Impromp2, The Community Blog

Rising Stars

Often in this blog we talk about a vision for the future of arts and culture in the south Florida region, but there is certainly a place where the future is flourishing today, and that is the New World School of the Arts in Miami.  On our video site, uVu, we have highlighted the school in the past and you can see that story by clicking here (courtesy of Miami Dade College's IN FOCUS series).
On March 14th, the Rising Stars of the NWSA will present performances and visual exhibitions, an evening of dance, music, theatre and visual arts.  If you want a sampling of what you can see that night, we have a taste of last year's Rising Stars event which you can watch here. Or better still come see it live atthe Gusman Theatre that night.

Social entrepreneurs

Keynote conversation: Social entrepreneurs Journalism as a cause

Alberto Ibarguen, President of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Diana Wells, President of Innovators for the Public

Moderator Keith Hammonds, Ashoka

The organization Ashoka is described on its website as a “global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs—men and women with system changing solutions for the world’s most urgent social problems. Since 1981, we have elected over 1,800 leading social entrepreneurs as Ashoka Fellows, providing them with living stipends, professional support, and access to a global network of peers in more than 60 countries.”

Leadership World: Women,Media and Technology

The WeMedia08 conference offered several forums in the afternoon session. As my two colleagues and I are women, we decided to stay in the main auditorium for the discussion on women in media and technology.

The session was hosted by Susan Mernit, entrepreneur-in-Residence, iFocos, who advised women to get together and create a network in their field. She emphasized that women can lead a team of men too.

The four panelists talked about their own experiences in their respective fields as the audience was invited to share its own stories.

 

Mary Hodder, founder of Dabble, explained that she was not surprised at some of the discrimination stories diffused by the mostly female audience.

She worked in about 50 start-ups which sometimes were only composed of men. “The marketing chick and PR chick,” were the terms used by the men to define the women in the office, she said laughing nervously. She created her own start up and hired 50 percent of the work force as women engineers.

“In a 50/50 environment, the atmosphere is different,” said Hodder.

Many of her friends dropped from the workforce because they did not want to be in a battle with men for promotion and status.

 

Jan Schaffer, Executive director of J-Lab conducted a study on women in journalism. In 2002, she launched a survey and discovered that some of the most creative newsrooms across the country were composed of women during mid 90s. She explains how women seem to have a better comfort level in communities.

Nonetheless, most women were found to be more career conflicted than career confident.

As of Feb 27, Schaffer launched www.newmediawomen.org. She emphasized that although women represent 75 percent of journalism school students, only one third become full time working journalists. She added that it has been like this for 25 years.

Schaffer explains the trend by saying that women make better grades, but don’t receive the same job same offers, so they go to PR or marketing.

Women don’t stay in newsrooms as long as men either. Only 20 percent of women in newsrooms stay 20 years or more. Recruitment and persistence are the major problem.

 

Carolyn Washburn worked at Gannet and said that the company always believed in diversity. She felt supported and pushed forward into moving in leadership position. During her internships in college, while other interns chose to cover soft beats, she volunteered to cover business.

After graduation she continued business reporting although her gender was wildly misrepresented in most business meetings where despite feeling intimated, she used men’s stereotypical perceptions to her own advantage.  Washburn explains how difficult family life can become if a good consensus is not reached. When offered the job of business editor while pregnant, she accepted and when her son turned four, her husband who was also a journalist became a stay-at-home father after a common decision. She emphasized the need for support at work and home.

She explained proudly how her son has now developed a strong view of woman in journalism knowing the possibility for women in this world. Although cultural change take generations, as she explains, “Keep informing […] for sons and daughters to start shaping.”

 

Barbara Khan, Dean of University of Miami School of business administration emphasized the fact that women in business undergraduate studies are only 30 to 40 percent compared to 60 percent in other majors.

Khan explained the “tendency to think business is not for women.” She tried to convince people otherwise by explaining that women can be entrepreneur and have a family as business skills would give them flexibility.

Khan insisted on the importance of networking. Women had to take lessons from the men who have been using that tactics for years.

“It is all about network and serendipity,” Khan said. “Personal connection is crucial in the business world.”

Khan explains that she never though of herself as a woman among men but rather always thought about business issues first. Although she stated she never thinks ‘as a woman,” she acknowledged the fact that “when a woman come in room, the dynamic changes.”

 

“Metadata”…that’s hot!

Live from We Media 08 Miami in the University of Miami…

During the first break out session of We Media 08, I (and the rest of the uVu crew) attended Search World | Trust, relevance and rights.

