UPDATES ON SAWT ASHABAB’S STATUS

Almost three weeks have gone by since elections day. Summer season has kicked in, finals are over, business is flowing, tourists are coming in and the city is burgeoning with events. And yet, we are still in RootSpace on Friday night, blogging, surfing, thinking, and planning.

The trial period of Sawt Ashabab was a great and exciting experience. We’ve had great contributions along the way and we were very satisfied with the level of enthusiasm and commitment of the participants. Feedback from the press has been very promising and positive as well. You can download issue zero of the print publication here and you can follow the continuing press coverage of the project here.

We are currently wrapping up the project and finalizing our reports. We are already looking for various sources of funding to build Sawt Ashabab as one of the top-circulation print publications and most used online multimedia outlets in Lebanon, by and for young people (roughly 30 years of age and under) and all citizens interested in independent alternative news in Lebanon.

We will be holding a closing party and the first of a series of discussions/brainstorming sessions about "what next" and "what's possible" and more...  The gathering will take place this Sunday , 5pm, in Upstairs, Hamra (more information below).

We are also looking for people with experience in the field to help us out, give some ideas/expertise, and be mentors of sorts. 

If you are interested in coming to the gathering on Sunday... GREAT! 

If you are also interested in helping out in some other ways, or helping out in a more sustained fashion... EVEN BETTER! 

See you on Sunday :-)

Cheers, 

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Come Join! 
Closing gathering for Sawt Ashabab… Sunday, 5pm, Upstairs/Hamra (right near Marble Tower Hotel, Makdisi Street).  Come!! :-) 

... PLUS an open discussion about NEXT STEPS… looking at building the effort into an ongoing publication… Sawt Ashabab Issue 1 coming in a few months!
(along with a brainstorming/planning session around the questions "what should/can a community-based, independent, alternative media outlet look like in 2010?" and "what can/should Sawt Ashabab look like?") 

... PLUS showing the best videos produced by Sawt Ashabab contributors, with voting and a nice prize for the top-selected video! 
... PLUS! International premiere of a video collage of the Sawt Ashabab Issue 0 effort … 
... PLUS!! discussion with all about possible activities/opportunities to do cool stuff over the summer... 
... PLUS!!! more. 

All this, for the bargain price of LL 3,000 (all going to the video prizes, chosen by all who attend the event!). 

Any questions, please contact Dima (70-879-225) or Munir (03-138-770). 

Sawt Ashabab Team 

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RootSpace is working to build Sawt Ashabab as one of the top-circulation print publications and most used online multimedia outlets in Lebanon, by and for young people (roughly 30 years of age and under, down to mid-teen years) and all citizens interested in independent alternative news in Lebanon.  The media outlet will:

• be a public media outlet (focusing on important youth, citizen, and public issues);
• be run in an educational manner (engaging students and young people, both those studying media/journalism and others, to improve their writing skills, promote collaboration and creative problem solving, and foster critical thinking and critical media consumption);
• involve young people from around Lebanon (universities, high school students, and non-students, from all groups, classes, religions, etc);
• be both in print and with a strong interactive and participatory multimedia web component;
• use appropriate technology to both train people in how to use ICTs (information and communications technologies) more effectively, and to engage a broader cross-section of people in Lebanon, even those not well-connected to the Internet and new technologies; 
• distribute the print edition freely (the first free-distribution news publication in Lebanon; initially monthly, aiming to shift to bi-monthly and then weekly after that);
• build towards long-term sustainability by generating revenue via advertising and sponsors;
• maintain a viewpoint that is open and critical, and will remain free of any political or sectarian affiliation;
• be inclusive of people from different groups, organizations, income classes, people with disabilities, etc;
• be in both English and Arabic; and
• maintain high journalistic and ethical standards.

 

The main content outputs include:

- regular online content (including articles, multimedia/graphics, radio/podcasts, videos, etc) and participatory tools;

- a monthly free-distribution print publication;

- educational modules for high schools regarding information and media literacy.  

 

The Information and Media Literacy Component

Practical, current, and hands-on media workshops will be organized in schools in order to introduce students to IML and to the development, history, and nature of mass media. The initial workshops will consist of four sessions, three hours each, once per week (over the course of one month).  We aim to conduct introductory workshops at 6 high schools (public & private) to refine and develop the curriculum.  With further funding, we would like to develop a module that could easily be replicated and distributed to teachers and others (basic training, and training of trainers) to expand the impact and participation in this program. 

The syllabus for the IML workshop will be based on the 5 core concepts developed by the Center for Media Literacy in Santa Monica, California, adapted to the Lebanese media spectrum.  The Lebanese media will be our main source of documentation and case study examples (articles, archives, selected cuts from TV prime news, radio talk shows, etc).  

 

 

Nation of Purple Thumbs

More pics on Flickr

Sawt Ashabab on Election Day!

Today, June 7th 2009, the minds of all Lebanese citizens are united.

