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Teens Producing Media
Posted on Monday, August 20, 2007 at 9:57 AM by Jason Barker
CNet published an interview on Friday with Henry Jenkins about youth using the Internet. The interview covered a wide range of topics, but I was struck by a statistic regarding teens and online media creation: 57 percent of teens online have produced media, and approximately 33 percent have created media that they shared beyond their small circle of family and friends. Jenkins notes that the majority of this content consists primarily of remixes of already existing media, but the involvement level is nonetheless significant.
I wrote some time ago about the possibility - in fact, the desirability - of Orthodox youth groups creating audio and/or video content that they submit for inclusion in my Bible studies. I have long thought that this would be a good way to involve Orthodox teens in the creation of these studies, and Jenkins' statistics simply reinforce this belief. Unfortunately, at this point no youth group has engaged in such a project, but I hope that groups will participate in this work in the future (you can contact me via email or IM using the buttons on the top of the left sidebar is you are interested).
Beyond these Bible studies, the possibilities for youth-created Orthodox media content are endless. The Orthodox Christian Network has a formal partnership with leaders of Teen SOYO, and I know they have discussed teen involvement in radio programming. I've suggested in the past that youth groups could create videos that could be uploaded to YouTube (or possibly the new GodTube). Groups could create podcasts for their individual parishes, or could band together to create content for their dioceses. The possibilities are almost unlimited.
What can you and your youth group create to share Orthodox Christianity with others on the Internet?
Posted in Miscellaneous