YOUmedia people gathering at DML. Photo from the DML flickr.
1. DML 2015
This year's DML conference was held in Los Angeles, CA. Despite some elevator setbacks, everything else ran pretty smoothly. The general consensus (from those who commented in the Discussion Forum) is that the conference was worthwhile, informative, and inspiring. It was full of great ideas, research, and practical applications for increasing civic engagement and promoting social responsibility through the use of digital (and non-digital) tools. I won't go into everyone's bullet points/comments here but if you'd like to do a little more reading definitely check out the discussion, here.
It was also great to see the YOUmedia Network represented so well by so many different sites!
2. The Mix at San Francisco Public Library
Congratulations to The Mix at San Francisco Public Library that recently had their Grand Opening on June 18th! A lot of hard work has gone into the creation of The MiX at SFPL and it shows. Just wanted to give a quick shout out to them and if you're in the area (maybe before/during/after the Resource Development Retreat?) be sure to check out their physical site (and click the link above to check out their website).
3. Torrenting Music
There was some good discussion on the forum during June (and continuing into July) about DJing in spaces and how teens find/use/get music for their DJing projects. Since all of our sites frown on illegally downloading or torrenting music from the inter webs this discussion brought up some good websites and strategies for allowing teens to find music but still abide by copyright laws. Check out the discussion and contribute to it here. This topic may also help start a greater discussion on copyright laws and intellectual property rights as they pertain to other content found and used on the internet. For example, it got me thinking about ROMs for emulators and how (or if) this can be done legally. And, if not, the best strategies for working around this.