NEWS: We’ve been featured!

Check out who’s been talking about us on the volunteering scene…

1) Social action network, i-volunteer did a great feature on us about the project, mygames (powered by v) and how our London filmmaker Joe has benefitted from volunteering on this project.

View the news feature here

2) Also, award-winning travel writer, Andrew Mersmann, did a great post about the Digital Documenters on his blog, Change by Doing. He looked at the bigger picture of the Digital Documenters project, specifically how we can help to promote volunteering amongst young people and taking part in the 25th Hour.

Read Andrew’s full blog post here

For volunteering opportunities click here

Keep up-to-date with all the latest news as it happens, by following us on Twitter and joining our Facebook fanpage!

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The 25th Hour

The 25th Hour is fast approaching and there are lots of activities up and down the country for you to get involved with. The Digital Documenters team from London, Manchester, Birmingham and Exeter will be interviewing volunteers and filming all the action! So get involved and pledge your support!

Below is a list of what some of the mygames (powered by v) projects are doing as part of the 25^th hour campaign:

Thursday 28 October

The Who Cares? Trust  are launching ‘What you don’t know about care…’,

This is an exhibition of photographs taken by young volunteers about their experiences of life in care.

See how you can volunteer your creative talents:  http://vinspired.com/organisations/7703-the-who-cares-trust

Follow them on Twitter: @WhoCaresTrust

Saturday 30 October

Coalfields Regeneration Trust are holding a special 25th Hour softball event for volunteers at Robbins Park Arena, Wigan.

To volunteer for future sports events near see: http://vinspired.com/creating-a-sporting-legacy/opportunities/1685-mygames-ambassadors/activities/113126-north-west-mygames-ambassadors

Follow them on Twitter: @coalfieldsRegen

Addaction – Aspire launch will be held at Lancaster’s youth theatre DT3. Volunteers will perform live on stage showcasing their talents through bands, djing, mcing, vjing and beatboxing.   This event is free entry and open to all young people in the area to come along to watch the performances.  Doors open at 6pm and the event will run till 11pm.  The age restriction for this event 11- 25.

For more info on volunteering with Addaction: http://vinspired.com/organisations/7691-young-addaction-north-lancashire

Follow them on Twitter: @AddactionUK

Sunday 31 October

The Drum – MOB volunteers will be spreading the word about their project at The Hindu Council of Birmingham’s Diwali Celebration at the NIA from 2:00pm till 8:00pm. The festivities will consist of exciting exhibitions and play host to some top Bollywood acts, great music, fashion, dance and captive visual arts.

If you’re interested in joining the MOB see: http://vinspired.com/organisations/7680-the-drum

Follow them on Twitter: @MOB_Birmingham

Friday 05 November

The Eden Project – Barefoot Games are inviting you to dip your toe into their exciting volunteering opportunities by trying an eclectic range of activities; from samba drumming to beat-boxing via parkour, graffiti, film-making, photography – and everything in between!

For more information see:http://vinspired.com/the-barefoot-games

Follow them on Twitter: @edenproject

Campaigning training

Yesterday, the London team went for a very useful campaigning session with Livity, a socially responsible youth communications agency in Brixton. The aim was to discuss ways of  developing Digital Documenters as a brand.  Naturally, we focused on our target market and brand values, which are important factors in the build up of any brand or product. We also discussed different types of audiences and how we can make content to generate interest and communicate key messages.

We then moved onto something that us young people know a lot about- social media. Yes, we explored the likes and dislikes of Facebook and Twitter, and the usefulness of YouTube and Vimeo. After many debates and discussions over why we prefered some sites over others, and why the days of MySpace have long gone, we looked out how we were going to get our films out to the general public.

It was a great day and we took lots of notes. Now we have to put it all into practice!

Many thanks to Elle Moss, founder of Drew Creative Branding Ltd, Joshua Connell, Mira Jessani and Ben Maxwell who all work at Livity, and Ben Anderson, coordinator of Staying Alive project, Ignite.

Digital Documenters meet CentrePoint.

So this Monday 4 October, three of the 12 London team went on down to the Centrepoint Offices in Aldgate for a quick catch up with their team and to discuss how we could help them capture their Speak Out event.

The Speak Out events are designed with the service users in mind in order to give them the opportunity to do exactly that and speak out on issues affecting them. Now we at First Light strongly admire the many voices of the youth today and we’re more than delighted to have the chance to get involved with Centrepoint on this.

So here’s a big thank you to Sam Clarke (Participation Officer), Aaron Gray (Volunteering Officer), Helen Bryant (Volunteering Officer), Rachel Allen-Lowton (Participation Assistant) and Charmaine Charles (Media Liaison Volunteer) for their time and we look forward to working with them over the coming months

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For more information on Centrepoint click here

Vox pops- voice of the people

Image via Wikipedia

Now into our third weekly team meetings, the London team are getting organised with the various mygames (powered by v) projects and are rearing to go with the research side of things! We’re all at different stages on this project: Some of the group are getting in contact with their media liaison volunteers for their activities, whilst others are still researching but we’re still in the initial stages, so everything is going at a good steady pace.

We had a very productive session this week as we were joined by Ian Morris who works at the BBC World Service (the BBC’s international radio station) and he gave us lots of interviewing techniques to use, specifically for audio. Armed with knowledge about the do’s, don’ts and slip-ups of interviewing, we put it to test and went out onto the streets of Chalk Farm Road and into Camden’s Stables Market to carry out some vox pops on the general public about their views on the Olympics 2012. Armed with a voice recorder, a consent form and a flip camera, generally, the mission was very successful! We had some great responses from the public and business owners, so it was very interesting to see their viewpoint on how the Olympics will effect them.

One business woman was pleased that the Olympics would attract visitors from all over the world, that could boost her business, the economy and infrastructure. Whilst a man who ran a stall in the Stables Market was worried that the transport would not be ready and efficient enough for the amount of visitors expected.

Are you ready for Digital Documenters?

Image via Wikipedia

The ball is finally rolling and our weekly team meetings have started! We meet every week at the Roundhouse in Camden, and reside in the creative suites to let out imaginations flow! The first meeting went well, mainly filled with discussions about our projects and really focusing on what we want to get out of this project, as well as a brainstorming session on Olympic values.