YRNP+Meeting+notes

=YRNP Meeting notes=

2010.11.01 :: George, Mike, Regan and Leo

 * Potential goals for the system
 * Leverage infrastructure for people coming from different communities
 * multimedia participation regardless of the tools people have access to
 * Foster active participation: create venues for youth to report things that are happening in their communities; engage in meaningful discussions; share concerns
 * What would attract kids to our initiative?
 * Social feedback; "has anyone already responded to my question?"
 * access to the internet
 * feel part of something larger
 * access from different locations
 * What is it that attracts kids to existing CRF workshops?
 * The power they feel when they hear their own voices
 * acquiring a skill
 * connections with radio stations
 * interviews with other people ("microphones as magic wands")
 * Africa has such a radio culture
 * About the existing workshops
 * max 15 kids 12-18 years old (85% of them are 14-17)
 * organized into groups of 3-5 working with audio recorder
 * Popular language in Zambia: English
 * Perceived challenges
 * most kids live close by, but many have to travel
 * after the workshops are over
 * participants never see each other
 * CRF gets in touch with them via Facebook (inbox + wall to wall communication) or via SMS from Unicef office in Lusaka
 * In upcoming workshops there will be local organizers in each village organizing weekly meetings to keep the project going
 * Facilitators spent a lot of time setting up email accounts for participants. Those were not used to facilitate communication, but to login to Facebook. "Facebook represents the death of email"
 * Centralized system of communication kids - facilitators - administrators
 * how to send questions, announcements?
 * Kids go back home with nothing to show
 * It would be nice to provide ways for them to access their own stories
 * How to keep them in the grid after they leave the physical space?
 * About the available technology
 * Radio is extremely popular
 * 80% of the participants have cellphones with no air time (cannot make phone calls; just receive them)
 * Most phones are basic (calls + SMS features), handed down
 * Sim cards
 * voicemail accounts might be useful
 * Free/reduced costs
 * after 10pm or so
 * weekends within the network
 * Toll free lines exist
 * not necessarily free for cell phones
 * Collect calls are not popular
 * "Flashing", send missed calls in order to be called back
 * "SMS themes"
 * footnotes at the bottom of the messages... ads and other announcements/reminders
 * Question and answer mechanisms should be implemented via audio
 * The cool factor is extremely important
 * shall we provide kids with "business cards" (or stickers) with their what's up contact info?
 * Topics to be considered in the survey
 * What motivates them?
 * Day in the life
 * We need to define a timeline for the proposal and for the project itself...
 * 1st phase: Zambia

2010.10... :: Leo, Mike

 * Start working on a proposal to submit to Unicef
 * Mike organizing workshops for Haitian kids who come from small villages - no internet access, only when visiting relatives (once a month)
 * Kids use cellphones for everything. Those phones are not necessarily web-enabled
 * Zambia project might become a template for other countries
 * Zambia workshops
 * 2nd week of November
 * 3 sites: rural, capital, urban area
 * 10-15 kids per workshop
 * George will run a survey
 * How do kids become aware of important events?
 * How do they tell others about important events?
 * How do they get in touch with one another?
 * What kind of access do they have to computers, internet, telephones, radio?
 * What are the challenges associated with those forms of access? cost? distance? complexity?
 * How do local organizations reach out to the community? What are the challenges?
 * Shall we create posters with phone numbers?

2010.10. :: Second meeting (Leo, Mike)

 * sound quality. the need for high and low resolution
 * what to do with anonymous audio blog entries? add images to them so that they become more presentable on the web?
 * in terms of connectivity, we might even consider sending memory cards back and forth, a DakNet approach, etc.
 * Organize an ICT survey
 * The importance of integrating maps
 * Come up with ways to follow the evolution of the project, measure its impact
 * Provide mechanisms for people to add comments in various ways
 * consider having a "record now!" button right on the front page of the site

2010.09.15 :: First skype meeting (Gerrit, Mike, Joe, Leo)

 * the radio workshop
 * media workspaces
 * build a "youth radio program platform"
 * partnership MIT + CRF with Unicef as an advisor, partner, funder?
 * What's the research component?
 * digital inclusion?
 * voice?
 * empowerment?
 * Talk to Mike Bove from MIT Center for Storytelling
 * From Gerrit:
 * start small
 * start with a project that is already happening (like Zambia?)
 * work with groups of 15 kids to produce local content
 * simple things: upload, download, add comments
 * build a Youth Radio Network portal
 * Things that we need to learn about:
 * issues of connectivity
 * issues of participation
 * what about transportation?
 * and what happens after the workshops are over?