Onward and Upwards

Written by Emilie Nims

Friday, 24 July 2009 13:03

It's been well over a week since my last dispatch, and we're about to wrap-up our fourth week here at YVC Online. Several events to recap:

Last Friday, we had the unique privilege of watching a production at the Central Square Theater of "Blame the Wolf," by Al-Roowad Theatre Group a group of Palestinian traveling performers from the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem. It was an informative experience and one we were very fortunate to be able to attend. For more on the experience, read Tommy's article.

Terrascope, a MSYEP site dedicated to environmental issues by way of radio, stopped in last week to interview us for their program to get some ideas about what YVC Online has been doing this summer and to share with us some of their progress thus far. It was a nice way for us to share. Josh reports on his interview with a Terrascope group member.

As a group, we have been following the "Save the News" campaign. From their site: "...SaveTheNews.org, a project of Free Press, is leading the search for new public policies to save journalism and to promote a robust press in America." We decided to look at some of the new models of journalism that have been proposed and explore some of our own feelings about the news industry and what role it plays in our own lives. This led to the idea of creating a roundtable discussion about the future of news in the studio, which was shot, directed and produced by YVC Online. We are working on editing the shoot and including a video interview with Josh Stearns, one of the people behind "Save the News."

Meanwhile, Corey has been in the process of documenting the YVC Online experience and has so far interviewed every participant in the program and has shot several activities. Corey has had an interest in filmmaking and it's great that he can incorporate that passion with the program he's currently in. Not only does he get the experience but YVC Online will have a documentary showcasing all of the work that was done this summer.

We've been having some intense discussions in the newsroom and trying to find a balance between stories for our Beyond the 'Bridge blog and The Cambridge Beat. We can't upload too many videos at once so we've decided to combine several different stories from the Cambridge Arts Council into one segment. Rashard successfully completed the Obama video assignment, while Tommy chimed in about the recent incident involving Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates and the Cambridge police. These are just several examples of some of the local and global issues we've been covering, but be sure to check both blogs for full content.

And finally, our Flickr site is now up and running. Please check it out!