The All-Seeing Public Eye by Derek Wallace
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Watch this and take some notes if this interests you.
The All-Seeing Public Eye by Derek Wallace (Workshop on grassroots journalism)
The main reason I stopped off back home in Los Angeles was to do a workshop on grassroots journalism at the 2008 L.A. Social Forum. I filmed it, edited it, chopped it up into its six separate parts and tossed it up on Youtube. Keep in mind this isn't supposed to be some 3-minute viral piece to float around. It's a longer, more in-depth examination of how camcorders, mobile phones and the internet allow US to be the media now. Ideally, it's meant to show high school teachers and college professors what they'd be in store for if I came to do the workshop for their students (free of charge, of course).
So if you are in school, or are a member of the faculty, or know anyone who is, please pass it along to them! And if you have the time, feel free to take a look yourself and give some feedback.
The All-Seeing Public Eye, Part 1: Why Isn't Mainstream Media Enough?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUM2XPxA3Js
Part 1 deals with why mainstream media is not, and never will be, enough. topics covered include media consolidation & monopolies, corporate sponsorship, video news releases, fear-based tactics, sensationalism, lack of context for local viewers and political/religious biases.
The All-Seeing Public Eye, Part 2: What is Grassroots Journalism?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkFbkA1oAWY
Part 2 deals with citizen journalism. Topics covered include September 11th,
the London train bombings, Abu Ghraib, Saddam Hussein's execution, Senator George Allen's macaca incident, the Ft. Bragg scandal, sousveillance, IndyMedia, CopWatch, Video the Vote, Peter Gabriel's WITNESS Project, smartmobs and their integration into journalism clubs on high school & college campuses around the United States.
The All-Seeing Public Eye, Part 3: What Price Freedom?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9QeJX0nRj8
Part 3 deals with the environmental costs and human rights abuses involved in the manufacture and distribution of personal electronics. Topics covered
include the slave-like conditions in modern mining operations to extract the
precious metals used in cell phones/iPods/video cameras/computers, the
funding of civil wars in Africa, Annie Leonard's "The Story of Stuff",
petroleum consumption and dependency, recycling programs like ReCellular, the dumping of eWaste in Third World countries and how cell phones with video capability can be re-purposed as cheap camcorders for students in high school/college journalism clubs so they can help document the stories that mainstream media either distorts or ignores altogether.
The All-Seeing Public Eye, Part 4: The Fundamentals of Filming
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad2kysSCHJ8
Part 4 deals with the fundamentals of filmmaking. Topics covered include
acquiring a camera (buying, renting, borrowing), using still photo cameras
with video capability, storage and transfer of footage, investing in batteries, making sure footage can be admissable in a court of law, avoiding backlighting, maintaining clear focus, capturing good audio, knowing when to
use tripods and when to go hand-held, framing up subjects for aesthetically-pleasing compositions, how to film at protests and rallies without making yourself a target, the art of subtle filming, smuggled cell phones being used to document abuses of power during the 2004 Republican National Convention where protesters were incarcerated in Pier 57, how some simple training could have resulted in the footage of the beating of Rodney King by the L.A.P.D. and the tasering of Mostafa Tabatabainejad in the U.C.L.A. library being better evidence for a court of law and why protesters shouldn't rely on mobile phones for uploading their videos at protests/rallies (considering that jamming technology is being utilized more and more by law enforcement).
The All-Seeing Public Eye, Part 5: Internet - Great Equalizer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OMKZizYNB8
Part 5 deals with how the Internet can act as a great equalizer to help
spread awareness of the stories that mainstream media either distorts or
ignores altogether. Topics covered include using Youtube & Google to host
videos, adding tags and keywords to maximize search results, utilizing social
networking sites like MySpace & Facebook to share your stories and connect
with kindred spirits, spreading your stories through Digg.com & Stumbleupon,
potential change to the system brought about by the CNN/Youtube presidential candidate debates, submitting political/educational videos to
corporate-sponsored contests as a form of online activism, getting your
videos on mainstream media outlets, joining hyperlocal news stations, the
importance of securing Net Neutrality so that corporations can't limit which
sites we can visit and how people can use the lessons they've learned in this workshop to gain an architect's view of media for detecting mainstream
propaganda.
The All-Seeing Public Eye, Part 6: Your Homework Assignment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZLIMDpDaCQ
Part 6 is your homework assignment after having experienced the entire
workshop. Anyone with a hunger for truth and a thirst for justice can be a
journalist - so if you're looking for permission, I give it to you! Go be a
reporter! You don't need a badge or a degree or any credentials. Heck, you
don't even need to have gone to school (although it would most certainly
help). If you want an assignment, I'll give you one: go interview someone
interesting wherever you live. Do a Q&A with them, maybe take a photo and
toss the final product online by using the free services at Blogger.com. Or,
if you want to do a video interview, toss the final product online at
Youtube.com. And when it's done, send it to me so that I can check it out! My website is organicreform.org and my e-mail is derek@organicreform.org
Now what are you standin' 'round about for? Get on that story! MOVE!
http://www.youtube.com/organicreform
http://www.youtube.com/user/smartbombstudios
http://www.organicreform.org/
http://www.myspace.com/organicreform
The All-Seeing Public Eye by Derek Wallace (Workshop on grassroots journalism)
The main reason I stopped off back home in Los Angeles was to do a workshop on grassroots journalism at the 2008 L.A. Social Forum. I filmed it, edited it, chopped it up into its six separate parts and tossed it up on Youtube. Keep in mind this isn't supposed to be some 3-minute viral piece to float around. It's a longer, more in-depth examination of how camcorders, mobile phones and the internet allow US to be the media now. Ideally, it's meant to show high school teachers and college professors what they'd be in store for if I came to do the workshop for their students (free of charge, of course).
