Thursday, November 4, 2010

VideoVolunteers-Voices Unheard is a Best Practice..and a "Virtual Field Trip" from India to Learn From

This morning I am thinking about changing the world via the power of the new television and how to communicate that to my friends and colleagues. I don't know what's messing with them...consciousness-wise but they still don't seem to get it... so I searched Google Images for "Community Television" images to get some inspiration and some positive thoughts and feelings resonating... Then BINGO! ...the Universe responds by having me discover ...just what I need... a volunteer community-based television best practice being done in Goa, India by a non-governmental organization (NGO) called Video Volunteers - Voices Unheard - See their website at http://www.videovolunteers.org/ .... the first thing you see on their homepage is a most provocative question that they pose....

"What if the poorest ONE BILLION people in the world had their own MEDIA INDUSTRY?"

Even to be able to pose that kind of question, people  had to develop critical consciousness to ask it...but more than that... they already are outreaching and empowering entire communities to create that media industry...themselves.. as they develop community...using the power of the new television. The other pieces to this are also all there... the powerful issues that they focus on and care deeply about with excellent well-done fundraising website, and  nice presence on Facebook and  Twitter. Most important is that they evidence the fact that they have gotten themselves...ORGANIZED... They have developed the organizational capacity to raise funds and develop donors... sustaining themselves...moving business forward to accomplish their mission and achieve their vision...obviously driven by an excellent Strategic Plan and high-performance organization....in order to be able to accomplish all of what they intend....and evidence.

Goa, India is a poor community...with less resources than we have...but one advantage that they have that communities here still don't have is this degree of critical consciousness,  media sophistication and organizational capacity. It's like other communities that we are now noticing...across the world... the best recipes for learning and for social change ...are now coming from those one billion poor people themselves...on the way to creating their own media industry... We just need to learn from them. Check out this excellent site, get inspired and see what I mean....this is most "instructive"...as well as "prescriptive" http://www.videovolunteers.org/.. especially with respect to the way that they effectively communicate across multiple venues in our now 21st century world. 

Then call me and in addition to just talking about taking "field trips" to national parks after watching Oprah and Gayle party in Yosemite...and "journalizing"... let's talk about producing our own powerful community-authored television...to help our own communities.. and change the world. 1-425-780-6872



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