My video for ACLU_SoCal: ICE tries to deport US Citizen
Immigration authorities held Antonio Montejano in jail for days even though he is a US citizen. Learn more about how Secure Communities affects U.S. citizens at http://www.aclu-sc.org
Videography by Loris Guzzetta. Production and editing by me.
Below is an audio piece I created as part of the excellent Transom Story workshop.
Here’s more on the experience of making the segment (reposted from Transom.org):
After playing this piece at the Listening Event in Woods Hole, the first question I got was “Are you a reporter?” I said no but I did have concerns that the piece had become “newsy”. It wasn’t an intimate first person story but I do see it as the story of a government agency (New Bedford’s police) trying to build a relationship with a community of Central American immigrants. Read more…
My Update from @Transom_org’s #Radiostory Workshop: Getting to the Heart of the Story
Transom Story Workshop participants on Halloween (that's me with the ear)
For the month of October and most of November, I’m participating in Transom.org‘s first-ever Radio Story Workshop. I’ve learned so much from the Transom website; it’s an even greater privilege to learn in person from these visionary radio producers.
“Why radio?” you may ask. Well, throughout my online work, I’m continually reminded that “content is king.” Nonprofits and foundations can set up all the blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts we want, but we still need to have something worthwhile and compelling to say with these tools. I figure that organizations can learn from radio producers about what it takes to craft stories that pull the audience in and create those “driveway moments” (when you can’t get out of the car for fear of missing the end of a great story). I’ve also been struck by the ways in which audio is such a fundamental element to digital media (i.e. videos without good audio are much harder to watch). And finally, I’m also curious about how to teach better storytelling to others. Read more…
Special thanks to Gina Riggio for the use of her song “No Guarantee”:
Installation by Os Gêmeos at MOCA's Art in the Streets Exhibit in Los Angeles
Everyone, including me, needs help sorting through today’s “data tsunami” as Steven Rosenbaum calls it. In his recent book Curation Nation: How to Win in a World Where Consumers are Creators, Rosenbaum writes that
Curation replaces noise with clarity. And it’s the clarity of your choosing; the things that people you trust help you find.
And I would argue that when organizations offer clarity amidst the noise, they build trust among supporters.
I recently realized that I have been curating content for several years now. Not so long ago, many of us used email listserves to share articles and information on specific themes. These days, I’ve made the switch to social media where I regularly find and share relevant content for projects such as the Freedom from Fear Awards and Detention Watch Network. Read more…
Even though construction closed a major freeway in Los Angeles this past weekend, “Carmageddon” didn’t happen as everyone feared. When I went running on Friday night, anticipating I’d see a sea of red taillights, I witnessed what looked more like the Rapture instead: near empty streets and the good people nowhere to be seen. Saturday was much the same.
For a state whose theme song should be “Don’t Fence Me In”, it was stunning that intractable Californians had listened to public officials and largely stayed home. The LA Times quoted Mayor Villaraigosa as saying, “We had hoped this would happen. People have answered the call. They have stepped up to the plate in recognizing that the best way to do this is to stay out of their cars.”
Perhaps it takes a massive media machine to get a city like L.A. to listen but I think there’s more to learn here. LA’s experience got me wondering what this can teach nonprofits and activists about effective media messaging. Read more…
I was honored that my friend Chris Tuttle, Senior Internet Solutions Consultant at Blackbaud, asked me and other folks he follows to offer my tips for nonprofits using Twitter. The result is a useful list of twenty recommendations. You can read the full list here.
Below is one of my tips:
Audio: Creating Effective Social Media Campaigns – How #DREAMAct Students Built a Movement
Our Netsquared Meetup met last night and here’s some audio from the presentations of the guest speakers.
OK, you just spent spent valuable time creating an excellent blog post, video or audio clip and you want as many people as possible to read, watch or listen to it. But, let’s be honest, if the title fails to grab attention, it can easily get lost in the sea of content that social media users have to choose from each day.
So how do you make your content stand out? Social media users love snazzy titles for the things that they will consume and share. Here are a few ideas to give them just that:
- Be conversational. Social media is known for being personal and informal, basically sounding the way that people really talk. Don’t use wonky, jargony or highly technical terms if you don’t have to. Imagine a title that newbies or outsiders to your field (like your parents) would understand. For example, instead of “Coalition of Advocacy Groups Releases Report on the State of Secondary Education and Calls for Immediate Reform“, try “New Report Reveals How Our State is Letting Down High School Students and What We Can Do About It”.
