Mariel García: My Digital Life
Filed at 8:00 am on December 24, 2008 in Civic Engagement, Credibility, Games, Identity, Digital Divide • 7 comments
We begin our series on today’s young digital media innovators with a post from a student now studying cultural and virtual media in Mexico. A participant in Global Kids’ Online Leadership Program, here she reflects on her own work and contributions to the Youth Media Exchange community.
It is hard for me to sit down and realize that I have actually created media in the strict sense of the word. Although I got a computer at home at a young age, I grew up looking up at people who created content that reached many corners of the world. Now that I see comments or the statistics in the cyberspace I have occupied that say people maybe not from all countries, but certainly from all regions of the world have looked at content I have made, I can’t help but go, ‘Oh, wow. Yay Internet’. Still, There is a not-so-pretty side in this reflection, and it comes when I try to write about the things I’ve made, as it turns out that most of my online content is irrelevant to any good cause beyond amusement.
To make it short, I will say that I have posted content of this type all over the web in sites that people visit everyday, and nothing extraordinary can be mentioned about it. All of it features personal creations that were made out of boredom or procrastination rather than out of the desire to contribute to a greater cause in particular.
That said, I want to speak about a website that I have been interested in lately. Its name is Youth Media Exchange (YMEX), and the reason why it makes me smile is that it connects this impulsive desire of media-making with a greater cause - teaching and learning about global issues. It’d seem that anyone who has access to internet can learn it all about them, but truth is that a lot of the content out there is not youth-friendly, and YMEX helps youth tackle that barrier.
I have submitted many things I have made (and linked to works made by other folks). Although some of the content is not on the site anymore, I have submitted images that are now on Flickr, a video, slideshows and writing, among a few others. However, the content I can say I am the “proudest” of is the International Year of Languages I submitted.
YMEX features quests to make the process of learning and media-making about one global issue in specific easier, and any member can take part in them. I decided to expand the range of global issues covered in YMEX a little bit by submitting the quest about the issues around languages, using the declaration of 2008 as the International Year of Languages as the pretext.
Although I had spent hours working on things to post online, this one reminded me of some of the assignments I put most effort into in high school (debate handbooks made for MUN). I spent hours doing research, making resources and putting it all into a method. The quest is visible only to those who take part in it, but all of the content can be seen in the page that was created for it.
...So my time spent online is not generally used in a productive way, but I can say I am happy with a few of the things I have done. I hope young people will visit sites like YMEX more often because they are fun -and- actually helpful.
Next: Nafiza Akter: Virtual Video Projects > >
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Comments (7)
1: rik panganiban from Global Kids at 1:25 pm on Thursday, December 25, 2008
It’s been great seeing Mariel’s growth as a leader and media savvy citizen as she has been involved with different Global Kids projects over the past couple of years.
She’s got a big future ahead of her in whatever she chooses to pursue.
2: Barry Joseph from Global Kids, Inc. at 11:50 am on Monday, December 29, 2008
Mariel, It’s always great to hear your view on all you do online. Can you say more about the great video you made, why it is only a minute, and the range of online material you featured? Also, can you say something about UNICEF’s Voices of Youth community where we first met?
3: Mariel Garc from UNAM (student) at 12:32 am on Sunday, January 4, 2009
Thank you, Rik and Barry, for the kind comments!
Here comes a comment that is probably larger than the blog post itself, hahaha.
I made the featured video a few weeks ago to contribute to this publication based on ‘case studies’ that is being done by the George Lucas Educational Foundation to let people see how young people are using digital media. The point was to pretty much say how I use digital media in one minute, and, as I don’t have a professional interest in IT or digital media on their own in general, I tried to force in the basic idea of what defines the part of the population I belong in (Mexican citizen, humanities student in university) and what I do with media everyday.
The range of material - I tried to make it representative of what I use, so it ended up being varied and apparently unrelated to the other things on the video. Visually, it’s too much content in such a short lapse of time, but I tried to force a distinction to make things easier - what counts for me as procrastination (social networking,, and ‘admiration of others’ work’) and what counts for me as real pursuit of passions (random content on gymnastics, philosophy, cultural development, digital media and activism, and arts). In case that weren’t fast enough for the eyes, I also crammed in the reasons why I am so passionate about digital media - how they actually helped me shape my life by giving me opportunities my offline environment would have never given me, like access to the type of knowledge I know pursue in university or to the type of lifestyle I want to have in the future (GK - thank you very much), or how they have connected me to people that are crucial in my life. Or how they let me even talk about all this.
In regards to VOY - it’s an online e-community that belongs to Unicef in which mostly young people gather to mostly learn about global issues. I featured it on the video because it was the first online community related to global issues and activism that I participated in, and the lessons I learned there I carry everyday in my online and offline lives.
Okay - too much now!
4: Barry Joseph from Global Kids, Inc. at 2:34 pm on Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Mariel, I presume English is your second language, right? Can you say anything about how language has played a role within your various online communities, in regards to access and equal participation for all?
5: Tori Horton from University of Southern California at 4:17 pm on Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Mariel, thanks for posting your video and self reflection about your video as well as the impact of media on your everyday experience. Its always fun to see what you are working on—keep it up!
6: Mariel Garc from UNAM (student) at 11:39 pm on Monday, January 12, 2009
Thanks for your comment, Tori! :D
Barry - English is indeed my second language. I frankly think that official statistics have more weight than personal testimonial on this one, especially as I never really tried to keep track of my activity in terms of language of choice, but I think that not speaking English is perhaps the strongest barrier for people who actually have access to computers and internet. Not only most of the communities I have participated in had English as a first language, but also most of the content I have had access to does.
7: Career Coach from Coaching at 4:45 pm on Friday, April 3, 2009
This is great! media-making with a greater cause - teaching and learning about global issues.
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