Η νέα χρονιά είναι εδώ και το Global Soma ξεκινάει δυναμικά με νέα προγράμματα και σεμινάρια! θα θέλαμε να σας προσκαλέσουμε στο  Σεμινάριο που θα πραγματοποιηθεί στις 15-16 Ιανουαρίου με θέμα την αυτοέκφραση μέσω της κίνησης και του χορού.

”Υπάρχει συνεχώς χορός μέσα σου, στις σχέσεις σου στην καθημερινή σου ζωή”

Σε προσκαλούμε να παίξεις, να πειραματιστείς με το σώμα σου, τις κινήσεις σου. Το σεμινάριο είναι χώρος παιχνιδιού όπου κάποιος μπορεί να αναζητήσει, να ερευνήσει θέματα σε ασφαλή και καθοδηγούμενη ατμόσφαιρα. Με αυτή την προσέγγιση, κίνηση και χορός δεν σημαίνουν χορογραφία, παραδοσιακές έννοιες του «ωραίου» και της «παράστασης» δεν υπάρχουν.

Η βασική ιδέα προέρχεται από τα αρχαία χρόνια, πώς η στάση του σώματος καθρεφτίζει δυνάμεις, εμπειρίες και συναισθήματα του ανθρώπου. Όπως επίσης μαρτυρά ιστορίες για το πώς κάποιος ζει τη ζωή του και πώς συνδέεται με άλλους.

Όλα όσα συμβαίνουν μέσα μας επηρεάζουν το σώμα μας και ότι επηρεάζει το σώμα μας επηρεάζει και την ψυχή μας. Για παράδειγμα κράμπες, σταμάτημα της αναπνοής, ο περιορισμός στις κινήσεις μπορεί να είναι ένα παιχνίδι της αλληλεπίδρασης σώματος και ψυχής.

Αυτή η προσέγγιση προσανατολισμένη στη διαδικασία φέρνει δημιουργικότητα, αυθορμητισμό στη ζωή. Οι περίπλοκες αλληλεπιδράσεις του ανθρώπου με τον περίγυρο μπορούν να εξεταστούν σε μια συγκεκριμένη κατάσταση. Οι αυθεντικές κινήσεις, φαντασίες, σύμβολα, προσωπικοί μύθοι είναι ευπρόσδεκτοι και παρόντες να χτίσουν ένα ολοκληρωμένο ανθρώπινο σώμα.

Τι θα αποκομίσεις?

• Να συνειδητοποιήσεις καλύτερα το σώμα σου
• Να αποδεχτείς το σώμα σου
• Να δημιουργήσεις χώρο για αυθορμητισμό
• Να εξερευνείς τον κόσμο με τρόπους παρόμοιους με αυτούς που χρησιμοποιούσες όταν ήσουν παιδί
• Να εκφράσεις πράγματα χωρίς να ασκείς κριτική
• Να απολαύσεις και να εξασκήσεις τον αυτοσχεδιασμό
• Να ενωθείς με τον εαυτό σου και με το περιβάλλον σου ταυτόχρονα

vimeo

Σκοπός του σεμιναρίου είναι να βοηθήσει να αυξήσεις την αυτογνωσία σου και την ικανότητα να εκφράζεις πράγματα μέσω της κίνησης και του χορού.

Έχω επισυνάψει όλες τις διαθέσιμες πληροφορίες σ’ αυτό το email.
Υπάρχουν 20 διαθέσιμες θέσεις!

Is creative media literacy overrated?

by MIKI AMBROZY

In the past decade the mantra of educational policy has been to stick a single word to the evolving terms of computing science. Ever heard of digital literacy, web literacy, media literacy, visual literacy, information literacy?

Welcome to the era of new literacy.

With the unemployment figures of Europe’s youth looking a little bleak, there’s much debate going on about how to match up the content delivered by education to emerging new jobs. The turning point in the technological development has been the dramatic rise of social networking, turning users into creators of content.

Out story is centered around the birth of new media and new forms of social activity on Youtube, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Delicious and their dozens of thousands of smaller or more localized brothers and sisters. These networking sites and tools have been rapidly growing in unique visits, registered users, traffic and, consequently, value.

Yet, I can’t help seeing the digital revolution as hype.

Here are five reasons why.

#1    The ‘user-who-generates-content’ is still in minority

My hunch is that creative media literacy is still the benefit of the few, even if the circle is gradually widening. To join the hype, you need to be equipped with the necessary basics of general literacy, speak English or another major world language, have a solid Internet connection, a reasonably reliable desktop PC, and afford to maintain your computer system over time.

