new media center_kuda.org

Youth Center CK13, Vojvode Bojovića 13, Novi Sad, www.ck13.org

“DON’T HATE THE MEDIA, BECOME THE MEDIA”

Second in a row - Workshop on new media activism
Organized by the Center for New Media_kuda.org, the Democratic Youth Forum of Brandenburg, and the Youth Center CK13

Friday - Monday, April 24 - 27, 2009

For all those who want to learn or improve their knowledge on how to create and maintain a website using Free and Open Source tools.

New Media Activism workshops will include presenting and mastering Drupal, free software, and complex open-source systems dedicated to collaboration and collaboration of a larger group of users via the Internet, discussions, unlimited participation, access to information, and cooperation on common ideas. Drupal is free software that allows individuals or groups to easily publish, maintain and organize a large amount of different content on their website. Drupal is a very flexible platform that allows the application of various modules, such as Content Management Systems, blogs, forums, peer-to-peer networking, newsletters, podcasting, image galleries, uploading and downloading files, and much more.

Drupal is open-source software distributed under the GPL ("GNU General Public License") that today has tens of thousands of users worldwide and thousands of developers developing it to meet the specific needs of users. http://www.drupal.org

New media activism workshops will include two steps:
- Mastering Drupal and creating your own website during a three-day workshop
- Free hosting of created websites

The lecturers at the new media workshops come from Berlin and are experienced activists dedicated to strategies against racism and anti-Semitism in Brandenburg, which bases its activities on education, networking, interculturalism, and connecting youth projects and initiatives, primarily through the use of new media. The workshop will be held in English.

The number of participants is limited, as is the number of available computers. However, we invite potential participants to bring their laptops to the workshops, if possible.

Attendance at workshops is free. Applications should be sent to [email protected], by Wednesday, April 22, and applications should include: name and surname, e-mail and telephone contact, and a very short biography/motivation of potential workshop participants.

Examples of websites created in Drupal:
http://www.dictionaryofwar.org
http://www.kein.org
http://kein.tv
http://www.youthorganizing.net
http://www.ck13.org
http://www.djb-ev.de
http://www.kuda.org

Why is new media activism important?

Media activists end up where the mainstream media cannot and thus create news and content about events that have been neglected or misinterpreted and that pose a challenge (neutrality) to the mass media. The idea of ​​media activism is based on the desire to encourage social change not through alternative ideas but through the process of production itself so that the observer becomes a producer and eliminates the difference between professionals who create the culture and its passive consumers. New media are never neutral. They provide unlimited possibilities for communication, but the utopia of a fully networked society is slowly giving way to the question of the value of the content we exchange via the Internet. Media activism was born out of the knowledge that the mass media is controlled by the social and political elite, sources of financial support, and hierarchical structure, although it is claimed to serve the democratic interest of informing citizens. It is important to find an alternative to these practices by including the perspectives and needs of ordinary people and groups from the margins and regulating the production process that should be democratically and non-hierarchically organized. Precisely for the mentioned reasons, the Youth Center CK13 is organizing a series of workshops on new media and video activism this fall, as well as an independent youth radio.

Realization of the project enabled by the support of the Open Society Fund and Neobee.net Internet Service Provider.