The trip home & pictures from Awards Night

The 6,400 mile (10,300 km) journey home went rather smoothly. The nearly full Boeing 767 that flew us from Zurich to the New York area landed just 20 minutes behind schedule leaving plenty of time to make the connecting flight to California. The only minor excitement happened as the plane from Newark to San Diego was taxiing to the runway. The captain came on the plane's public address system to tell us the emergency vehicles racing to the left side of our aircraft were, in fact, for us. He quickly added that it was nothing to worry about. As our jet's crew fired up the 737's left engine, the pilots in the plane behind saw the engine "belch" (his word) out a little flame. Our captain seemed unconcerned as he explained this happens some time and it's usually not a problem. Safety being most important, this fiery belch required an inspection by emergency crews to be sure the plane was safe to fly. As the fire trucks retreated, the captain got back on and said we were number one for departure. About a minute later, we were in the air headed west, the considerable New York and New Jersey snow on the ground fading in the distance. A little more than five hours later, we landed at San Diego's Lindbergh Field where the temperature was a pleasant 55 F (13 C) degrees at 8:00 in the evening. So, 24 hours after leaving the hotel in Basel, I was home.

BaKaFORUM's attendees come from near and far. Whether close or distant, I hope everybody's journey home went as smoothly as mine. As we all get back to our daily routine, here are some of Werner Laschinger's fine photos from the closing ceremony and reception to help keep the BaKaFORUM spirit fresh in our minds' eyes. Thank you all, particularly our hosts in Basel and the BaKaFORUM team, for an inspiring three days. Enjoy.






 

BaKaFORUM 2011 Prize Winners

2011 BaKaFORUM Awards, photo by Werner Laschinger

The juries have made their selections. Here are your 2011 BaKaFORUM prize winners and finalists:

Cross-Media Prize for School and Youth Education

 Highrise-Out My Window       National Film Board of Canada (PRIZE WINNER)


13 at War                                      NTR                           Netherlands (Finalist)

Lisa’s Mission                              KRO                           Netherlands (Finalist)

Una Ma de Contes                       CCRTV Interactive    Spain (Honorable Mention)

Cross-Media Prize for Adult Education

The Anxiety Monster                 UR                               Sweden (PRIZE WINNER)

Collapsus: The Energy Risk
Conspiracy                                   Submarine                    Netherlands (Finalist)

The Behaviour Challenge            Teachers TV                 United Kingdom (Finalist)



Youth Jury Prize

13 at War                                     NTR                        Netherlands (PRIZE WINNER)

Evolution of Life                          CNDP                      France (Finalist)

Highrise-Out My Window           National Film Board of Canada (Finalist)


Proposal Prize


Let’s Play Please                    Doordarshan             India (PRIZE WINNER)

Bata Ang Bukas                       Anak TV, Inc.              Philippines (Finalist)

SORCERY: A Weapon of
Power                                       Corp. Paz y Media      Colombia (Finalist)

Media literacy and a short, powerful message

This afternoon's media literacy and democracy workshop offered several "enlightening visions" of how educating students and teachers will serve our common interests. Each of the presenters shared projects and strategies to help promote media and information literacy. The United Nations, in particular, was well represented with three presentations having a connection to the UN. Here's a link to the page on the BaKaFORUM website that includes all the links to today's workshop.

Here's one highlight from a project that teaches young people to make one minute "films" in order to tell their stories. What you'll see is how a Black student from the Ukraine chose to produce a message designed to combat racism. It's from the http://theoneminutesjr.org project.

Quick thought on the morning sessions

The morning session's presenters discussed media literacy from a variety of perspectives with an emphasis on educational uses for new media. As tools for teaching and learning, media have wide applications, and a good deal of research backs up the benefits. I look forward to more in depth discussions this afternoon. We also heard a compelling presentation on the role of independent journalism in Sri Lanka.

Of particular interest to me is the dichotomy between computer mediated communication (CMC) and face to face (F2F) interactions. Specifically, does extensive use of CMC affect our capacity for presence in the non-virtutal (F2F) world? And are these effects exacerbated in our young people who have never known a world without portable phones and the internet?

