After todays workshop it really hit home how hard it is for lecturers to engage and get interaction amongst students in lectures. Giving a little motivation, I’ve noticed from today, goes a long way. The first day of the workshop displayed a hidden sense of enthusiasm as people seemed to be less inclinded to contribute through keeping thoughts to themselves. However, from today the students displayed a keen sense of interaction and communication between not only the teachers and students but amongst the students themselves. The willingness to learn and develop skills, knowledge and understanding for the media equipment and software was inevitably noticeable.

Putting together ideas and understanding for the pre production of the video allowed the students to show their ideas and collaborate effectively. The idea to produce a video production surrounding empowerment shown through the use of a community media centre (CMC) was cleverly thought out and developed into a storyboard. The team began to quickly get involved in shooting the video and sharing the responsibility of the different roles, allowing everyone to have an experience of each role.

The main aspect of the workshop so far is the benefits that can be seen that have been adapted to the ideas and aspirations that can be taken on after within their local communities. After speaking to the group I was working with today I am really looking forward to hearing the reflection on the workshop as a whole and how everyone, including us, have benfited. Bring on tomorrow!

Through the video production workshops that were held today, engagement between teachers and students began to take shape and grow. The morning began with myself, Rosie, and Callum introducing the students to procedures and techniques within video production, as well as setting the students tasks – such as producing mindmaps and story boards – so that they could start initial stages of producing their own documentary.

After software issues and difficulties yesterday, I felt that I lost any confidence that the students may have had in me, however I believe that I restored that confidence today when going through the video production handbook, and directing the procedures. I saw this confidence and comfort begin to grow when students would start asking questions about documentaries and engaging in dialogue. When watching the students carry out interviews for their documentaries in the afternoon, it was nice to see them coming out of their shells, creating realities out of their visions, sharing an enthusiasm, and using techniques that I had taught them. It felt good to be able to have confidence in the knowledge that I was sharing, and seeing the students understanding and applying it.

When myself, Rosie and Callum were speaking to a student on a tea break, he informed us that he wishes to share the knowledge that we taught him to empower those who have no knowledge of ICTs or social networking. If one person goes away from this workshop and teaches the skills to at least one other person, then I will be happy – although I do hope that they take it further!! 

Last day of teaching these students in this workshop tomorrow, so hopefully this positivity will continue!!

The first day at the workshop at Hillpark Hotel started with the participants getting into groups and sharing their ideas surrounding the notion of a community media centre (CMC). The group I was working with had broad ideas around the topic area and different ambitions in relation to contributing or setting up a CMC. The follow are a few questions deliberated through the CMC scenario… 

Q. What was you motivation to be involved in these three day workshops?

A. – Expand a company
– Networking
– learning from others
– Meet people in the media
– Share knowledge and skills
– Learn how to link and involve others through the use of community media
– To find out what community media is

Q. What does a community media centre (CMC) mean to you?

A. – A source of information
– Empowerment and skills
– Telling stories to create positive change
– Expand and teach all young children giving them power and a voice
– Access information easily
– Create links between CMCs and the government

Q. How might it benefit your community?

A. – Empower youth through the use of skills and sharing of ideas
– Sharing stories that give people the power of voice
– Create government interaction
– Share information about health that can reach communities in time
– Employment
– Community unity

Q. What resources would be needed to establish and sustain a CMC? How might these be aquired?

A. – Internet
– Personel to lead the centre
– Media equipment- camera, computers, office space
– finance to sustain the CMC
– Good PR- word of mouth

Aquired through…

-Sponsors
– Donations
– Community funding
– Fundraising
– Partnerships

As part of the workshop of the first day of teaching, we split the group up into three groups, took a group each, and asked them questions regarding community media centres (CMC). The questions and answers in the scenario based workshop were as followed….

Q. What was you motivation to be involved in these three day workshops?
A. – I want to know how to develop social, political, and financial sectors by interfacing media into the community.
     – I want to know how a graphic designer can use the media.
     – I want to know how PR can use the media to reach a range of people and improve communication.
    – I want to know how to create blogs, how to share ideas with other communities, different ways to capture information, how to make videos, and how to take photographs.  I also want to set up CMCs across the nation.
    – I want to learn how to mobilise the community, ensure that information gets passed, raise awareness of issues, learn new tools and networks to communicate.

Q. What does a community media centre (CMC) mean to you? How might it benefit your community?
A. – To have a CMC there needs to be a reciprocal exchange of reliable information and ideas. Community radio, television, different networks. To have a CMC you will need A – a physical location to engage and exchange in ideas, and B – Aid packaging information.
   – To have a CMC information needs to be accessed and shared, making it accessible to have debates and raise issues, to make voices to be heard at a national level.
  – CMC is a tool for civic engagement and campaigns. It gets information from centres, and utilises local media, not national media. IT also provides access to the internet.
   – A CMC is the mass media reaching out to people. It is the ears, eyes, and most importantly the mouth of the community. It voices out issues and needs to achieve maximum community potential.