- Employ active verbs. It’s difficult to make interesting titles composed of mostly nouns and articles, i.e. “My Summer Vacation“. Instead add an active (not passive) verb: ie. “How my summer vacation rocked!” Read more…
In Less Than 30 Minutes, Create an Optimal Youtube Channel for Your Nonprofit (Without Uploading Any Video)
[video via Youtube]
In the recent years, you and your nonprofit have undoubtedly encountered online video as part of your work. You may have been the subject of a video or even started experimenting with making your own. Regardless of where you are in video production, it’s important to optimally set up your organization’s online infrastructure on Youtube.
You don’t even need to have made your own videos in order to have a presence on Youtube. On Google, video search results are now more prominently displayed. This means that if a potential supporter googles the cause or issue you work on, they are more likely to come across videos about your organization… no matter if they’re made by you or by others. Why not take advantage of this attention? An active and fleshed out Youtube channel demonstrates how important this type of digital communication is to your organization.
In less than 30 minutes, you can follow the first three steps below to create an optimal Youtube channel (Steps 4 & 5 take more time). Once all your ducks are in a row, videos about your organization will have more impact. Read more…
Video: Nominate an Unsung Hero for the Freedom from Fear Award
Many thanks to everyone who provided photos so I could make this video!
Above is a video I recently completed for We Are America, a project of the Center for Community Change. This video and others in the series raise “the voice of immigrants in the national dialogue around our country’s broken immigration system.” We Are America seeks to “lift up the personal stories of immigrants across America to put real people and communities back into national discussion on immigration policy.”
This video was a unique storytelling challenge since it was about a group of people. As I met the workers and filmed their testimonies, what emerged was how they were not victims. They responded to the situation and this is changing them, turning them into leaders. With input from the series producers, we decided to see the video as four “acts” showing the junctures where the workers made choices about how to respond. One thing that I remember that didn’t make the final video was one of the workers’ wives saying that she was surprised to see her husband speak up at the press conference and how proud she was of him for standing up for his rights.
Stay tuned for details on how you can support these workers. In the meantime, share this video with others or leave a comment here.
I recently wrote a short piece and created a video (above) about “Ten of the Best Community Gardens in Los Angeles County.” The article was commissioned by Spot.Us, a web-based project that is pioneering a new model for “community powered reporting.” The public can commission articles and reporters raise money via the website to carry out the reporting. The project was an interesting one (with lots of driving around L.A.) and I’m planning to do more like this in the near future.
The video is more of an “audio slideshow” since I’ve been experimenting more with audio lately. It’s interesting how many people seem to feel more comfortable with audio-recording than with video. Frequently, I’ve seen folks clam up when I turn on a video camera. With audio, folks often ask “Is that thing on?” (I always tell people when I’m recording them.). Much like video, audio requires lots of “b-roll”, extra footage of sounds to fill out the story. I find that I’m often proudest of the random but representative sounds I find and record. I’ve been using a Zoom H4N and Audio-Technica 8010 mic [Note: this is not product placement but more of sharing tips.]
Check out my posts on either Spot.Us or CurbedLA and leave a comment to let you know what you think!
My Cross-Country Experiment with Geo-Location & Mapping
On October 10, 2010, I started a cross country road trip from North Carolina to California in a new-to-me 1998 Volvo.
I stopped along the way to connect with members of the Detention Watch Network, detainees and their family members. I focused on collecting audio recordings of the interviews for another project I’ll share later.
I also took photos and shot short video clips for my Google Map, where you can see my route. I also added in Foursquare check-ins and Yelp reviews for good measure. And the name of the blog? I drove through regions that are covered by kudzu and sagebrush. I’m hoping to see things that might be hidden from view.
I finally arrived in Los Angeles on Thursday October 21, 2010. In total, I spent 11 days on the road and covered more than 3,500 miles.
Stay tuned for the audio project…
Above is the trailer for a video I’m making for the Frogtown Artwalk in Los Angeles. It’s been a fun project to put together. On Saturday August 28, there will be screenings at 7:50pm, 8:30pm, 9:00pm and 9:30pm in Elysian Gateway Park (near intersection of Blake Ave & Knox Ave) in Elysian Valley/Frogtown, Los Angeles.
