7iberINC

Digital Storytelling in Education

Reem — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:06:12 +0000

Bringing Social Media And Digital Storytelling To Jordan’s Public Schools

After having worked for so long in Jordan’s educational sector, it was good to be back to a Jordanian public school again. This time not as a student nor as an evaluator, but as a trainer to introduce students and teachers to the possibilities that digital storytelling can offer in the education field. In coordination with the Jordan Education Initiative, 7iber held two digital storytelling workshops to demonstrate the use of blogs and multimedia content like audio slideshows. The first workshop was held for 15 students from the Princess Rahmeh Public School, and the other for ten teachers from both Princess Rahmeh and Al-Shifaa Bint Awf Schools. One would have never expected the energy and enthusiasm coming from teachers and students sitting through an after-school training, where the only incentive or motivation offered is self-development.

Public schools teachers are challenged with meeting what the Ministry of Education promotes as “21st Century Learning”, especially in the face of big constraints like intense curricula, maximized classroom sizes and limited Internet, and computer resources. However, these constraints have also served to inspire them to look for learning opportunities beyond the borders of their schools and classrooms. How can these digital tools help out in the classrooms of Jordan’s public schools? For teachers, using tools like blogs or producing content like audio slideshows can even help reduce the class time needed to offer students feedback on their assignments and projects. Teachers noted that students generally shy away from engaging in self expression and participation in front of their peers. Thus, teachers viewed digital storytelling as a tool to encourage and build higher standards for constructive dialogue and critique between peers. Most teachers in the workshop agreed that utilizing blogs and multimedia creates an opportunity to move away from traditional teacher-students paradigms to increased students-students interactions.

It was surprising to know that despite the participants’ daily access to Internet, they never heard of “blogging”. Students even wondered outloud how they could have missed such a common communication tool, especially given the fact that it has been so influential throughout the region. Thinking about how blogs might help “spice up” their learning process, students found blogs a great tool for group-based projects where they can communicate and share ideas without having to physically be in the same place. Some of them expressed their willingness to anonymously blog about educational realities that they would otherwise shy away from expressing.

Most interesting was the way teachers and students separately looked at the issue of credibility of information presented on blogs given their independent nature. Students were more excited to publish anonymously in order to be able to speak their minds. On the other hand, teachers were more concerned about “controlling” the open commenting and contribution environment of blogs to assure appropriateness of content.

By the end of the two workshops, most teachers and students started their own blogs and produced a total of five audio slideshows, applying both the basic concepts of storytelling and photography. One of the produced slideshows done by teachers can be accessed here..

لقاءات و حكايات : مخيم حطين ٢٤ -١٢-٢٠١١

Reem — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 07:26:47 +0000

كانت المرة الأولى لي في مخيم حطين، كل ما أعرفه عن هذا المخيم أنه على طريق الزرقاء. لكني تفاجئت أنه على بعد عشر دقائق فقط عن دوار المدينة الرياضية. ذهبنا لقيادة اللقاء التصويري السادس ضمن سلسلة “لقاءات و حكايات” في مركز البرامج النسائية لوكالة الغوث و كان بانتظارنا عشرة مشاركين تتراوح أعمارهم ما بين ١٦ -٢١ سنة من الشباب و الإناث.

تحدثنا عن القصص التي يرغب المشاركين بروايتها و توثيقها عبر عروض الشرائح الصوتية Audio Slideshows. تمحورت جميعها حول أجنبية اللاجئ الغزاوي في الأردن والتي تؤثر على حياتهم بشكل يومي ابتداءآ من تحديد تخصصات دراسة التوجيهي والجامعة، من ثم العمل، رخصة السير وتكاليف المستشفيات. كان هناك نوع من التردد في تغطية هذه المواضيع ونشرها على الانترنت بسبب وضعهم الحساس كلاجئين و خوفهم من “كلام الناس”. من المثير للاهتمام أن المشاركين اختلفوا على دور الفتيات في تغطية هذه القصص وحمل كاميرا في الشارع. فكان لدى المشاركين الذكورمشكلة في أن تقوم فتاه بحمل كاميرا والتصوير في المخيم خوفا من “كلام الناس” وسمعة الفتاه بغض النظر عن أهمية المشروع التصويري للمخيم. المفارقة كانت أن الذكور لم يترددوا في منع قريباتهن من حق التنقل والتوثيق، حقوق هم أنفسهم تذمروا من عدم ممارستها لأنهم لا يمتلكون رقماً وطنياً.