So if you are in school, or are a member of the faculty, or know anyone who is, please pass it along to them! And if you have the time, feel free to take a look yourself and give some feedback.
The All-Seeing Public Eye, Part 1: Why Isn't Mainstream Media Enough?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUM2XPxA3Js
Part 1 deals with why mainstream media is not, and never will be, enough. topics covered include media consolidation & monopolies, corporate sponsorship, video news releases, fear-based tactics, sensationalism, lack of context for local viewers and political/religious biases.
The All-Seeing Public Eye, Part 2: What is Grassroots Journalism?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkFbkA1oAWY
Part 2 deals with citizen journalism. Topics covered include September 11th,
the London train bombings, Abu Ghraib, Saddam Hussein's execution, Senator George Allen's macaca incident, the Ft. Bragg scandal, sousveillance, IndyMedia, CopWatch, Video the Vote, Peter Gabriel's WITNESS Project, smartmobs and their integration into journalism clubs on high school & college campuses around the United States.
The All-Seeing Public Eye, Part 3: What Price Freedom?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9QeJX0nRj8
Part 3 deals with the environmental costs and human rights abuses involved in the manufacture and distribution of personal electronics. Topics covered
include the slave-like conditions in modern mining operations to extract the
precious metals used in cell phones/iPods/video cameras/computers, the
funding of civil wars in Africa, Annie Leonard's "The Story of Stuff",
petroleum consumption and dependency, recycling programs like ReCellular, the dumping of eWaste in Third World countries and how cell phones with video capability can be re-purposed as cheap camcorders for students in high school/college journalism clubs so they can help document the stories that mainstream media either distorts or ignores altogether.
The All-Seeing Public Eye, Part 4: The Fundamentals of Filming
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad2kysSCHJ8
Part 4 deals with the fundamentals of filmmaking. Topics covered include
acquiring a camera (buying, renting, borrowing), using still photo cameras
with video capability, storage and transfer of footage, investing in batteries, making sure footage can be admissable in a court of law, avoiding backlighting, maintaining clear focus, capturing good audio, knowing when to
use tripods and when to go hand-held, framing up subjects for aesthetically-pleasing compositions, how to film at protests and rallies without making yourself a target, the art of subtle filming, smuggled cell phones being used to document abuses of power during the 2004 Republican National Convention where protesters were incarcerated in Pier 57, how some simple training could have resulted in the footage of the beating of Rodney King by the L.A.P.D. and the tasering of Mostafa Tabatabainejad in the U.C.L.A. library being better evidence for a court of law and why protesters shouldn't rely on mobile phones for uploading their videos at protests/rallies (considering that jamming technology is being utilized more and more by law enforcement).
The All-Seeing Public Eye, Part 5: Internet - Great Equalizer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OMKZizYNB8
Part 5 deals with how the Internet can act as a great equalizer to help
spread awareness of the stories that mainstream media either distorts or
ignores altogether. Topics covered include using Youtube & Google to host
videos, adding tags and keywords to maximize search results, utilizing social
networking sites like MySpace & Facebook to share your stories and connect
with kindred spirits, spreading your stories through Digg.com & Stumbleupon,
potential change to the system brought about by the CNN/Youtube presidential candidate debates, submitting political/educational videos to
corporate-sponsored contests as a form of online activism, getting your
videos on mainstream media outlets, joining hyperlocal news stations, the
importance of securing Net Neutrality so that corporations can't limit which
sites we can visit and how people can use the lessons they've learned in this workshop to gain an architect's view of media for detecting mainstream
propaganda.
The All-Seeing Public Eye, Part 6: Your Homework Assignment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZLIMDpDaCQ
Part 6 is your homework assignment after having experienced the entire
workshop. Anyone with a hunger for truth and a thirst for justice can be a
journalist - so if you're looking for permission, I give it to you! Go be a
reporter! You don't need a badge or a degree or any credentials. Heck, you
don't even need to have gone to school (although it would most certainly
help). If you want an assignment, I'll give you one: go interview someone
interesting wherever you live. Do a Q&A with them, maybe take a photo and
toss the final product online by using the free services at Blogger.com. Or,
if you want to do a video interview, toss the final product online at
Youtube.com. And when it's done, send it to me so that I can check it out! My website is organicreform.org and my e-mail is derek@organicreform.org
Now what are you standin' 'round about for? Get on that story! MOVE!
http://www.youtube.com/organicreform
http://www.youtube.com/user/smartbombstudios
http://www.organicreform.org/
http://www.myspace.com/organicreform
If you keep yourself as the final arbiter you will be less susceptible to infection from cultural illusion.
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