Turn me on! Youth participation and media literacy.

PRESENTATION VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGH91doZy8Y&feature=youtu.be Project summary This 5 day training course in English language focuses on media literacy in European youth work as an important component of active citizenship. This project aims at supporting the role of media literacy in European youth work and in this way to contribute to a stronger European youth public sphere. This training course will gather youth workers and multipliers, who work towards media literacy within youth through different media approaches. In this sense media will be treated as a tool that is closely linked to citizenship and civic engagement, as it supports young people's participation in society and in the public sphere. In accordance with Non Formal Education trainers will plan a learning process based on interactive participatory methods. Background The place of media in our lives has become more and more important. The last decades witnessed strong technological changes that impact several dimensions of our lives, including the way we communicate and how information is produced and shared. Throughout history media changes proved to have the ability to alter the identity and size of the audience. The development of mass media allowed messages to reach large numbers of people. Digital based communication introduced more flexibility in access levels and audience size, for example. New technology allows virtually everyone to become a media producer and to spread information trough various channels. This relatively affordable technology in our society supports a paradigm shift from a one-to-many to a many-to-many. Media is more than ever present, information is ubiquitous in our society, sources are multiple. Dealing with such a multiplicity is very challenging and an important social aspect, as people, who share the space physical space might not share identical spaces of identification. Youth is a very specific group: they tend to be more prone to technology developments and novelties. At the same time they face several challenges, related to youth transition into an adult autonomous life and all its related challenges. One very important task of a youth worker should be to support youngsters in understanding the way media works, its influence in their lives and dealing with available information and the multiplicity of its sources. Project rationale Target Group: 20 youth workers and multipliers that consciously make use of media in their youth work aiming at increasing media literacy within youth. Aims: To support the role of media literacy in European youth work; To contribute to a European youth public sphere. Specific objectives: To deepen the understanding of media literacy; To discuss the social role of media literacy, in particular within youth; To compare contexts of youth media work; To exchange best practices in media projects and initiatives; To share methods and tools on media literacy work with youngsters; To discuss the role and potential of these projects and initiatives for youth media literacy; To develop individual media competences by inviting participants to share skills on different media formats; To explore needs, potentials and strategies for co-operation in the future; To develop an action plan to be realised in participant's everyday job. Deadline for participants' applications: 2.09.2012 Project cycle: After participants approval the first stage of the activity will start: preparation. In this phase participants will get to know and interact with each other through computer mediated communication. For that purpose an online platform will be set up. As a first step Each participant will be asked to present herself/himself using their favourite medium. As a second step there will be an online meeting for all the group (including trainers and participants) The activity programme will run for 5 days, 25-29.11.2012. Please see the detailed draft programme on the next page. Participants will arrive to the venue on 24.11.2012 and depart on 30.11.2012. Project's reporting will take place during the following 2 months. It will be based on participants and trainers evaluation and it might constitute the background work for a follow-up project, if needed. Team: The team of 3 trainers met during the SALTO Training of Trainers, edition 2010/2011. This long-term training course aims at developing good quality training projects in the context of the Youth in Action programme. Torben Grocholl has studied Political Science and Communications and is currently living in Graz/Austria, working as a freelance trainer and project manager in the youth field. He is passionate about creative facilitation and visual language, non formal learning, media and creative activism. Sandra Laborier lives and works in Luxembourg for the non profit organisation "Graffiti asbl", which gives young people the opportunity to have their own radio show on the free radio Radio ARA. She is also organising media and radio workshops in cooperation with schools, youth houses and other youth organisations in Luxembourg, but also, since several years, on a european level. Rui Montez is a Berlin based freelance trainer and project manager in the youth and civic education area. His main topics of work include Non Formal Education, Intercultural and Transcultural Learning, Dealing with Ambiguity, Communication, Globalization and global challenges.