في النهاية، قررت المجموعة صنع مادة بعنوان “يا أخو المصورة…”

Discussing Gender in Aqaba

Ramsey — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:28:28 +0000

7iber hosted a meetup in Aqaba, in association with the Princess Basma Youth Organization to discuss gender, storytelling and produce stories about these topics. The meetup was hosted as apart of a larger project with the Canadian Gender Social Fund. Other activities have included a four-day storytelling camp in the Ajloun Forest Reserve and meetups and trainings around the Kingdom. For more information, email editor[at]7iber.com.

AQABA – Our project with the Canadian Gender Social Fund was to explore stories and story telling techniques around the Kingdom and this week’s destination was about as far from Amman you can get without actually leaving the country. 3.5 hours and one speeding ticket later, we rolled into the Princess Basma resource center and met by the sparkling project coordinator Ahlam.

As the participants began to arrive, I caught up with Nidaa who participated in the storytelling camp in Ajloun over the summer. She works with the Jordan River Foundation and helped produce one of our stories from the camp, called Ein al Shams.

As more participants arrived the debate grew more intense. One of my favorite moments as a trainer and facilitator is when participants feel comfortable with you, start to speak their mind and begin challenging each other. As the conversation grew, more issues came out.

We focused on gender issues and I was surprised with the honesty of some of the participants. One woman, a blackbelt in Karate, wanted to discuss issues of women and sports. Another group wanted to discuss public spaces and whether they provide the sort of public space needed by women in Aqaba.

The theme, however, quickly lead to the issue of, as one participant put it, “Aqaba is not for us, but for others.” This theme came out early in the conversation and remained throughout. What was meant that Aqaba is being sold to foreign investors and that most new development is geared for tourists and guests and not the people who actually live there.

The second issue that also was discussed was the fact that Amman, as the commercial and political center of Jordan, keeps a tight hold on all the official activities and facilities. The general feeling was that the rest of the country seems left out from organizations, events, facilities, funding and development. It was hard to ignore this underlining frustration. These were proud people from the Southern bits of Jordan, yet there was a palpable tension in the air.

Leaving Amman, especially for the South, I can’t help think of adventure and the beautiful landscapes. But for residents of the South, they want more than visitors and tourists, and development projects for the rich from the Gulf, and it seems they are organizing to advocate for their rights.

As if to emphasis the point even more, as we left Aqaba in the late evening on the road to Amman, we were stopped by a police checkpoint. He asked where we are going and I told him Wadi Rum. He said good, because the road to Amman is closed because of a protest that inevitably turned violent. Protesters were upset about decision made in Amman without regard to the local communities.

لقاءات و حكايات: الجامعة الأردنية ٢٩-١٠-٢٠١١

Reem — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:36:41 +0000

كان اللقاء الثالث لمشروع “لقاءات و حكايات” مع طالبات وطلاب السنة الرابعة من قسم اللغة الإنجليزية الجامعة الأردنية يوم ٢٩-١٠-٢٠١١. كان على الطلاب إنتاج فيلم ضمن مساق “نظريات نسائية معاصرة”. في بداية اللقاء تعرف المشاركون على مبادئ وأخلاقيات التصوير الفوتوغرافي وعملية تخطيط القصة بصريًا قبل التصوير.

نقاش فكرة ورسالة الفيلم تمحور حول طرق تفكيك الصورالنمطية وتحدي خطابات وروايات عن دور المرأة السائد والقيمةالمجتمعية التي تحملها في مراحل حياتها المختلفة. اجمع المشاركون على تغطية موضوع قيمة المرأة في المجتمع بتغطية موضوع “التحرش الجنسي في الجامعة”. فعلى الرغم من وجود قانون بالجامعة يغرم التحرش، ذكرت إحدى الطالبات رد مسؤول أمني عليها عندما اشتكت إليه حادث تحرش، بأنها تحمل المسؤولية بسبب طريقة لبسها. كما قالت إحداهن أن كتب تعلم العربية لغير الناطقين بها تتضمن صوراً تعليمية لاشخاص يلقون بجمل مثل”ايش يا مزة” و”ايش يا خسة” في الشارع.

