Tag: Media Impact Spotlight

Media Impact Spotlight – Ep6 – Jon Siskel & Greg Jacobs

LTAB PosterLouder Than a Bomb is a documentary featuring some of the most brilliant youth across Chicago competing in the world’s largest youth poetry slam. Watching its trailer was enough to get me inspired, give me goosebumps, and leave me wanting to see more. Winner of the Audience Choice Award and Standing Up Film Competition (for films that celebrate social justice and activism) in the Cleveland International Film Festival, Louder Than a Bomb shows you the incredible power that spoken word has to move an audience and bring community together. And now, with its television release on the Oprah Winfrey Network as part of the OWN Documentary Club set for this Fall, LTAB is poised to spark change across the nation; especially timely now, when arts education programs are being cut at an alarming rate.

As part of my learning journey of how media can be utilized as powerful tools to engage our communities, I asked to meet with Louder Than a Bomb directors Jon Siskel & Greg Jacobs. Hear what they have to say about the impact they want to create with their film and how they plan to maximize it.

Thank you, Jon and Greg, for being most welcoming to me. It was a fun visit! :)

Media Impact Spotlight is a web video series featuring professionals utilizing various forms of media for positive social change. Watch previous episodes and subscribe to the series here.

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Media Impact Spotlight – Ep5 – Van Jones

I had the opportunity to meet Van Jones recently. Best known for being an environmental advocate and bestselling author of The Green Collar Economy, President Barack Obama appointed him as the Special Advisor for Green Jobs back in 2009. Hear what he has to say about the most pertinent issue we need to tackle in 2011, and what the media’s role should be.

Thanks to Northwestern SEED for organizing the event and inviting Van Jones for their Fall Speaker series. It was incredibly inspiring and enjoyable.


Media Impact Spotlight is a web video series featuring professionals utilizing various forms of media for positive social change. Watch previous episodes and subscribe to the series here.

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Media Impact Spotlight – Ep4 – Susana Ruiz

Columbia College Chicago held its 3G Summit: The Future of Girls, Gaming and Gender event 2 weeks ago. It brought together some of the most notable women in the gaming industry and 50 lucky teenage girls from 5 schools in a highly interactive and transformational 3-day Game Lab/Workshop.

Not only were important issues about the HUGE gender gap that exists in the gaming industry discussed (only 11% of professionals in the gaming industry are women!), but 5 innovative game ideas to break traditional gaming stereotypes were also developed. The girls were split into 5 groups of 10, and each given a mentor to guide them through the creative process. On the last day, each group presented their game ideas in a competition where the winning group would have their idea actually developed by Columbia College students/faculty! I was really impressed by all their presentations and the amount of creativity that each one involved.

I was quite a gaming enthusiast from age 11-15 (many thanks to my older brother who bought the games), and I remember that almost everything I played involved plenty of violence and bloodshed. Everything from chopping off other players’ ears in Diablo, to making sheep explode in Warcraft III, to electrocuting people with my tesla coils in Command & Conquer. So it was definitely refreshing to see a different type of game being presented at the 3G summit.

“In this context, the low representation of females and minorities working in the gaming industry, as well as the complicated gendered culture of the gaming world itself, are troubling. One wonders what kind of games are not being made, what experiences are not being shared, what identities are not being represented?”

The panelists were some awesome women that included Mary Flanagan, Tracy Fullerton, Jennifer Jenson and Erin Robinson. But the one that really stood out to me, as a documentary filmmaker, was Susana Ruiz.

Susana, one of the founders of Take Action Games made clear her huge passion for bringing together the world of gaming and documentary films, and utilizing gaming as a tool to create positive social change. She was very kind and such a pleasure to chat with. I knew she’d be the perfect person to talk to for the next episode of Media Impact Spotlight! Thanks Susana!

Media Impact Spotlight is a web video series featuring professionals utilizing various forms of media for positive social change. Watch previous episodes and subscribe to the series here.

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Media Impact Spotlight Ep3 – Jehane Noujaim

I had the pleasure of meeting the 2006 TED Prize Winner and award-winning director of Control Room, Jehane Noujaim. She was a special guest speaker at Northwestern for Speaking With A Lens, an awesome event organized by the Muslim cultural Students Association. Jehane was also the great mind behind Pangea Day, an epic event that brought inspiring movies to over a million screens across the world simultaneously.

Enjoy episode 3! :)

[Vimeo http://vimeo.com/12143988%5D

Media Impact Spotlight is a web video series featuring professionals utilizing various forms of media for positive social change. Watch previous episodes and subscribe to the series here.

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