New Year's resolution to promote youth media

I resolve to promote media production by students in 2008.

Transcript

At the beginning of 2007 I resolved to promote information freedom.

I think I did a pretty good job in my university classes. Now many students are much more aware of information control and information freedom. Quite a few have also become more critical of news from mass media and the Internet. They think young people are poorly represented. A few want to study and present the views of young people on several important topics. My conversations with them have inspired my New Year's resolution for 2008.

I resolve to promote youth media by helping young people create multimedia documentary works.

I have already started to act on my resolution. For example, I teach students how to write for the World Wide Web. Many student Web pages include photos, so they are gaining experience in visual communication on the Internet.

Some of my undergraduate and graduate seminar students are doing research projects that include the views and lifestyles of young people. I've introduced several inspiring youth media programs to them, for example, UNICEF Voices of Youth.

Several youth media handbooks are available on the Web, and all of them are free. I'll select the best ones and perhaps make a simple handbook for my students.

I'm really interested in audio. Youth radio, or now youth audio, enables young people to tell their stories and express their ideas in their own words with their own voices.

I'm assembling an audio reporter's kit during winter vacation. The kit includes a small audio recorder, a pair of compact headphones, a short shotgun mic, and a pair of very small stereo mics. The whole kit fits into a small bag that students can easily carry.

I hope my New Year's resolution for 2008 will bear fruit. Young people have a lot to say, and I want to help them say it.