Q. What resources would be needed to establish and sustain a CMC? How might these be aquired?
A. – The resources needed would be different types of resources, people as resources, material resources, volunteers, trainers in ICTs, people who can write. To have a CMC there also needs to be a library, documentation centre, a room, computers, videos, cameras, etc. To maintain the CMC there needs to be financial resources like sponsorships, material such as literature to educate people, and people need to have matching priorities in order to grow in the same direction.
   – The resources needed are the internet, computers, trainers, media / IT literacy, and the knowledge of how to integrate with technology.
   – We would need to establish how to mobilise and expose communities, make affordable and simpiler technology, and but more networks up in rural areas.
   – Technology needs to be affordable and accessible. There could be an educational summer camp with small charges, educational investments, and more tourist attraction. There could be a website to create awareness.

Today we had an early start at 7am, 5am GMT+1. We all had breakfast again on the porch and discussed final plans for the workshop day ahead. Feeling excited and aptly prepared we made our way to the Hill Park Hotel around 9am. When we arrived at the hotel it was straight to the conference room for the first session of the day. Some great speeches from Willice, Peter, Cherri and Samuel sent a wave of inspiration into the room. It was great to see and hear all the different interpretations and visions for what community media could become, in particular Ii was inspired by what Cherri had to say about plans to create an online network hub that people can access and share knowledge from. What interested me about this idea was that anyone inspite of economic/social background would be able to gain access to the information to educate themselves as well as others about their own experiences and circumstances by uploading their own information.

After a short tea break we began with a skills and needs assessment workshop. In the group I worked with the most important issue for them was that the rural area’s that make up the majority of the Kenyan population are reached by the CMC projects. We discussed the physicalities of setting up a community centre, it was considered vital by the group that the indigenous population should be involved from the get go, adhering to and making the CMC relevant to their specific needs. After a lunch break me, Rosie and Laura conducted an introductory session on the equipment and software, my group seemed to really enjoy and get alot from the session in spite of already knowing alot about editing and filming. We came from the viewpoint that although most people could navigate the equipment and software reletively easily within the group, it was a useful excercise to be able to teach others who perhaps are less knowledgable about the software and equipment.The last portion of the day was spent introducing word press and blogging . I think everyone has now been warn out from all the hard work we have all put in. I’m very appreciative of such eager and interesting students and have learnt alot from them. I feel part of something that has the potential to exact real and lasting change.

Woke up at 10am to the sultry sound of Peter Day’s voice. We gathered ourselves in the Kenyan sun on the porch of the Hartebeest compound before heading out into Nairobi. Kenya is Beautiful! We travelled a mile or two down the road from camp, stopping in malls and shops to pick up necessities. Water. Sim cards. Flip Flops. We then taxi’d back to camp taking a backroot to avoid traffic (The Kenyan Rally Competition).

In the backstreets of Nairobi it becomes clear, the vast economic gap in the city. Back at camp we began preparing for the workshops the next day. I’m looking forward to seeing how students will interpret Community Media based on their individual cultural and social mores. Met with Willice and Gordon over diner, both incredibly exciting and interesting Men, Willice’s laugh is infectious. Bed now, will mull over the prep for tomorrow in my sleep. Looking forward to another wonderful day in Kenya.

Today was a most interesting and exciting day for us. The two productions we worked on today brought about some inciteful interviews and the students worked with excellent professionalism. I hope that my teaching was helpful and I certainly learnt alot about Kenyan culture from the aspirations of the students I worked with. The subject of the two productions were ‘youth unemployment’ and ‘developing CMC’s’. From the get go students engaged well with the mind mapping and storyboarding process during the pre-production stages in the morning, roles were given to each of the students to fulfill throughout the day these roles were Director, Producer, Interviewer/researcher, Camera Operator and Editor. Everybody settled into their roles well and acted with confidence in their positions within the team throughout the day. After lunch was the production phase, students used their planning in pre-production to full effect whilst conducting interviews within the Hotel. Once filming was completed and after a short tea break students got to work on post-production. Students have maintained the same high level of engagement with the activities and tasks from pre-production right through to post-production. This should make for some interesting and well refined final products. I have enjoyed seeing the process unfold throughout the day and look forward to watching the final outcome. Thank you to everyone for another successful day of work.

Sun 7^th July

10.00 – 12.00                      Video & audio practical from beginning to editing including story-boarding

12.00 – 13.00                      Break

13.00 – 15.30                      Video & audio practical from beginning to editing including story-boarding

15.30 – 16.00                      Break

16.00 – 18.00                      Editing content generated from workshops