QUESTION: the importance of media/documentation about social change

question / pregunta: 

Does anyone know of good writing about the importance of documentation/media about social change movements. I am writing a grant to start a program that teaches students how to document and produce a series of videos about this garden they work on at their school in East New York and am looking for texts about why documentation makes the health education and food justice work that they are doing more effective.

ANSWER: importance of media/documentation about social change

Great question. I good starting place for practitioner-produced articles on this topic is the journal "Youth Media Reporter" (YMR, available online and in print). Numerous articles there show the importance of media/documentation both for youth leadership development and for building strong social movements/organizations.

The two articles below are from YMR and explain the benefits of youth media on policy and social justice issues. While discussing "journalism," the principles in each article could be adopted to Web 2.0, youth video and youth-led evaluation projects.

1) Youth Journalism: Connecting Lives with Public Policies.
http://www.youthmediareporter.org/2009/08/_young_americans_news_consumpt.html

2) Practicing Journalism, Preserving History
http://www.youthmediareporter.org/2009/06/practicing_journalism_preservi.html

In addition, the following articles offer helpful frameworks for youth-led documentation/evaluation projects within social justice organizations:

3) "Youth-led Research, Evaluation and Planning as Youth, Organizational and Community Development." In New Directions in Evaluation.
http://www.youthinfocus.net/pdf/YIF_NDE.pdf

4) Youth Involvement in Evaluation & Research. HARVARD FAMILY RESEARCH PROJECT, no. 1 (2002).
http://www.youthinfocus.net/pdf/harvard.pdf

Additional resources on youth-led evaluation and youth-produced media can be found at:

Youth In Focus website:
http://www.youthinfocus.net/resources_publications.htm

What Kids Can Do website:
http://www.whatkidscando.org

Please let us know if these resources fully answered your question.

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