.اتفق المشاركون على صنع فيديو قصير يوضح شعور المرأة لحظة التحرش بطريقة ابداعية فيها عناصر بصرية وصوتية من واقع الشارع والأماكن العامة في الجامعة. لن نحرق فكرة الفيلم هنا، سيتم مشاركة الفيديو على موقع حبر عند الإنتهاء من تحريره.

A Thriller About the ‘Weird Loneliness of the Internet’

Nas — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 06:57:37 +0000

Who says you can’t tell a story using only the Internet? This (very) short film is an Internet Story filled with mystery and suspense. The setting? The bizarre world that is the Internet. From online message boards and YouTube videos to secret websites, the film is a storyboard made up of computer screenshots. Even some of those shots highlight the way that we personally use the Internet; to research, to question, to identify. It is so well put together that the first thing you’ll probably do after watching it is do a few a google searches to find out whether it’s true or not. In the world of great digital storytelling, that just well be irrelevant. Check it out:

Filmmaker Adam Butcher was interviewed by The Atlantic, where he best captured what such a film is really about:

“I think one of the main things that started it was that I’d always been aware of the weird “loneliness” of the Internet. In the early 2000s, I remember making websites on places like Angelfire and talking on them as if people were actually reading it. No one was of course! I’d come across personal blogs and videos and find the same thing. A lot of people talking into an abyss.

And like finding those sites, I was interested in the way we “discover” stories on the Internet now. You’ll be doing one search and be curious about one weird link, then search that, then search that, and before you know it you’re down this weird rabbit hole. And the dead ends you reach give you that uncanny feeling, because they’re often people speaking out-of-time, and they’re often faceless.”

Blog Action Day: What The World Eats

Nas — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 13:44:22 +0000

In honor of Blog Action Day 2011, where the bloggers all around the world are talking about food, or the lack there of, we bring you a photo essay by Time Magazine based on the book Hungry Planet. Since the heart of 7iberINC’s work focuses on finding different ways of telling compelling stories, digitally, we thought this was a great attempt at highlighting the issue of gastronomical inequity. Photos of families from various countries are shown, typically in their kitchen (if they have one) and surrounded by the food they consume in an average week. The caption of each photo in the essay highlights where they live, how much they spend in a given week, and their favorite foods. Just going through these 16 photos you can feel their impact settle in, allowing anyone to clearly see just how different people live, and in some cases, survive.

Check it out here: What The World Eats

لقاءات و حكايات: لقاء عجلون ٨-١٠-٢٠١١

Reem — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 06:48:12 +0000

في اللقاء التصويري الثالث لمشروع ” لقاءات و حكايات”، اجتمعنا مع ١٢ شاب و شابة من عجلون ممن لديهم الرغبة في رواية قصص المدينة أو القرى المحيطة بها سواء كانوا يعيشونها يوميا أم شاهدين عليها. بدأنا في التحدث عن مشاكل المنطقة بشكل عام و القصص التي يمكننا تمثيلها بطريقة ال Audio Slide Show (شرائح الصور المدمجة بالصوت).

