The Media Spot
TGC brings together kids and elders as campers — guiding them into learning expeditions in nature and the local community. Without demanding any particular result, the camp has found that immersing diverse groups in collaborative activities leads to positive intergenerational exchanges. TMS stokes interactions between young and old by facilitating intergenerational camper directed documentary videos on their travels.
It is always a goal of TMS/TGC productions to expose this decision-making process within our videos to not only demonstrate the building of media literacy that goes on at camp, but to expose our audience to those lessons as well. We hope to engage viewers in critical thinking about the constructedness of all media as they watch campers make editorial choices, and also transparently share the camp video production process to those who would like to try it for themselves.
This summer I had the pleasure of collaborating with some outstanding media educators at the 8th annual Generation Connection (TGC) summer camp in Gainesville, Florida, where we helped campers (age 8-80) use digital media to document their experiences on the camp website. The Media Spot has been working with the TGC since year one to work with participants to create documentary videos on their travels around Central Florida, encouraging critical thinking about how we can use media to shape, share, and reflect on what is important to us.
The Media Spot