What’s more, in order to join the game on the video and mobile applications side, knowledge of downloading cracked software, hacker friends and a digital video camera manufactured after the era of Hi8 video tapes (late 90s) are a must.

Let me rephrase this one: the above two are the technological and social pre-requisites of creative media literacy and user-generated content.

#2    The majority is still digitally half-literate

As a youth worker, I have been cooperating for over a year with young people from the deaf community of Thessaloniki, Greece. My organisation’s young deaf volunteers define themselves as a cultural minority group. They are proud of their sign language and won’t really hear of cochlear implants (“bionic ear”) for deaf children. They come from one of Europe’s most criticized and patchy educational systems, where middle class children attend private afternoon schools to make it to university. As a minority group, widely regarded by the majority as physically disabled, deaf young people’s educational paths have been at best the typical ones.

So how about their media literacy and the new hype?

On the one hand, they use some functions of Facebook. The more advanced use includes the use of google translator to chat with friends abroad, and to post information about events in the community.

On the other hand, video-sharing sites were largely unknown to them until recently, when their first upload appeared on Facebook. This is quite surprising, given the fact that sign language and the experience of deaf communication is highly visual. Similar gaps in actual media literacy have been observed in the UK among working class children.*

Apparently, the above listed pre-requisites of creative media literacy have been missing from their computer (or any other) classes. The result: no hype.

#3    Non-formal learning of digital stuff is effective, yet marginal

I’m a firm supporter of the empowerment of marginalized social groups through media and digital literacy. I believe that participants’ control over content is crucial for a successful learning outcome, or for a truthful account of reality in journalism, for that matter. One of the domains where gaps of new literacies can be most effectively patched up is informal, extra-curricular learning.

I find that using video in team-building, as a tool for self-expression or during an outdoor adventure game can be more effective than a lesson in aspect-ratio, picture composition and video file formats. It’s an excellent starting point for career orientation as well.

This recognition doesn’t need a genius. The European Union’s social and educational policies are allocating millions of euros for developing the digital and media literacy of young people in Europe in the framework of non-formal learning programmes.

The number of school hours spent on new media literacy in Europe is, to my knowledge, marginal. Non-formal learning programmes can’t make up for that. We are left with hacker friends, appalling phenomena such as chatroulette and hype, without the necessary skills to make sense of it all.

#4    So, you’re a digital native. What can you create?

I completely agree with Sonia Livingstone:* it’s doubtful how digitally literate youth actually is. If I take a look at the videos that young people bring back from exercises in youth exchanges, seminars and workshops, there’s no need to celebrate.

The development of new media technology is quick, commercially driven. The activity and practices of new media users are heavily determined by access to money and time.

A person’s creative media literacy will largely depend on his or her educational pathway, cultural practices, and the family’s socio-economic resources. I can’t help remembering the director of a private school in Greece, who still today has the secretary manage her e-mail and Facebook accounts, printing out emails. I wonder if she gets a summary of the status updates of her friends at the end of the day – in print.

Before raving about the democratic opportunities of the Internet, e-learning, e-citizenship and video blogging, let’s not forget the generations of parents who have little clue how to navigate the digital landscape, or the fact that the digital cosmos needs continuous learning and practice.

#5    Much of user-generated content is fun only for anthropologists

To us, educators, the ultimate question remains: how to exploit the presence of digital media in the life-world of youth in a meaningful way? How to bring a little depth into the skateboarding dog and the subtitled cat video on youtube?

I think being curious is a fantastic human value. Taking risks in life is a basic survival instinct. If we just let young people explore and take control of their own digital learning environment, the results are more connected to their life, more sincere.

There exists an element of personal growth in the creation of all media. The transformation of digital illiterates to new literates is a glorious journey, definitely worth documenting for the digital annals of human history.

* I refer to and highly recommend Sonia Livingstone’s body of research and publications on media literacy, especially Engaging with media – a matter of literacy? Communication, culture & critique, 1 (1), 2008 and Youthful participation: what have we learned, what shall we ask next? In: First Annual Digital Media and Learning Conference: Diversifying Participation, 2010

SuperVision

In English

Αυτήν την εβδομάδα ολοκληρώθηκε ένας μοναδικός διαγωνισμός. Ο διαγωνισμός οπτικοακουστικού υλικού για νέους Supervision, ήταν ανοιχτός στο διαδίκτυο εδώ και 6 μήνες, και συγκέντρωσε περισσότερες από 200 συμμετοχές από νέους από όλη την Ευρώπη.