Today, people from all corners of the nation are finding their way to poll stations to voice their opinion on candidates they think are adequate and capable of running one of the most politically divided countries of our world today.

Today is one of the most important days for the Lebanese, and the day’s outcome will determine the political stability of the country’s future.

While the older generations participate in voicing their political opinions, and while all media outlets tell their most compelling stories of events taking place on this date, the youth feels a need to include themselves in today’s excitement.

Being deprived of the right to vote until the age of 21, Sawt Ashabab – a group of students between the ages of 18-25 – are representing the youth and their role in this year’s Lebanese elections. Having already voiced the youth’s opinions in the newspaper published late last week with Al-Nahar and Al-Akhbar, the youth is also participating in reporting on-the-ground election stories.

With reporters located in poll stations all around Lebanon, Sawt Ashabab has created it’s own media outlet, reporting eye-witness events occurring all over the country, and combining information discovered by different sources to verify our own reports.

Follow us LIVE on www.sawtashabab.org

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sawt-Ashabab-/70659154425
Twitter: http://twitter.com/SawtAshabab
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sawt_ashabab/

Setting up Sawt Ashabab's news room for Election day

The High End Of Low

Yesterday was the high end of low.

It’s a mad world where people don’t know their own good. The whole concept of Rootspace and the people who keep it alive are out of this world to me. The whole idea of principles over personal gain was never something I see every day. I mean sure we see it in movie but never in the harshness of real life. When I see Mounir and Dima get highly stressed or intensely worried about something that shouldn’t concern them and watch Dara and Ayman work hard and long without any really materialistic gain I realized why people like to watch happy Hollywood movies.

People love heroes…and the people at Rootspace are nothing less than that. Being a nerdy American kid who grew up on video games and comic books, I can’t but imagine Rootspace as the Batman’s Bat cave or Superman’s Fortress Of solitude. So whether us mortal men deserve them or not…I’m glad we have em. 

Sawt Ashabab: Issue 0

Sawt Ashabab: Issue 0- Download here (1.4mb PDF)

Issue 0

This is an image that surely deserves to be on giant billboards all through Lebanon.. But what do you want me to say, we live in a not so fair world.. still, we're kind of working on it ;)
Thank you, each and everyone of you ;)

Dima

Journal Of A VideoSoldier: 2nd Entry

I just came back from the first Rootspace fund raiser for “Sawtashabab” and I have to say it was F******* Awesome. If you have never seen Ayman dancing Salsa then you have seen NOTHING at all. Amongst the loud music, alcohol, Dima trying to take away as much money as possible in any means necessary; I came to the realization that this ALL BEING DONE FOR US. Although Dima keeps repeating it every step of the way, it just hit me that these individuals are giving us their free time and patience to provide a voice for our generation. In my dark rendition of reality such individuals are too good to be true but there they were, working their asses of to create something that won’t benefit them in any way, shape or form.

To my fellow youth, most of you didn’t bother to show up to your OWN fund raiser. Please do not say that you were busy because you are in no way busier that all the future reporters that had work in the morning. I am not saying that I’ve treated this with the respect and appreciation it deserves but it just came to my realization that whether I give a shit about politics or not, I have to thank these people from the bottom of my heart because they give a shit about me.

Ayman

Dara

Dima

Mounir

Thank you for everything and I hope we make you proud.

Mission YouthVoice

So not everyone wants to sacrifice precious Saturdays in hard labor, which is perfectly understandable. Many young people may question why anyone would do it ما بكفينا شغل الجامعة؟ What these people don’t know is that our labor is worth the fruit it will produce. We do it because we feel the opportunity is too great to miss, because it would be unreasonable not to venture ahead and because this is not coursework!

الجامعة شي واليوثفويس شي let’s make that distinction. This is more real than anything you will pick up in class, this is about what goes on in the streets, our streets and it doesn’t get rawer than that. YouthVoice is a rare chance to apply our passions, skills and talents to a cause with a platform. The exposure you get here goes far beyond cramped classrooms in which your assignments are forgotten the moment you receive the grade. There is no grade here but rather something more rewarding than that: recognition and the power to change.

This country has been stagnating for decades, that is not to say going backwards دق المي بتدلا مي and nothing ever changes. Lebanon is ailed with ancient convictions, the political scene is inherited from father to son, the story has been told a thousand times before by outdated minds that contradict the modern evolving word. YouthVoice is a fresh breath and it’s telling a different story by younger people with healthier views. To be part of that through contributing your voice in the form of an article is the definition of power.

When you’re young is when you are restless, when you’re always looking for adventure, whatever form it may come in. One of the greatest adventure one experiences in a life time is fighting for a cause they strongly believe in and I think it goes without saying that this country is a cause for anyone growing up here today. We are Lebanese and we wouldn’t call ourselves anything else, we are not driven by sectarian divisions and trivial labels, prove that through YouthVoice.

