This is a presentation I gave at an ESCWA conference in Damascus, on June 18, 2009. I also recorded audio, which I plan to upload soon.

1. Networking Development with
the Social Web
SMEX’s Approach to Cultivating
Participatory Media Literacy

4. a nd
ST
A T
C E
D G
A R
O TA
B R

5. our ability to
mediate our
message
directly affects
our ability
to create
change

6. a new media literacy,
a participatory media literacy

7. 1.5 billion / 1:9:90

8. Literacy
Access
English
and...

10. 2008 Structure
• Introduction to Web 2.0
• Hands-on workshops in blogging,
Facebook organizing, and other
tools
Challenges
• Internet access
• Language
• Scalability
• Sustainability
• Too many tools to teach

11. ‫ﺩﻟﻴﻞ ﺍﺳﺘﺨﺪﺍﻡ‬
‫ﺻﻔﺤﺎﺕ‬
‫ﻟﻠﻤﻨﻈﻤـﺎﺕ ﻏﻴـﺮ ﺍﳊﻜﻮﻣﻴﺔ‬
‫ﻭﺍﳌﻨﻈﻤـﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘـﻲ ﻻ ﺗﺘﻮﺧﻰ‬
‫ﺍﻟﺮﺑﺢ ﻭﺍﳌﺠﺘﻤﻊ ﺍﳌﺪﻧﻲ‬
‫‪™Hƒ°üe ∫ɵ°SÉHh QGqóZ ⋲Ø£°üe º∏≤H‬‬
‫‪www.digiactive.org‬‬

13. learning.smex.org

14. Structure
2009 • Training of trainers
• Ideas competition
Challenges
• Access > Distributed access
• Language > Increased translation and
Arabic sites
• Scalability > Online curriculum,
periodic meetups
• Sustainability > Focus on the
community
• Too many tools > Diversify learning

19. New Challenges
• Varying levels of digital literacy, media literacy
• Developing an Arabic-adaption process
• Addressing increasingly complex help needs
• Sustaining community, and organizing offline
meetings
• Programming soft-skills support sessions
• Identifying opportunities for local applications
• Networking internationally

20. Vision
• A self-guiding curriculum that’s easily adapted to
learning and implementation needs via language
and social media typology
• A self-sustaining regional network of social media
for social change trainers and practitioners

21. “If the collective intelligence is
then shared back with the
community, the members find
more value in the community, and
the community grows even more,
leading to a virtuous cycle.”
—Gaurav Mishra
gauravonomics.com

22. must-browse
tacticaltech.org
rising.globalvoicesonline.org
digiactive.org
wearemedia.org
itrainonline.org
www.kstoolkit.org

24. THANK YOU.
SMEX.ORG
To view this slideshow again, please visit slideshare.com/jdstar.