As enthusiastic as I am about CMC and new media in general--particularly the positive role these tools can play in schools--I wonder how we mitigate the inevitable trade-offs, those Faustian bargains, that each new technology contains. No doubt, media literacy is an essential ingredient for a healthy communication ecology. Perhaps these trade-offs are a worthy area for future research and less formal observation. Just a thought.

Short takes and a comment on news of the day

Awards to be announced tonight

Youth and adult juries (photo by Werner Laschinger)

Today is the final day of BaKaFORUM 2011. The juries have been busily working to determine this year's honorees. After the tonight's ceremony, we'll post a list of the entries that receive awards. So check back around 21:00.

Teaching and learning

Today's Focus: School and youth--Teachers day.

The schedule includes afternoon workshops on cross-media concepts for the classroom (13:30-16:30) at Wild'tsches Haus, Petersplatz 13...

And, media literacy and democracy building (14:00-17:00) is the topic at the Kult.Kino, Theaterstrasse 7.

Check your schedule or the BaKaFORUM.net website for more details. I only wish I could attend both workshops.

Connect at the Connect Cafe (Gerbergasse 30)

If you have not yet visited the connect cafe, take the five minute walk from Kult Kino and check it out. There is an attractively laid out media center where you can view various BaKaFORUM entries. The cafe itself is a former bank, quite spacious and a nice place to enjoy a coffee or tea, and a snack.

On a quite serious note

I am by experience, training, and temperament a newsman, a journalist. And while this blog is not journalism in a traditional sense, our thoughts turn to the news of the day. Unrest in Egypt is dominating world events as we begin our final day at BaKaFORUM. Just two days ago we were discussing the benefits of openness on the internet, first at the opening session and later in this blog. Once again we see that our age of  digital empowerment offers powerful tools for enabling a wide range of voices to be heard. The Egyptian government's extraordinary effort to shut down the internet speaks volumes about why net openness is so critically important. Those, here, who document struggles for social justice understand why media remain powerful tools. And, it seems fitting to recall the words of American radio and TV journalist Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965). Murrow was speaking about television, but his words could also apply to the newer technologies examined by us today and in use on the streets of Egypt.

Enlightened visions, indeed.

This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. (E.R. Murrow, 1958)

A well deserved thank you

Photo by Werner Laschinger

Before last night's session got underway, BaKaFORUM's new general manager, Michael Koechlin, thanked outgoing GM Robert Ruoff for his many years of service. Myriam Bschir, BaKaFORUM's former assistant general manager, also received BaKaFORUM's signature pyramid, a token of gratitude for her years of service. Those assembled expressed their gratitude with long, enthusiastic applause, as Robert and Myriam were recognized.

Photo by Werner Laschinger

I join BaKaFORUM's official thank you. As a three time attendee, I am grateful to Robert and Myriam for their warm welcomes over the years and the ongoing quality of BaKaFORUM. All best wishes.

Leading with the web as the primary driving force

After about 40 years working in and around television and media, I can count on one hand a few turning-point moments where it became clear to me that everything had changed. Little changes happen all the time. And major changes are often incremental rather than sudden. But for each of us there is often a moment of clarity when it all makes sense. Today, I experienced such a moment at BaKaFORUM.

To provide a little perspective, here are those prior moments that set the stage for where we are today.

    1—Working in daily TV news production, I noticed it all changed when we began phasing out film and instead began producing on videotape. This happened in the mid 1970s.

    2—At the Radio and Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) annual meeting, several local and national news websites were presented as the news delivery platforms of the future. This happened in the mid 1990s.

    3—At the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention in Las Vegas, Television and Radio had to share the stage and exhibition floor with digital media; digital media got its own exhibition space for the first time. This happened in the late1990s.

From TAL.tv presentation

Earlier today, I listened and watched as presenters from Switzerland, Canada, South Africa, Argentina, and Brazil explained how the web—not TV or radio—had become the driving force on many new multi-platform projects. As is the case with prior “sea changes,” these transformations have been happening for some time. BaKaFORUM’s focus this year, on cross media production, is helping to bring these important changes into focus.

In case you missed the session, here is a list of links to the projects that were presented.

http://frischfilm.sf.tv

http://www.nfb.ca/interactive

http://worldkidsnews.com

http://tal.tv

And, just for fun, here is the Frischfilm (SRF Switzerland) short animated presentation shown earlier today. Enjoy. If you prefer, here's a link to the SRF website's presentation.