2/4/2009

CITIZEN JOURNALISM AND DIGITAL VOICES: INSTITUTING A COLLABORATIVE PROCESS BETWEEN GLOBAL YOUTH, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDIA FOR POSITIVE SOCIAL CHANGE

By Robin Worley1

2/4/2009

The Problem

Marginalized youth without a voice: 350,000 restaveks 12 million AIDS orphans As many as 100 million

kids living on the streets Significance of the study The Purpose: studying

the impact of digital voices and how marginalized youths can participate to become empowered and change their lives. Focus on Kenyan teens who are infected or affected by HIV/AIDS.

I’ll add photos as soon as my computer is fixed and I can access them.

2

2/4/2009

State of the World’s Children (UNICEF)

Why should we focus on young people in developing countries? Poverty-2.2 billion living below

the poverty line of $1 per day, and 1 billion of these are children.

Education—In 2006 there were 93 million primary school aged kids out of school. Over 90 million of these kids are in developing countries.

Gender equity-equal educational access for girls

Access to healthcare-Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Before one can reach her potential, she must have basic needs met: food, shelter, health.

3

2/4/2009

Storytelling

The power of stories: they move us emotionally. They let us imagine something different than the reality before us. They can empower the storyteller.

Stories throughout history: myths, fairytales and the hero’s journey.

Stories in the information age: information overload, people are searching for meaning, not more facts.

Change initiated through storytelling-Steve Denning, World Bank CIO, discovered it can help create change in an organization.

4

2/4/2009

Citizen Journalism

What is it? Non-professionals collect, report, analyze and disseminate news and information.

Why has it emerged? Limitations facing

citizen journalists Why become a

citizen journalist?

5

2/4/2009

Research

Research Questions :1. In what ways was the design

and implementation of JUMP and the first media workshop in Kenya successful as a means of teaching citizen journalism to young people and encouraging them to continue making their voices heard?

2. What challenges were faced by the setting: working with impoverished youths in a developing country that has a weak infrastructure for technology?

3. What were the successes and limitations of the JUMP program and process?6

2/4/2009

Research Design

Utilization-focused evaluation with case study research. Patton asks, “How do

we know what is good?”

Inspired by the action research process: researcher identifies a social problem and conducts a research project aimed to provide a solution.

7

2/4/2009

Data Sources The People—called JUMPers:

11 students from Kauai 12 students from Nakuru 10-15 from Kibera 10-15 from Mombasa Group leaders, chaperones,

mentors The Artifacts

Podcasts-10 podcasts lasting between 3-12 minutes

Photos—approximately 1000 photographs

Emails-approximately 300 email correspondences spanning 2 years

Video-approximately 10 hours of video

Stories-30 personal stories from Kenyan teens

Field notes of the researcher

8

2/4/2009

Role of the Researcher

Identify a social problem and propose a solution

Researcher-participant

Evaluator Plan for next

steps

9

2/4/2009

Data Collection Archived material

Target population: Kenyan teens infected or affected by HIV/AIDS

Extent of archived material Email-300 emails will be sorted

and categorized for topic and them. Not all will be used.

Podcasts—48 minutes of podcasts will be listened to and tagged.

Photos—approximately 1000 photos will be viewed and tagged for topic and theme.

Videos—out of 10 hours of video, I’ll sort through to identify 3-5 hours of film that most clearly shows topics and theme.

Stories—there are 20 personal stories written by Kenyan teens describing how AIDS has impacted them. These will be tagged for topic and theme.

Field notes

10

2/4/2009

IRB

Exempt status based on 46.101(b)4 Existing data,

documents and records are exempt if the subjects cannot be identified.

All participants signed release forms

No identification—each JUMP participant will be given a number and only numbers will appear as identifiers in the dissertation. 1

1

2/4/2009

Analysis of Topics & Themes

Training: Equipment

(topic) Internet

connection (topic)

Continue independently (theme)

12

2/4/2009

Analysis of Topics & Themes

Storytelling Increased self-esteem

(theme) Feelings of

empowerment (theme) Sharing stories with

larger audience (topic) Making facts and

figures personal (topic) Emotionally moving

the listener to want to take action (theme)

13

2/4/2009

Analysis of Topics & Themes Citizen Journalism

New perspective to news (topic)

More local, personal look at a broader issue (topic)

Sharing information not normally heard in mainstream news (topic)

Making marginalized citizens more visible and less vulnerable (theme)

14

2/4/2009

Analysis of Topics & Themes

Process: Did the participants

form positive partnerships (theme)

Were the youths cultural sensitive of one another (theme)

Were the adults effective in their leadership and mentoring roles (theme)

Was the community strong enough to continue with support from a distance? (theme)

15

2/4/2009

Strategies to minimize researcher bias Software program or

manual coding for topics and themes

Triangulation of content

Triangulation of analysis by two different observers

16

2/4/2009

Questions, comments, discussion… photo

17