Διαγωνισμός βέβαια, ήταν μόνο κατ’όνομα. Η ομάδα στόχος ήταν ερασιτέχνες νέοι καλλιτέχνες (δηλαδή πρακτικά όλοι) ηλικίας 15έως 30 ετών. Για την υποβολή φωτογραφιών και γραφιστικών έργων χρησιμοποιήσαμε το δημοφιλέστερο ιστότοπο κοινωνικής δικτύωσης, το Facebook, ενώ για την υποβολή video το Vimeo. Δεν υποσχεθήκαμε τα συνηθισμένα βραβεία, όπως iPhones ή χρηματικά ποσά – μόνο ένα δείπνο υπό το φως τον κεριών στην Ιταλία. Η δράση δε στηρίχτηκε από Μέσα Μαζικής Ενημέρωσης ούτε από χορηγούς. Το σύνθημα της δράσης: «Γίνε η Αλλαγή που Θέλεις να Δεις» ήταν μια φράση που δανειστήκαμε από τον Μαχάτμα Γκάντι.

Τίποτε ιδιαίτερα cool σε όλα αυτά. Μάλλον μηδενικός βαθμός διασκέδασης.

Και αυτό ακριβώς κάνει το αποτέλεσμα τόσο συναρπαστικό.

H ποιότητα των προσωπικών οπτικών μηνυμάτων, η πολυμορφία των εκφράσεων, των επιλογών και παρατηρήσεων που έγιναν από τους συμμετέχοντες στο διαγωνισμό, κόβουν την ανάσα.

Κλασικές ματιές στη φύση, στο αστικό τοπίο και σε καθημερινά αντικείμενα. Πορτρέτα ανθρώπων και ζώων που χρησιμοποιούνται αποτελεσματικά για να αποδώσουν συναισθήματα. Φωτογραφίες που υπερβαίνουν την ρουτίνα και μεγεθύνουν απαρατήρητες πτυχές της καθημερινότητας.

Τα περισσότερα video που γίνονται στο πλαίσιο εργασίας με νέους παραμένουν ημιτελή. Το γεγονός αυτό δίνει ιδιαίτερη αξία στα video που ολοκληρώθηκαν στο πλαίσιο αυτής της δράσης. Η χαρούμενη μουσική διάσταση του Play Life και του Life Is, η γοητευτικά παραπλανητική μουσική υπόκρουση του The Globe, η ζωντάνια των αγοριών στο Women are… Oh yeah! και η διάσημη πλέον απόδοση της ζωής ως βιντεοπαιχνίδι του τυφλού σκηνοθέτη και ηθοποιού Sorin Tata, μου δίνουν την ισχυρή εντύπωση ότι η διαδικασία δημιουργίας αυτών των βίντεο ήταν αν μη τι άλλο, διασκεδαστική.

Ο διαγωνισμός Supervison είναι ένα δείγμα μόνο από φωτογραφίες και video που δημιουργούνται κάθε μέρα, οπουδήποτε, και από οποιονδήποτε. Η κοινωνική δικτύωση τα πηγαίνει στην αιωνιότητα. Είναι η τέχνη των νέων και η έκφραση της ζωτικότητάς τους.

Θέλω προσωπικά να ευχαριστήσω τους νέους δημιουργούς που μοιράστηκαν το προσωπικό τους όραμα μαζί μας και με όλον τον υπόλοιπο κόσμο.

Μικι Ambrozy
εκπαιδευτικός, Birth-of-image

SuperVisions of  Young Europeans

Graphic designs, photos and video productions submitted from 20 June  until 15 December.

P H O T O G R A P H Y

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G R A P H I C S

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Supervision Fast & Furious Video Contest

Supervision Video Contest

Call for Participants and Partner Organizations

Inspired by the European Year of Volunteering, Global Soma in cooperation with the Youth Department of the Municiplaity of Malaga launches an open call for organizations interested in developing their know-how in 2 overlapping fields: hosting EVS voluteers and using new media for promoting nonprofit, voluntary activities in your community.

Download this call in PDF form

What do participants say about our previous training course Youth & Media?

birth of image presents:

Project Tarzan

Dates: 18-27February 2011

Arrival / Departure: 17 February / 28 February

Place: Ommen, NL, Olde Vechte Foundation
Participants: 38 young people from Netherlands, Lithuania, Italy, Hungary, Greece
Other EU countries can also join (see information in PDFs below)

About this training:

How can the five senses joined using media? How can we communicate by other means than talking? What are the wins and the challenges in all this? During the training you will explore and critically develop your communication. The five senses are sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. During the training we introduce the sixth sense, communication through media using all senses.

How to Apply?

	Check Practical Details	Read Programme
Download the Application Form	Multimedia information letter pt2	Multimedia information letter pt1	Watch the videos

(1) For Practical Details read the below PDF!