Session Chair: Jim Kennedy, VP Strategy, The Associated Press. Guest speakers included: Fabrice Florin, Executive Director, NewsTrust, Mary Hodder, Founder, Dabble, Josh Cohen, Director, Business Development, Google News .

I have to say that I was pretty excited about this session because someone from Google would be there. The session started out with Jim Kennedy showing us a fun party trick. He told us to go to www.google.com and search the news of the day. Jim searched “power outage” and what do you know, the #1 news result on Google was from The Boston Globe (odd that the number one news result on the Florida power outage came from Boston). I thought that was amusing.

The topic of the session: “How do we filter search results?” Right now they do not have the answers.

Mary Hodder started the conversation with the topic of Metadata. In short Metadata is data about data. Metadata is used to organize content. It can also be used to make your content discoverable (such as tags) by search engines. What is content if no one sees it, right? Mary noted that publishers see media different from the users. We (the content provider) need to find a common ground and create a standard format. This way, systems will be able to grab the hooks from the metadata. In its basic form, the content provider will provide the title, summary, author, and publisher’s information. SIMPLE WORKS!

Fabrice Florin went on to ask users of NewsTrust to evaluate content on basic core of journalism standards (12 key qualities) on how the information performs. By doing this their members are developing a general idea of how to create content.

So what is Google’s position on all of this talk of standardization and metadata? They believe the more information the better; however the scale of standardization would be tremendous. There are millions of content creators…it is not all about the news organizations on the internet. People get their information from all over. This leads Google to geocoding. Wikipedia defines geocoding as “the process of assigning geographic identifiers (e.g., codes or geographic coordinates expressed as latitude-longitude) to map features and other data records, such as street addresses.”

Confused? Us too.

HOLLYWOOD SINGING AND DANCING: A MUSICAL TREASURE

HOLLYWOOD SINGING AND DANCING: A MUSICAL TREASURE
– Program Presents Grand Historical Look at the Magic of Musical Hollywood –

HOLLYWOOD SINGING AND DANCING: A MUSICAL TREASURE is a celebration of song and dance, beginning with the Busby Berkeley films that lifted the spirits of audiences during the Great Depression, continuing through the patriotic musicals of the 1940s and ending with the collapse of the studio system in the 1950s. Hosted by Academy Award-winning stage, screen and television icon Shirley Jones, this “docutainment” film is a grand historical look at the magic of musical Hollywood. The program premieres Saturday, March 1 at 9pm on WPBT/Channel 2.

Highlighted are amazing songs and dance numbers, little-known facts, and luminaries such as Fred Astaire, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Shirley Temple, Betty Grable, Bill ”Bojangles” Robinson, James Cagney, Vincente Minnelli, Stanley Donen, Frank Sinatra, Leslie Caron, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O’Connor, Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee Zellweger, who made the magic possible.

Mesmerizing sequences are interspersed with fresh new commentary from Liza Minnelli, Leslie Caron, Debbie Reynolds, Mickey Rooney, Jane Russell, Rita Moreno, Pat Boone, Rob Marshall, Bill Condon, Shirley MacLaine, Tommy Tune, Joel Grey, Smokey Robinson, Patti Page, Tab Hunter, George Chakiris, Rhonda Fleming, Betty Garrett, Marge Champion, Joan Leslie, Robert Osborne, Stella Stevens, Gloria Stuart and others.

SAY AMEN, SOMEBODY

Celebrate the life and music of America’s greatest gospel artists in SAY AMEN, SOMEBODY airing Wednesday, February 27 at 10:30pm on WPBT/Channel 2 in Miami.

“SAY AMEN, SOMEBODY is one of the most joyful movies I’ve ever seen. It is also one of the best musicals and one of the most interesting documentaries.”
                                                                       - Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TRIBUNE film critic

The sound and spirit of American gospel music is captured in vivid detail in the American Public Television-distributed special SAY AMEN, SOMEBODY, a celebratory film that chronicles the lives and works of some of the greatest gospel artists.

SAY AMEN, SOMEBODY, directed and produced by acclaimed filmmaker George T. Nierenberg (No Maps on My Taps and That Rhythm…Those Blues), has been described by Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert as “a terrific good time” and as a “rousing documentary” by the New York Times. Beginning at the 1982 Gospel Music Convention in St. Louis, the film explores the history and celebrates the sprit of American gospel music, a unique art form blending religion and entertainment, with a remarkable power to move audiences. SAY AMEN, SOMEBODY features interviews with some of the greats of gospel, including Thomas A. Dorsey, Willie Mae Ford Smith and her long-time rival Sallie Martin, The Barrett Sisters, Jackie Jackson, The O’Neal Twins, and Zella Jackson Price.
Stirring performances from these and other gospel legends, as well as rare archival footage, are also included in the documentary. SAY AMEN, SOMEBODY also serves as a loving tribute to several of these artists who have passed away since the film first aired—including Martin, Jackson and Dorsey.