من قصص عجلون كانت المعاناة اليومية لطالب جامعة في إربد على باصات عجلون. فوصف محمد يوم الأحد صباحا “بيوم العذاب” ، فقلة الباصات وعدم تنظيم أوقاتها يجعل من يحصل على مقعد على الباص “بفائز لليانصيب”. “أحيانا ينضم الناس الى الباص بالتسلق على عجلاته و بابه أثناء سيرانه. كان هناك رغبة كبيرة لبعض الشابات بتغطية موضوع “العنوسة” في عجلون و الضغوطات اليومية التي يعيشونها في العمل و المنزل بسبب وصولهم الى عمر ال ٢٥ بدون زواج. تقول دعاء “في كل مرة يرجع أهلي من حفل زفاف في عجلون، يجب أن يسمعونني موال “القطار حيفوتك”. علمنا من الحديث أن سن الزواج في عجلون للبنات هو ١٩ -٢٠ سنة و للشباب هو على عمر ال ٢٥ و لكن قد تأخر بمعدل سنتين هذه الأيام بسبب ارتفاع تكاليف المعيشة. مجموعة أخرى قررت أن تغطي شح المياه في مناطق معينة خصوصا أن عجلون من” أكبر المناطق في الأردن نصيبا من الأمطار و لكنها المنطقة الأقل نصيبا في برنامج توزيع المياه”. أحد المجموعات أرادت أن تصور اختلاف نظرة العمل التطوعي ما بين الشباب و الشابات و المقارنة بالأسباب التي تدعوا كلا منهم بالتبرع بوقته. و أخيرا، أرادت مجموعة تغطية رأي أهالي عجلون في التعديلات الدستورية و خصوصا تعديلات قانون البلديات. أجمع المشاركون أن فصل البلديات جعل لكل عشيرة بلدية حيث أن كل قرية في عجلون تغلب عليها عشيرة واحدة و استذكروا اعتصام عشيرة الصمادي أمام بلدية عجلون و تطويب بابها بالحجر و الاسمنت لإعتراضهم على عدم فك دمج مدينة القصبة مع بلدية عجلون.

من أبرز ملاحظات المشاركين بعد رحلة التصوير أن سائقي الباصات كانوا من أكثر الناس تجاوبا و رغبة في ابداء رأيهم في نظام المواصلات الى درجة أن أحدهم قدم مشكلته بشكل استدعاء ورقي آملا من أن تصل الى جهة معينة. أما المجموعة التي رغبت بجس نبض الشارع على التعديلات الدستورية، صنفت من قابلتهم من الأهالي و أصحاب المحلات التجارية الى ثلاث فئات، الأولى: ليس لديها علم بها، الثانية: لم ترغب في الحديث عنها على الكاميرا، و الثالثة ، و هم قلة، رحبوا بالتعديلات و خصوصا بقانون البلديات و منع أصحاب الجنسيات المزدوجة من الترشح لمجلس الأمة و النواب.

هذه بعض الصور من اللقاء، و سيتم نشر القصص على موقع حبر بعد الإنتهاء من انتاجها.

Google Earth: One World, Many Stories

Nas — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 10:00:16 +0000

Written By: Nas

For the cartographic aficionado, Google Earth has launched an interesting microsite called One World Many Stories in celebration of its 1 billionth download. The site pools together stories of how the technology has been used since it was introduced some 6 years ago. From community stories about teaching tribe members in the Amazon to capture and upload GPS-located photos to Google Earth in order to catch perpetrators of illegal deforestation, all the way to an archaeologist who was the first to discover 1,977 potential archaeological sites in Saudi Arabia from the comfort of his armchair in Perth.

No doubt, this is Google’s attempt at demonstrating to the world how great its technology is, but by doing so in a critically superb way. The old architecture of thinking would probably have just put out a press release. Not Google. It aggregated all these stories and simply pinned them up on a visual globe. It introduced no new technology, it simply made use of the one it already had at its disposal.

What’s more – it has opened up the process so that anyone, living anywhere in the world, can share a story on the globe. It’s a great way to put storytelling on the map.

That’s right. I went there.

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دعوة للتشمير والتصوير: لقاءات وحكايات

Lina — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:37:49 +0000

The World’s Largest Stop Motion Picture, Shot On A Phone

Nas — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 07:20:11 +0000

Put together three Nokia N8′s a crane and a beach, and what do you get? The largest stop motion video ever shot, and all of it done with the 12mp camera that the N8 comes armed with. “Gulp” tells the story of a fisherman who’s out at sea in search of a big fish only to be swallowed up by one in the end. A straight forward story that’s short and sweet, but creatively presented, and that makes all the difference.

The animation was created by Aardman animation studio and a team of “sand artists” led by Jamie Wardley and around 30 student volunteers, who did one drawing every 4 minutes for up to 75 frames a day over the span of a 7-day shoot. Interestingly enough, Aardman studio also shot the world’s smallest stop motion video last year called Dot., which was also shot with a Nokia N8.

Check out the making of Gulp:

via: mashable