Collaborative Storytelling Using Variety of Tools from Social Media

Fall 2012 class: Social Media and Remix, First Project

Collaborative Online Video: WeVideo (free), Adobe Anywhere (in development)

Project #1: Who are the Peacemakers? Collaborative Video Essays on Historical Alternatives to Violence

• Project Description:• Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” identified the four

basic requirements for a non-violent campaign: “collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action.” In this assignment, your group will identify a campaign of social justice focused on non-violence and research, document, and analyze the above four areas with regard to the specifics of the historical and cultural context. That is, what were the key issues at stake in the campaign, what strategies (from words to actions) did they employ to make change, and how were they able to maintain their non-violence response in the face of adversity (again, specific strategies employed)?

• Your research and documentation should draw upon diverse multimedia materials, including still and moving images, audio, and text. After collectively gathering, discussing, and organizing the material your research produced, your group will create a 2-3 minute video that helps to identify and define: “Who are the peacemakers?” and “What we might learn from their strategies and actions as we undertake our larger investigation in non-violent engagement?”

Process for our “Peace Emergency”• Part of a grant to see how university handles emergencies with online

continuation of courses. I declared a “peace emergency” and asked that they imagine themselves working within restraints of activist organizations (minimal resources, dispersed activists).

• The assignment unfolded over 3 weeks with weekly updates on one editing group’s progress by a separate collaborative group’s review with attention to group’s concept, research, organization.

• Work was organized using Google docs, Google drive, with video and work documentation made accessible through shared links

• Groups created a collaborative video essay online using WeVideo(collective video with individual reflection). We met virtually in third week via Google+ Hangout to underline the online collaborative component.

Projects:http://www.newmedia4socialchange.net