The Allied Media Conference (AMC) http://alliedmedia.org/ was held in Detroit Michigan at the McGregor Conference Center at Wayne State University from June 23 – 26, 2011.
Allied Media Conference, June 23-26, 2011
The AMC was founded in 1999 to cultivate strategies for a more just and creative world using both traditional and new forms of media to communicate more effectively. There were representatives of grassroots media organizations from all over the US and Canada, poets, artists, singers, dancers, rappers, actors, burlesque dancers, clowns, farmers, computers techies and Dee Jays. This broad range of people made for a marvelous display of fashion, hairstyles, piercings and tattoos which were as memorable as the sessions themselves.
The AMC had over 120 caucuses and seminars here are a few examples:
Video Blogging to Expand Your Message detailed the steps needed to reach a wider audience through your blog by using comedy, surprise and even shocking pictures to get your point across.
Cooking as a Form of Media was a seminar for using food as a media tool, where the facilitator shared recipes for pickling different things to give participants ideas about media making with food.
There was a seminar called Text Messaging for Activists which detailed how to contact a large number of people and to formulate your message to get the most out of your message with as few words as possible.
Bypassing Internet Censorship was a seminar on by-passing the Internet using a Program called TOR http://www.torproject.org/ which enables a user to hide their Internet footprints.
The Cyberskills for Elders seminar was a basic how-to for people over 40 to learn how to utilize digitized and computerized media to continue to organize and advocate their causes and share their insights in inter-generational communities The classrooms had both MACs and PCs.
The Detroit Youth Media and Social Justice Network Science Fair http://talk.alliedmedia.org/sessions/detroit-youth-media-and-social-justice-network-science-fair had a wealth of ideas from young people about how ecosystems are interconnected with digital media systems.
The Seminar This Ain’t a Peep Show taught participants techniques to involve the audience in their presentations.
There was a discussion on Generations of Black Lesbian Brillance, this discussion specifically highlighted generations of black lesbian media makers in Detroit and their contributions to the furtherance of media in Detroit.
There was a seminar called Narrative Campaigns, Storybanking and the Restoration Campaign that asked the question, what if artists, community activists, former and current prisoners, family members and justice groups worked together using cutting edge web tools and street smart organizing. Click on the link to see – http://www.kitescampaigns.org/campaign/community-restoration-campaign/
The common theme of the Digital Justice coalition http://detroitdjc.org/ is to put people back into the center of any discussion involving digital technology, innovative strategies involving digital literacy people centered policies and community ownership.
This conference was a great place for activists, advocates, artists, farmers, and computer techies to get together and brainstorm ways to use media to make the world a better and more peaceful place. Hope to see you there in 2012!
