Global New Media Lab (GNML) is a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and PH International. GNML consists of two program components: GNML Online and the Youth TechCamp.
The purpose of the Global New Media Lab is to provide students participating in three of the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ high school academic exchanges with the skills to actively engage in and teach others about the use of social media and other forms of information technology for greater civic engagement. GNML gives young people, ages 15-17 the skills to harness innovative online and mobile tools for powerful change in communities worldwide.
The program has trained 240 international students how to create a social media for social change campaign to address an issue in their home countries using the world's most powerful online platforms. Seventy-eight of these students also participated in a one-week Youth TechCamp in Vermont. Youth TechCamp participants gained leadership and training skills enabling them to transfer knowledge and skills in social/digital media and other information technologies to people and groups at home.
Please visit the DOTCOM Program Forum for all modules, news, staff and student blogs, and links to relevant sites, including the DOTCOM YouTube page and Twitter feed: http://www.netvibes.com/phdotcom#DOTCOM-Home_Page
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. and provided training and opportunities for young people to create socially conscious media impacting communities across 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 that include OneWorldTV, ListenUp!, Young People’s Media Network and the International Youth Media Summit.
The first phase of the program began in early 2009, when ninety Armenian, American and Azerbaijani students began their online collaboration by exploring youth issues through the lens of media, ultimately 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 met their Azerbaijani and Armenian peers in Tbilisi for a two-day regional media conference to showcase their work to a global audience. American students then traveled to Azerbaijan and Armenia.
All students in DOTCOM also had an opportunity to vie for mini-grants to implement civic initiatives based on their selected social issues.
International Youth Leadership Camps | 1996 - 1998
In 1996 and 1997 Project Harmony organized the International Youth Camp for 12-16 year-old students from Russia, Europe and the United States. The camp was situated in the Green Mountains of Vermont. The campers took part in a structured morning session of intensive language courses and spent their afternoons involved with leadership building activities, sports, field trips, and arts and crafts. A total of 45 Russians and 25 Americans have taken part in Project Harmony camps.> More
Global New Media Lab