(2) For the Programme of this Training read the below PDF!

Related Posts

A personal message from Birth-of-Image founders Miki Ambrozy and Kriszta Zsiday

Dear Friends,

We are closing the first 9 months of the Birth of Image by taking a good look at our results. For this we need your support: we want to hear your voice and opinion about this project! To fill the questionnaire below takes about 5-7 minutes.

With this action you will help us make this project have a stronger impact and reach out to more people like yourself!

Thank you!
Miki & Kriszti

Group EVS – Icebreaker :: 17th July-7th August 2010

2 places for Greek volunteers available, contact Pro Anna Espy on Facebook.

The main purpose of the project is to realize and practice “EVS” (European Voluntary Service) within a group context. Another fundamental idea of the Group EVS is that we empower the volunteers to explore their social environment and the local community as civil journalists. They will participate in workshops for skills-acquisition for creating photo and video journalism, and written news reports on social issues.

In this group EVS will participate 30 volunteers coming from 10 countries (Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine) hosted in the Netherlands by the foundation Olde Vechte. During the 21 days of the project volunteers will live and work together. They will get the responsibility to create a living environment, in which every single one of them will get the chance to develop him/her self on the level that connects to the individual need. Volunteers will be responsible for the working schedule, house keeping and the free time. During the whole project they will be working in coaching teams of 5-6 people. All teams will have a coach (from the team of volunteers of the organization) and have the support of the two mentors of the project on a daily basis.

The voluntary work will consist of work that can be done in cooperation by a group of people. For example creating stairs for an outdoor theatre (the biggest in Europe) in the forest of Ommen, or cutting trees and bushes so other vegetation can grow, or clearing out tunnels for badges to cross roads safely. All of the voluntary work will be supervised by professionals, and screened on safety.

In this project 100% of the volunteers must be less-opportunity. More information about this as well as about the finances, hosting and travel you will find in the infoletter:  group_EVS_infoletter_2010

Global Soma Youth Association in cooperation with SALTES Lithuania has successfully completed a Training Course last week. The aim of the training course was to inspire youth workers to start their peer-inclusion projects back home, using the resources and funding of the Youth in Action Programme.

One day of the training course was dedicated to illustrating and practising how video can be used in youth work, as a tool for self-expression, self-reflection and as a form of sharing.

The training is followed by a period of online collaboration and sharing, in addition to coaching offered by the trainers’ team. The weblog of the training has been given over entirely to participants for better exploiting the results of the course: http://pinclude.com/blog

One result from the training is the video How to Exclude Myself.

How to Exclude Myself

DV, 1:42′

vimeo How to exclude myself on Vimeo

WORKSHOP RESULTS – ΑΠΟΤΕΛΕΣΜΑΤΑ ΤΟΥ ΣΕΜΙΝΑΡΙΟΥ

Video as  a Magnifying Glass – Youth Media Workshop

A Local Pilot Action of the “Birth of Image” Media Literacy Project

In Video as Magnifying Glass, 17 participants (both deaf and hearing) and a team of 4 media educators (Global Soma, Vega Youth Center) worked together for 14 hours to create productions under the themes of poverty / reality / my community.

The workshop was built up of various sessions:

• - video basics (perspective, background, lights, shots, movement, location)
• - audiovisual formats (social promotional video, portrait, video report)
• - filming exercises (5-shot story, interaction)
• - games with video camera (killler-victim, protagonist, awful interview composition)
• - a full day of filming, post-production and presentation

We (hearing participants) were learning Greek sign language and cinema language by doing it all at the same time, a source of headache sometimes, and definitely the secret behind all the fun! Additionally, it was discovered by the deaf camerapersons that the over-the-shoulder shot has to be changed in order to work with deaf audiences, who need to see the hands to read the dialogue….

Thank you to participants and team who made this workshop be the one of the highlights of Global Soma this year!
Below you can see the videos we made.

The Journey of the Soul – To Ταξίδι της Ψυχής

DV, 1:08′

vimeo

The Trains Already Gone

DV, 2:23′

vimeo

Catch me!?

DV, 3:06′

vimeo

Psycho-Drivers

DV, 3:36′

vimeo

Bit Bazaar

DV, 4:30′

vimeo

Sponsors of the Birth of Image Media Literacy Project are:

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

^{A GLOBAL SOMA production}

Four days after a massive quake killed up to 200,000 people, international rescue teams are still finding people alive under the rubble of collapsed buildings in Port-au-Prince.

You can support the relief work after the earthquake in Haiti on 12/01/2010 by donating money.
Here is one place to do it: http://www.care.org/