The Summer is over, school is in full swing and I'm sure all of your sites are hoping. The early fall is always a busy time but August was a pretty full month for the YOUmedia Network as well. Take a quick look at what's been happening.
1. Resource Development Retreat
Members of the YOUmedia network recently buckled down and created a plethora of resources from August 18th-21st at The Marconi Conference Center north of San Francisco. These resources are now being posted weekly (in the discussion forum) by their creators and are then followed up with a short, 30 minute, conversational webinars to dive a bit deeper into the resource developers motivations and thinking behind said resource. So far they've included curriculum on Learning to DJ, a beginner's guide to incorporating Social Justice into your curriculum, a process for creating a youth focused vision and mission statement, how to create #miniPD sessions that staff will actually watch and use, an awesome flyer bank so we all don't have to reinvent the wheel constantly, and an guide to transferring leadership effectively within a site. Stay tuned for all of the other great resources to come and check out the webinars pageand discussion forumto catch up on any you missed.
We ended the RDR with a visit to The MiX at SFPL. They have just recently opened and have a really great thing going on there. If you haven't seen their video spotlight by Microsoft you should check it out here. Thanks for having us for lunch and showing us around!
2. Looking for New Lead Contributors for the CoP
We're in the process of looking for new LCs for the upcoming year. Being an LC for the CoP is not only a great way to get to use tons of acronyms but also an excellent way of staying involved and connected to the YOUmedia network. If you have any questions about what being an LC is like, what the work entails, etc. . . feel free to contact myself, AJ, or Sari. Also, check out Korie's recent post in the discussion forum for more details.
3. Tools for Organizing Data
Many of us are looking for ways to centralize, synthesize, and generally collect data in a more effective or efficient way. Some good discussion centered around this topic toward the end of August. A couple of folks used (now defunct) Bento, a couple used CitySpan, and K-Fai researched a few other alternatives. Check out the discussion for more on the conversation. And if you have any suggestions please chime in! Since data collection is an issue we all face any insight into great software or any other methods would be fantastic.
I hope everyone has a great end of September. I'll be back with another monthly roundup soon.
Thanks for reading!