austraLasia #3294
PORT MORESBY/KUMGI: 5 October 2013 -- Media Week, organised in two Salesian centres in PNG (Kumgi, Central Highlands, and Port Moresby the Capital) was a very special event, a first, really, of such magnitude, and by all accounts, a very successful one. Here are two reports, one based on Kumgi 23-24 Sept, then Port Moresby 26-27 Sept.
KUMGI
130 participants attended the two day Media Education Seminar held at Don Bosco Tech Institute, Kumgi on the 23rd and 24th September, 2013. The participants – a mix of students, teachers and students from a few other schools were delighted to be part of the two-day programme.
Highlighting the World Communications Day message: ‘Social Networks, portals of truth and faith, new spaces for evangelization’, Fr. Ambrose Pereira sdb invited the participants to understand the media and use it to empower and enhance life as they spread positive messages through the different media.
The animators, specialized in their fields, were from a variety of backgrounds. Fiji Media Watch Director, Agatha Ferei dealt with critical analysis of media content; Information Technology expert, Hayden Powick opened the students to the possibilities of Social Media while Mario Braganza instructed the students on the need to write creatively and photograph pleasing images.
The participants were immersed in every activity – right from the well-animated Eucharistic celebration in the morning to the insightful film at the end of the day. The enthusiasm of the animators rubbed off on to the participants as they sang, staged little dramas, painted banners and participated at the different sessions.
“Papua New Guinea is in a unique situation, in that most of the students know that Social Networking exists, but haven’t had easy access to it yet. This allowed the topic to be disseminated and negative issues to be discussed, before the students had a chance to make a mistake. It is my hope that the students are both excited and mindful of the effects of Social Networking in our world today.” – (Hayden Powick).
“The seminar has brought about a hope for the future as they participants realize that they need to address a variety of issues fight from Women’s liberation to AIDS” (Mario Braganza).
“Their challenges included vandalism, rape and violence, heavy demands of their community on bride price, unstable families, a clash between the traditional culture and Christianity, substance abuse and loitering of the young” (Agatha Ferei).
Principal Sr. Leena John was pleased with the very positive approach, cheerfulness and catholic values highlighted by the animators. “You have created awareness, showed the good and bad side of the media. It is now up to the students to be responsible users of the media”, she said.
PORT MORESBY
Social Media has enveloped the world with a revolution of ideas, perspectives and an instant rush of information. This media revolution has definitely not excluded the hot city of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea in particular the students at Don Bosco Technical Institute, Boroko.
The two day Media Seminar held on 26th and 27th September, orchestrated by Fr Ambrose Pereira sdb covered many of the issues regarding the paradigm shift that has been occurring in the media worldwide. These included Media Ethics, Digital Identity, Digital Behaviour, Article Writing, Image Composition and Media Awareness.
Day One
Mario Braganza, a volunteer from India, discussed the fine points of creating an article which would stand out from the thousands of articles online. This was with a small selected group of staff and students from Boroko and Araimiri, who would attend the seminar for the entire two days.
In the late morning a talk was held for a large number of students, estimated to be around 250. The speakers left the students in awe of these ‘New Technologies’ that are useful for ‘Social Networking”. With the potential for both terror and evangelisation, and because social media is a massive part of our world, the students learnt to appreciate the huge impact it will have on how young people think.
In the afternoon Agatha Ferei, Director of Fiji Media Watch ran a workshop on advertising the un-advertisable. The students were both insightful and enthusiastic, developing creative solutions to marketing problems. A rewarding first day, with the participants reeling from the impact of the seminar, hungering for more.
Day Two
On the second day the group 30 of students began exploring techniques for effective image composition, namely the 2/3 rule. The students absorbed this information with ardour, quickly applying it to a number of practical Exercises.
Earlier, the participants were guided into making a Media Awareness Action Plan. The students, now empowered with this information, constructed a number targeted events to make their fellow students aware of issues that are currently permeating Papua New Guinea’s Media.
The final session had a technological twist as Hayden Powick, New Zealand IT specialist led them to log on to a blog website. They then proceeded to create their own post with content relevant to themselves. Social Media is inherently two-way communication, and so the students then proceeded to comment on each other’s posts. Everyone enjoyed this exposure to modern communication, which brought the seminars theory to life.
