INDEPENDENT NEWS

Seeing Sound - Collaborative Project with Fresh FM

Published: Tue 29 Aug 2006 04:10 PM
Victory Urban Village Project
'Seeing Sound'- A Collaborative Project between the Victory Urban Village Project and Fresh FM.
Using digital technology to help people learn, whilst building the capacity of their community.
Take eight people from the Victory community in Nelson (7 adults and 1 teenager), and eight weeks later you have eight people trained in the use of digital technology, hosting and producing radio shows and web content. They have new skills that helps them and helps build the capacity of their community, whilst also raising its' profile. Do all of this and base it at the local primary school - that's the aim of the innovative collaborative pilot project 'Seeing Sound' between the Victory Urban Village Project and community access radio station Fresh FM.
Kindra Douglas - Project Leader of the Victory Urban Village Project says:
"The Fresh FM radio training programme will train some Victory Village people in using a range of communication skills as well as the digital technology to create the radio programmes, it will also bring those voices from Victory Village direct to the wider community and promote the Village lifestyle. We see this pilot project of using community radio as a tool for community development and enhancement of well-being and pride."
John Bullock, Station Manager at Fresh FM says:
"Fresh FM has always played a role in community learning and community development; with the advent of digital technology it has become easier to base this in the community itself. People can learn, share their ideas, issues and passions, connecting with other communities in a way that helps develop their own. The digital content produced from Victory will be broadcast, pod cast and used on the Fresh FM website - people across the Top of the South will hear the voices of Victory. Seeing Sound is an integral part of our vision to create a region of story-tellers. Story telling in its broader context feeds directly into a our social and economic prosperity and well-being."
Draft concepts for the eight radio shows are: the Changing Face of Victory; on tour with the Flash Dudes (local school band); refugee stories; children's radio drama - Whatever Happened to the Southern Link Road; immigrant stories; focus on Victory school; the Victory Village Green; women and happiness in Victory.
In the knowledge based Twenty First Century it is vital that communities access information and connect creatively if they are to be successful.
Ends.
Notes.
Victory Urban Village project is funded by the Community Initiatives Fund under Ministry of Social Development and sponsored by Nelson City Council. The broad aim of the project is to build capacity in the community for the purpose of generating a common vision and direction for their future. It is also about getting better access to health and social services, letting them know about more resources and support that might improve health and well-being.
It is about empowering people to bring their voices to the wider Nelson community about what they have and can offer, what they need, and their opinions on issues that affect them. Traditionally this community has not taken their voice, for instance into local government in an organised or collective way. This project will make those connections, enabling greater resources to be available for all in the Village.
Victory Village in Nelson is made up of the four census 'meshblock' areas of Toi Toi, Broads, Britannia Heights and Kirks. It contains units within that that are the highest deprivation within the whole top-of-the-south. The area includes higher than average citywide numbers of beneficiaries, including invalid and sickness, and highest numbers of low-income earners. Median house prices and rents are lower than city-wide averages. The school is a low decile (2) and thus is eligible for the Social Worker in Schools scheme, which supports children and families meet their wider social needs. The latest census (results due out later this year) is likely to indicate changes upwards in the overall demographic profile of this community.
Fresh FM is the community access radio station for the Top of the South island. Fresh FM as a user of digital technology. All recording and editing is done digitally. Nelson and Motueka studios are linked by a VPN (Virtual Private Network) that transfers radio shows. Radio feed to Blenheim is via Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology Broadband. Audio downloads and pod casts are available online. Radio streaming via the website is due to commence shortly.
CLICKS stands for Community Learning Information Communication and Knowledge Sharing and is used as a concept to explain how Fresh FM can help communities. For more details on Fresh FM and CLICKS visit www.freshfm.net Extract from original Fresh FM 'Seeing Sound' proposal.
The project title 'Seeing Sound' comes from the experience of training people in the use of digital recording and editing technology - for many people seeing how they see sound has been a revelation and an excellent learning tool for their understanding of themselves and how they communicate.
Project Overview
The Concern -
Fresh FM is evolving - CLICKS, Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, Top of the South, Discovery Station, technological change etc. Within all of this there is a common thread that can be linked back to our purpose - that is learning. One of our purposes is '...to provide community and educational opportunities.' especially to women, children, ethnic minorities, disabled people, and other marginalized groups - this then empowers them and celebrates their diversity within the region.
Within the "Knowledge Society' individuals need more than just knowledge/understanding and skills, they also need attitude and values. Increasingly in New Zealand (and elsewhere) a 'key competency' approach is being used to develop and deliver educational programmes, that meet the above needs. For example in the tertiary education framework, four key groups of competencies have been developed, viz - operating in social groups, acting autonomously, using tools interactively, and thinking. (Key Competencies in Tertiary Education - Developing a New Zealand Framework, Min. of Education 2005 - Discussion Document)
Existing and new Fresh FM resources could be used to help deliver learning opportunities that develop all of the above competencies.
Fresh FM could, perhaps should, become more proactively involved with education and learning at a community level; supporting existing training providers in delivering educational programmes that builds key competencies, encourages more formal training, with the aim of empowering them to be economically and socially active within their community. To a limited extent this has already happened in the Motueka and Takaka studios, where people from Te Whare Mahana, The Workcentre Trust, the 8 Ball Centre have undertaken training in making a radio programme, but where the main benefit has been in developing their self esteem, their confidence, their ability to listen and use language effectively. Similarly at the Motueka High School, as part of the English and Media Studies Courses, formal assessments have been made but there has been much wider benefits for the students involved ' The NZ Governments Digital Strategy has three aims:
Content - Information we can access that can enrich the quality of our lives.
Confidence - The skills to use ICT (Information Communication Technology) and a secure environment in which to do so.
Connection - Getting access to and using ICT. Details at www.digitalstrategy.govt.nz
ENDS

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