Program Overview
During Digital Day Camp 2011, 20 NYC teens spent 3 weeks working under the guidance of a team of creative mentors to produce a series of deep, media-rich stories about our NYC neighborhoods. Their stories became part of a web-based, interactive map that included photographs, drawings, videos, music, games, words, infographics, etc — limited only by imagination. Final projects were presented at a public event organized and promoted by Eyebeam.
Here is a map of the final project locations. Click to visit an interactive version with links to individual projects:
DDC 2011 was led by Eyebeam Fellow Taeyoon Choi, Chloë Bass, Don Miller, and Esther Cheung, with support from Heather Contant, Nidhi Malhotra, and Zaquerie Applepress.
Program and Schedule Synopsis
Ground Rules for Eyebeam DDC 2011
- 1. No cursing!
- 2. Let us know ahead of time if you’ll be late.
- 3. Be respectful to yourself and others.
- 4. Discipline yourself!
- 5. Equipment: you break it, you buy it!
- 6. Please put cell phones on silent and/or vibrate.
- (Students may add more rules, if needed)
- All teachers, assistants, and students sign off on rules.
Daily Icebreaker: The Commuting Project
As part of the remapping theme, everyone will share their commute (to or from Eyebeam), using pictures, sound, videos, stories, etc. The teachers and assistants will share the first few days, showing good examples of what’s expected. Two students will be chosen randomly each day to present on the following day.
Daily Responsibilities
Each day two students will also be chosen to be daily bloggers. These student are given picture/video cameras to document the day’s events. They are responsible for posting the pictures, videos, and day’s synopsis on the blog before the following meeting.
Daily Breakdown
Getting to know you: Icebreakers and snacks and artist talks, oh my! Introduction to DDC with administrative details and icebreakers to get to know each other. Stephanie to give a brief intro to the program and Eyebeam. Don gives an overview of rules. Chloe leads brief writing assignment about why we’re here. More icebreakers to meet and great. Students create blogs to post first writing assignment. Taeyoon leads a talk about designing for participation. Don leads a workshop where students great a 10x10 self-portrait with Photoshop.
Introduction to blogging. Students will interview and photograph each other, posting information on their individual blogs. Esther will lead a 10x10x10 inch self portrait as 3D space building project. Chloe will lead students outside to explore North, South, East, and West. Each group will come back with a 20-5-2-1: 20 images, 5 statistics, 2 stories, and 1 video. Each group must do a write-up for the blog showcasing their favorite stuff, plus potentially a presentation if we have time. Students will be introduced to the commute project with demos by teachers and mentors.
Teachers and students will discuss and finalize blog layout and theme. The two capstone projects (local remapping and the documenting of commutes) will be introduced and students will find a 10x10 foot location to document. Students will split into groups with teachers and search out 10x10 spaces near Eyebeam. Each space will be documented to post on blog upon return. Each space will be photographed and marked off with chalk and measuring tape. Students will see Ascension by Elizabeth Streb at the Whitney’s new location at Gansevoort Plaza in Chelsea.
Day 4:
We will travel to Grange Farm in Long Island City. In addition to learning about how digital technology helps growers with daily operations, we will get some hands-on volunteer experience. Prepare to get dirty!
Day 5:
Students will take footage of their 10x10 space. Students will be introduced to iMovie by Don and Esther. Each student will make a one minute video of their space and post it to their blogs as documentation. Finally, there will be a photoshoot with the pixelated faces from Don’s project.
Students will travel to the New York Public Library’s Map Room at 42nd Street. Then students will travel to the Lower East Side for a GreenMap Tour of the area and discover how technology, mapping, and sustainability can intersect.
Students will collect data from space. Guest lecturer Zannah Marsh will lead a workshop on data visualization. They will explore how their data can be represented using data visualization and geographic information systems. Students will then use data from their space to make a graphic to post on their blog.
Don and Esther will lead Sketchup and Photoshop lectures, used for documenting and planning final projects. Students will work in Illustrator, during a workshop led by Basak, to create fliers for their 10x10 project. Students will break out and meet with teachers and mentors to discuss their schedules and feasibility issues. Students will update blogs with new information about final projects.
Students, teachers, and mentors will plan last day’s events and discuss work plans for the next few days. Zaq will lead an open source audio tools workshop. Students will spend time cleaning up their blogs, documenting their recent work.
The Radio Rookies will visit to interview students about their time at Digital Day Camp 2011. Students will work on their final projects. Taeyoon will lead a graphic design session for final project handouts and posters. Chloe leads a session to aid students with final project documentation.
Students will use this day as prep time to finish their final projects and presentations.
Students will use the first part of this day to prepare for the public event in the evening. Friends, family, and the public will be invited to a guided tour of offsite presentations and onsite video documentation at Eyebeam.
Click on the photo below to visit the DDC2011 flickr pool:
Digital Day Camp 2011 is made possible by a generous grant from the New Youth City Learning Network Fund at The New York Community Trust.
