever. We went to outdoor activites, which was not in the EYCB building. Firstly, we went to the 8th district to a place called Megálló group, where ex drug users and alcohol addicts have their rehabilitations and theraphy. They have several programs to choose from, e.g photography session, theathre threapy,yoga, dance and the “Zörgökör” where they can play music, and express themselves in numerous ways. Fortunatelly, we could visit their photoclub, run by a famous photo artist named Minyó Szert Károly. They have photography sessions twice a week. What is important to know is that this group is really open-minded and everyone is very welcomed to join their programmes.

If you wanna know more, check out their website! http://stopgroup.hu/

After this, we came back to have lunch, and went to Csillebérc up the hill, for an ex-camp, where now we can find a school for students with special needs. This school’s methodology is based on waldorf method, which is quite interesting. The educational system there is running in a significant way, and student orientated. We could watch some movies of the student such as “Téli s-por-t”, “Requiem for a city”, and “The Soldier”. All of them were really good and visually nice. The teacher was also open to media discussions.

Way back home we were all invited for a drink at a nearby place by the team, which was really kind of them. To sum up, it was a really good day, that we all learned something new.

by Em Muri

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Listening to Peter Dral’s 90 minutes long lecture, I realized that learning about human rights is not what you can read from the books or listen from presentations or seminars. He shared his experience and what he did with his team. They set up a medieval setting in a village in the middle of nowhere and invited youth to play roles and experience what is human rights, inequality and discrimination. The whole thing was based on learning by doing methodology, that we all now somehow do during the Vivo trainings.

The next presentation was an irregular presentation by Ludo Keizer called Update and Upgrade- New Media and Youth work, where we got to know that we all need to be prepared for the  changes and keep up with the development of social media. We watched several movies such as “It gets better, I promise”, in which a young boy was promising he is fine and everything is going to be alright, but after filming himself and put it online he committed suicide. The next was the Internet Story, which was based on a true story in 2005. After watching them we could have time to sit around and discuss our feelings, share emotions in connection what we saw or experienced.

Ludo’s presentation was through Pinterest, follow him here:

http://pinterest.com/ludokeizer

 Today we could choose from numerous workshops like the day before.  I participated on Matej Manevski’s presentation. We could get information about his organization, which organizes Street Festivals, and we played music quiz introducing the importance  of music in film-making. The others could choose  from  Ruben Fernandez Vela’s presentation about  ’Human Rigths  & Network and Digital Environment’,  ’Disadvantaged Youth in Georgia’ by Maka Zautashvili, ’Visual Volunteering’ by Astron Mahmutaj and we could got to know more about the ’Greek case on Human Rights’ by Panagiotis Mamouzakis and Foivi Vlasou-Dimopoulou.

The daily closing workshops were also interesting ; ’The Twitting REality’ by Natalia Skoczylas, ’ Lets shoot our sweeded movie” in 120 minutes By Brieuc Guffens, where we „remake” Harry Potter and Carla Posada’s and Salomé Morales  Martinez ’s  topic was ’ Social Communication: Audiovisual Project” !

Here is the finished Harry Potter sweded movie:

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For me the highlight of the day was the late afternoon workshop, where Adam Hanulijak showed us his one minute long short films. We talked about what needs to be done to build up a one minute long feature film and what are the key things to remember when creating the footage. I was happy to be there, it would have been a real shame if I would have missed it. I congratulate Adam in this channel as well for his works!

by Em Muri

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After the screening we have been divided into two groups and had to work on one question by group. Team A had the task of finding the reasons “why the main character takes a picture of the little girl?”. Team B’s responsibility was the opposite – “Why she should NOT take a picture of the little girl?”. We started to collect arguments and counter-arguments, then we selected a representative person from each group who participated in a formal debate. Its result was almost equally balanced.

In the next block Andrew Hannes leaded a small course about 3 videos. During the session, we discussed the area of human rights. He also gave us some experimental assignments: split into 3 groups and find a movie which builds around the topic of human rights. We did research, accomplished success, and we discussed the results. After lunch, Sofia’s game begun: the World Café, where we had to find answers to increasingly difficult questions in constantly changing groups.

Between 16:30 and 18:30 the participants could optionally join workshops. I went with Szabina to the online radio workshop which was moderated by Milos Ristovski. The other possibilites were: “Identity, media & LGBTQ” by Marina Milosevic, “Film festival production phases” by Vedran Senjanovic, “Invisible handshake” by Kirill Babichenko, “Media and Human Rights – Independence, Objectification, Intl.Conflicts” by Wirginia Loboda.

At the end of the day we gave feedback to the assignments and presentations and shared the experience on how we experienced the day. That was followed by dinner and free time activities. We tried to go outside and have some sightseeing, taking pictures and have a coffee somewhere.

 by Em Muri

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The morning started with some administration. After everyone was done, the official opening of the REactor conference begun at 9:30. Kriszta Zsiday opened the event where she presented the Video Volunteers project and the main events of the upcoming days.

After the opening Andrew Hannes gave us some information about an exhibition which will be held just outside the big conference room. This exhibition is providing the opportunity for everyone to share their work with the rest of the group throughout the duration of the whole conference. The exhibited objects could be photos, videos, flyers/books/videos/badges of volunteer organisations, etc. The exhibition was opened after a one hour break. Everyone who was willing to share and contribute said a few words about themselves and the organisation/values they are representing.

After lunch, there was an interesting session with Helen Goss about consumers and creators in which she helped us to find out what youngsters want to communicate using multimedia and new forms of media by showing its challenges and facts obtained by research. Some information was shared regarding the major reactions of the young people and the ways to evolve individually by personal development.

60 words from Helen Goss session

Here is Helen’s Powerpoint Presentation to download for your notes. The following is an overview of what was in the presentation.

An analysis of ‘what is a consumer & what is a creator in this new media age’
Current opinions about the state of play in opinions of Yong People and Media/New media
Looking at engagement through a history of technology
Thinking about how we use technology today to communicate our message
What it is to be a digital native?
Are Young people interested in ‘Creating ‘ or ‘Consuming’? and techniques I employ to find out
The current push in the UK to encourage Young People become creators of their own technology
What this means to you personally
Suggestions of challenges/good practice to start a group list investigating what is needed to help Young People engage in creating, using new technologies
What I want to get from this week and how the participants can get involved

The rest of the day, paralell workshops were offered and whoever was interested could join. Sofia introduced media analysis, Andrew presented the topic of audiovisual media, and last but not least Peter talked about social messages.

The closing event of the day was a screening of freely chosen short films and videos. We watched films with all kinds of themes, for example documentary films, promo films and home-made videos. I think the participants who watched the films haven’t experienced any disappointment.

Thank you all for the experience!

20.05.2012

by Em Muri

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