About Us
tms people
Rhys Daunic, Co-Founder
Andy Hieb, Co-Founder
The Media Spot was started as a public service branch of Dtek Digital Media in 1999, by co-founders Rhys Daunic and Andrew Hieb. Our philosophy was developed through our experiences in media education and as media producers, scholarship in media studies and history, and our experiences as citizens of the digital age.
Our first projects supplemented the curriculum at The Atlanta School -- a small, private elementary school in Atlanta’s Inman Park neighborhood. Working closely with TAS teachers, we created a series of videos that allowed the students to collaborate in every aspect of production. The videos were a great way for the kids to learn digital technologies, to study their standard curriculum in a more contemporary framework, and to start considering the way such media are constructed. The kids loved it! So did the parents and teachers -- the videos continue to be educational tools and promotional material for the school and TMS.
In 2001 we brought TMS to Community School 211, in the Bronx, NY. We completed a series of video projects over the next few years that focused on traditional literacy, new media production, point-of-view, and cultural identity. The highlight was a collaborative production shot in the Bronx Zoo with a group of students from The Atlanta School. The zoo video featured students from both schools, and was scripted by collaboration using The Atlanta School's online bulletin board built by Dtek. The collaboration between these two diverse groups made possible through technology was a huge success. The value that teachers and parents described related to the production process, and the investment the kids made in the process confirmed for us that the work we were doing had great potential in a variety of environments.
Since the summer of 2002, TMS has worked each summer with The Generation Connection camp in Florida, and partnered with Kids Orbit’s afterschool program in Brooklyn, NY. From 2004-2006, Rhys contracted for Teaching Matters, Inc. as an educational consultant providing professional development and student services related to technology integration at various New York City public and private schools.
In 2006 we launched a two-year project-based media literacy program at Public School 124 in Brooklyn, NY, and collaborate with teaching artist Alison Fleminger to incorporate video into a theater performance created by and featuring immigrant students from Manhattan's Liberty High School at the legendary NYC interdisciplinary cultural center, The Kitchen.
TMS continues to seek exciting learning environments that want to provide youth with 21st century literacy. Have a look at our Current Projects page to see what we're up to now, and please contact us If you're interested in collaborating in your learning environment.