Pete Seeger: The Power of Song

AMERICAN MASTERS “Pete Seeger: The Power of Song” airs Wednesday, February 27 at  9:00 p.m. on WPBT/Channel 2 in Miami. (Watch preview clips here)

– Features Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Natalie Maines, Tom Paxton, Bonnie Raitt, Toshi Seeger, Tommy Smothers, Bruce Springsteen, Mary Travers and Peter Yarrow; Rarely Seen Clips and Personal Footage From a 1960s World Tour; and Classic Songs –

As early as August 18, 1955, folk singer Pete Seeger set himself apart as a “true American” when he appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee and refused to name names, stating, “I am not going to answer any questions as to my association, my philosophical or religious beliefs or my political beliefs, or how I voted in any election, or any of these private affairs. I think these are very improper questions for any American to be asked, especially under such compulsion as this.” As a target of the communist witch hunt of the 1950s, Seeger was picketed, protested, blacklisted and, in spite of his enormous popularity, banned from American commercial television for more than 17 years. Throughout his ordeal, and his life, he never stopped singing out — and speaking up. “I look upon myself as a planter of seeds,” the legendary artist and political activist says in AMERICAN MASTERS “Pete Seeger: The Power of Song.”

uVu and a Connected Community

About the only thing I remember from High School Physics is Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, in fact, I try and make a point of dropping this reference as often as possible because I'm so proud of it.  Simply put (and with apologies to Heisenberg) while it is possible to determine the momentum or the position of an atomic particle it is impossible to know the momentum and the position of an atomic particle at the same time.
So why the Heisenberg reference?
Let me begin to answer by explaining where I've been the past week, which was a very exciting time to be involved with the idea of connecting communities through digital technology.  This weekend I was at the Imagine Miami Summit on Arts, Culture & Civic Engagement, which I mentioned in an earlier post (see the videos here).  I then had a chance to spend a few days at The Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy, which was a Media Learning Seminar sponsored jointly by the Knight Foundation and the Council on Foundations.  Once again, much of that conference can be found on our website uVu.  Still to come in February will be We Media 2008 on the campus at U.M.  Run by iFocos, the self described summit will be "the global festival and forum for innovators and creators of the connected society" and  on the heels of that comes WebWise 2008, hosted by the Wolfsonian - FIU, the theme this year is "WebWise 2.0: The Power of Community."
So as you can see it is an exciting time to be doing work in the real Miami and its digital communties as well.  We created uVu with the idea of making this information available to more people than could possibly attend these conferences and hopefully we are living up to that promise, visit the site as it grows and let us know what you think.
Which brings me back to Heisenberg.  As I attend these meetings and hear the discussions, it is clear that anyone who believes they know where the digital frontier is taking us, how great will be its impact on connecting communities or how fast we are going is either crazy or lying or probably both, at least Hesienberg had it half right.

Imagine Miami Summit on uVu

This weekend, Imagine Miami, a community group we have worked with through our video sharing site, uVu, held a summit on Arts, Culture and Civic Engagement.  All of these elements are core to our mission as a public broadcaster and even more closely tied to our online project uVu.
Over the next few days we will start posting video from the entire summit, but some material is already on our site and much more is still to come.
Presenters at the summit included Americans For The Arts through their Animating Democracy initiative, The Human Services Coalition, Miami Dade County Cultural Affairs and Miami Dade College.

Watch some of the video here and add you voice to growing effort of connecting people to purpose and place.

“The New York Philharmonic: Live From North Korea”

GREAT PERFORMANCES “The New York Philharmonic: Live From North Korea” (Digital 2 Exclusive)

Saturday, March 1 at 6pm and Sunday, March 2 at 9:30pm.  Available over the air on Digital 2-2 (or Comcast Digital Channel 202, Atlantic Broadband Channel 992, all others please check with your cable provider)

– Lorin Maazel Leads Philharmonic in Historic Pyongyang Concert With Coverage by ABC News’ Bob Woodruff –

Dvorák, Gershwin and Wagner take center stage when the New York Philharmonic’s historic concert in North Korea’s capital city, Pyongyang, airs on GREAT PERFORMANCES. “The New York Philharmonic: Life From North Korea” will be televised February 28, 2008, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET on PBS. Music director Lorin Maazel will lead the orchestra in Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”; Gershwin’s An American in Paris; and Wagner’s Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin.