Hi! Welcome to Verde Smoke

Today, I led part 2 of a webinar on social media messaging for digital literacy efforts, hosted by One Community’s Connect Your Community BTOP project in OH.  Below are my presentation…recording of the full webinar coming soon on http://vimeo.com/channels/connectcommunity.

PS – Go to my older post for part 1, including a recording of the webinar! http://verdesmoke.com/2011/09/storytelling-social-media-a-webinar/

[Reposted from ConnectorsClub.org, July 28, 2010 at 7:30am]

You might have seen me ghosting around the Connectors Club and wondered, who is this Danielle? I’m the new manager of Social Media training with the Digital Connector project and am quickly taking ownership of Connectors Club and brainstorming ideas to use new social media tools to support local Digital Connectors programs. In the short time I’ve been on ConnectorsClub.org, I’ve been super impressed with the youth’s blog posts and the great photos of their projects and events.

I’ve actually been lucky to have been ghosting around LOTS of youth spaces online and in-person in communities all over the country but mostly in the neighborhoods of Boston for the past ten years. I’ve been a Computer Clubhouse afterschool media facilitator, a trainer in community digital storytelling, an instructor of digital photography as a tool for conflict resolution, and a non-profit media trainer. In all of these pursuits, I happily hop the fence between door-knocking and Facebook groups or chalk on the sidewalk and Flip videos on YouTube. I’m constantly recording my work using online blogging and social networking tools and a digital recorder. You don’t have to be a techie to incorporate these tools in your work, but you do need to consider how they fit into your regular daily workflow, like any way to reflect on how you’re doing.

Although I try to focus on media as a tool and not just an output, it’s the media that usually hooks people first. Participatory media, also known as social media or Web 2.0, are digital media ranging from Twitter micro-blogging to Google Maps to YouTube videos. These new media tools have different outputs, but have one key functionality in common: as users add media and interact, the aggregated content or application gains popularity and value.

So to practice what I preach, I’ll be blogging and creating media content more and more as the next round of local cohorts come on board. This week I’m chilling in Fort Lauderdale with an inspiring crew of new instructors at the first of many upcoming 1Institute instructor trainings. We just asked the instructors to try out the Mission Statement activity, and encouraged them to blog their answers.

In that spirit, here’s my value statement (which is really important to me in the way I approach working in communities):

I VALUE VOICE.
…individual, authentic, unrestrained, equal and celebrated.

I VALUE CHANGE.
…making some sort of impact…using my hands and my brains and a camera…and probably some geeky homegrown tools.

I VALUE COMMUNITY.
…deep in it… on the ground…. surrounded by that dynamic noise of the personalities who value the same things I do.