Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

9.2.10 | In this StudentSpeak webisode, Spotlight talks with Serenity, 14, a participant in the Digital Youth Network and YOUmedia after school programs at the Harold Washington Library in Chicago.

Serenity created a short documentary about violence in her community as part of YOUMedia’s collaboration with the Cure Violence project (learn more about the collaboration and the students’ work here).

For her video project, Serenity asked other teens and adults in her community whether they thought violence in popular music and video games are contributing to neighborhood violence.

Serenity, who comes to YOUmedia from Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, says she wants to help her peers develop a critical analysis of the violent messages they see everyday.

“I feel as if creating a documentary and actually telling them what they are listening to and how they could stop it would help them make better choices,” she said.

In addition to writing, directing and editing the film, Serenity collaborated with other teens producing original music for the documentary.

Serenity says after school programs like YOUMedia and the Digital Youth Network are important because they help students become media critics and builders as well as consumers. As producers, Serenity says, teens find they have a lot to say.

“We are taking our culture back,” she said.

Watch Serenity’s documentary above, and hear more about her views on media production.

StudentSpeak, a video series produced by Spotlight, goes behind the scenes to show how teens use digital media in their daily lives. View previous webisodes here.