The Developing Online Tools for Community Outreach and Mobilization (DOTCOM) program engaged media-savvy and civically-engaged youth from Armenia, Azerbaijan and the U.S., providing training and opportunities for these young people to create socially conscious media impacting communities in the U.S. and the Caucasus. The program was sponsored by the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State, and supported by a global network of organizations.
The first phase of the program began in early 2009, when 90 Armenian, American and Azerbaijani students began online collaboration by exploring youth issues through the lens of media, creating their own documentaries, digital stories, short films, public service announcements and other media for distribution internationally. In May 2009, the second phase of the project began. Based on their achievements in the first phase, 30 students (ten per country) were selected as program finalists, and traveled to the U.S. in July 2009 for advanced media and social action training. In March 2010, ten American high school students joined international peers on a visit to the Caucasus, which included participation in the regional Social Media for Social Change conference in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The program was a tremendous success, with all students going on to reach personal and academic goals beyond their involvement in DOTCOM. For more information about the online learning component of the program, as well as links to student blogs and the DOTCOM YouTube page, please visit the program forum: http://www.netvibes.com/phdotcom#DOTCOM-Home_Page