“I found the students here in PNG both intelligent and animated to learn about Social Media. Students from my country take Social Media for granted, and subsequently a lot of issues are arising because of their complacency. PNG is right of the brink of this revolution, and so it was
PORT MORESBY/KUMGI: 5 October 2013 -- Media Week, organised in two Salesian centres in PNG (Kumgi, Central Highlands, and Port Moresby the Capital) was a very special event, a first, really, of such magnitude, and by all accounts, a very successful one. Here are two reports, one based on Kumgi 23-24 Sept, then Port Moresby 26-27 Sept.
KUMGI
130 participants attended the two day Media Education Seminar held at Don Bosco Tech Institute, Kumgi on the 23rd and 24th September, 2013. The participants – a mix of students, teachers and students from a few other schools were delighted to be part of the two-day programme.
Highlighting the World Communications Day message: ‘Social Networks, portals of truth and faith, new spaces for evangelization’, Fr. Ambrose Pereira sdb invited the participants to understand the media and use it to empower and enhance life as they spread positive messages through the different media.
The animators, specialized in their fields, were from a variety of backgrounds. Fiji Media Watch Director, Agatha Ferei dealt with critical analysis of media content; Information Technology expert, Hayden Powick opened the students to the possibilities of Social Media while Mario Braganza instructed the students on the need to write creatively and photograph pleasing images.
The participants were immersed in every activity – right from the well-animated Eucharistic celebration in the morning to the insightful film at the end of the day. The enthusiasm of the animators rubbed off on to the participants as they sang, staged little dramas, painted banners and participated at the different sessions.
“Papua New Guinea is in a unique situation, in that most of the students know that Social Networking exists, but haven’t had easy access to it yet. This allowed the topic to be disseminated and negative issues to be discussed, before the students had a chance to make a mistake. It is my hope that the students are both excited and mindful of the effects of Social Networking in our world today.” – (Hayden Powick).
“The seminar has brought about a hope for the future as they participants realize that they need to address a variety of issues fight from Women’s liberation to AIDS” (Mario Braganza).
“Their challenges included vandalism, rape and violence, heavy demands of their community on bride price, unstable families, a clash between the traditional culture and Christianity, substance abuse and loitering of the young” (Agatha Ferei).
Principal Sr. Leena John was pleased with the very positive approach, cheerfulness and catholic values highlighted by the animators. “You have created awareness, showed the good and bad side of the media. It is now up to the students to be responsible users of the media”, she said.
PORT MORESBY
Social Media has enveloped the world with a revolution of ideas, perspectives and an instant rush of information. This media revolution has definitely not excluded the hot city of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea in particular the students at Don Bosco Technical Institute, Boroko.
The two day Media Seminar held on 26th and 27th September, orchestrated by Fr Ambrose Pereira sdb covered many of the issues regarding the paradigm shift that has been occurring in the media worldwide. These included Media Ethics, Digital Identity, Digital Behaviour, Article Writing, Image Composition and Media Awareness.
Day One
Mario Braganza, a volunteer from India, discussed the fine points of creating an article which would stand out from the thousands of articles online. This was with a small selected group of staff and students from Boroko and Araimiri, who would attend the seminar for the entire two days.
In the late morning a talk was held for a large number of students, estimated to be around 250. The speakers left the students in awe of these ‘New Technologies’ that are useful for ‘Social Networking”. With the potential for both terror and evangelisation, and because social media is a massive part of our world, the students learnt to appreciate the huge impact it will have on how young people think.
In the afternoon Agatha Ferei, Director of Fiji Media Watch ran a workshop on advertising the un-advertisable. The students were both insightful and enthusiastic, developing creative solutions to marketing problems. A rewarding first day, with the participants reeling from the impact of the seminar, hungering for more.
Day Two
On the second day the group 30 of students began exploring techniques for effective image composition, namely the 2/3 rule. The students absorbed this information with ardour, quickly applying it to a number of practical Exercises.
Earlier, the participants were guided into making a Media Awareness Action Plan. The students, now empowered with this information, constructed a number targeted events to make their fellow students aware of issues that are currently permeating Papua New Guinea’s Media.
The final session had a technological twist as Hayden Powick, New Zealand IT specialist led them to log on to a blog website. They then proceeded to create their own post with content relevant to themselves. Social Media is inherently two-way communication, and so the students then proceeded to comment on each other’s posts. Everyone enjoyed this exposure to modern communication, which brought the seminars theory to life.
“I found the students here in PNG both intelligent and animated to learn about Social Media. Students from my country take Social Media for granted, and subsequently a lot of issues are arising because of their complacency. PNG is right of the brink of this revolution, and so it was