Journal of a VideoSoldier

In a country like Lebanon, the voice of the youth isn’t necessarily heard or even respected. This illusion of freedom of speech has been haunting me all throughout my youthful years. And now I am one year away from performing my civil duties to the fullest, a year from being a voting Lebanese citizen.

Dima, my NDU teacher from last semester, approached me with a project to create an active media outlet that gives the Lebanese youth a chance to express themselves before the upcoming Lebanese parliamentary elections. The whole idea seemed a bit too good to be true at first but the prospect of it left a tingle within my stomach encouraging me to pursue this to the fullest.  So here we are, youth from different universities, cultures from all across the country divided into groups of journalist, writers, photographers and film makers working together at RootSpace to create something out of nothing. We have to create a print and online newspaper, 20 videos, a full documentary and many articles in 3 weeks….yea I know.

So there we were a bunch of college students staring the impossible straight in the eye.

A hectic week has passed by, 2 videos have been broadcast on Kalam An-Nas and the rest are on the way.  I honestly don’t know the extent of our progress because I am too deep within the storm to see. This is the beginning of my work in this project and I have to say that no matter the conclusion is, this experience pushed me to the extent of my professional boundaries. I have worked alongside a diverse group of my peers and I can honestly say it’s been a blast.

The battle is not over yet but so far so good….

 

Sawt Ashabab - Code of Ethics

... as determined by the Sawt Ashabab Editorial Board, consisting of young people from six universities around Lebanon:

SAWT ASHABAB CODE OF ETHICS
• Honesty - no wrong info, at least 2 sources for info, no plagiarism
• Transparency
• Language - not too hard but not too simple
• Respect for candidates, politicians, readers
• Balance of opinions
• Pictures - high resolution, respect for copyrights
• Remain independent
• Don't go mock religious beliefs; no sectarian discrimination
• Everything you won't find in your average newspaper
• Consistency in spelling names, titles of persons
• Typo - spell check, proof-reading
• No defamation
• Reference page / sources on the web
• Enable comments on the web version; support reader feedback
• Balancing content (law-binding): if we write an article about the electoral campaign of x, need to write the same length about y
• Open source: collaborative work, everything is open for everyone to edit/work/write, etc....
• All of us are all the different ranks

(May 16, 2009 draft, in progress...)

تطلق صوت الشباب ROOTSPACE - by Fatima Farhat

عند المبنى المطل على ساحة الشهداء في بيروت، هناك التقينا. نحن هيئة التحرير، في مشروع يهدف الى رفع صوت الشباب عاليا، في خطوة هي الاولى من نوعها في لبنان. " صوت الشباب" مشروع يطمح الى انشاء منبر حر للشباب، بالتعاون مع منظمة .The Rootspace Organization

بدأنا هذا اللقاء بالتعرف إلى ديمة صابر، وهي من منسقي المشروع، وأستاذة إعلام في جامعة سيدة اللويزة، قد يلفتك فيها نشاطها الفائق وحماسها المتقد لانجاز المشروع، فقد ظهر أنها "الدينمو" الأساسي في خلق هذا المخطط، بالاضافة الى مساعديها الذي ما كلوا عن توضيح المشروع و مساعدتنا في تطوير الفكرة، وخلق الجو المناسب لبيئة خلاقة.

بعدها، بدأ كل منا بالتعريف عن نفسه واختصاصه الجامعي، وقد بدا ان ما يجمعنا هو اختصاصنا الجامعي في حقل الاعلام. فنحن قدمنا من مختلف الجامعات: اللبنانية والجامعة الأميركية و البلمند و AUST واللبنانية الأميركية.

ثم قسمنا الى قسمين: فريق الصحافة المكتوبة والاخر الصحافة المرئية والمسموعة. فريق الصحافة المكتوبة، و هو المؤلف من هيئة التحرير، بقي في نفس الغرفة ذات الطاولة المربعة للتناقش في المخطط للجريدة.

ومن ثم بدأنا في العمل واستخلاص الأفكار،بالتحدث عن المبادئ الرئيسة في كتابة المقالة. بعدها قسمنا الى ثلاث مجموعات من خلال قرعة تضمن اختلاطنا فيما بيننا و اندماجنا في فرق جديدة.

كان على كل قسم التفكير مليا في الأفكار التي قد يطرحها في الجريدة كالكلمات المتقاطعة والأحوال الجوية والأبراج والمعلومات العامة والتحقيقات والاراء الخاصة، بالأضافة الى مواضيع أخرى، التي قد تعطي انطباعا مختلفا عن الجريدة، هو أقرب الى الفئات العمرية الشابة. بالأضافة الى ذلك حدد كل منا الخطوط العامة في الميثاق الأخلاقي التي ستتبعه الجريدة.

ثم جاء وقت الغداء، فكانت الشرفة هي غرفة طعامنا، فتشاطرنا البيتزا وبعضا من أطراف الحديث. بعضنا فضل عدم تناول الطعام، لاتباعه حمية غذائية، علما أن البيتزا كانت ذات رائحة وصورة مغرية يصعب مقاومتها.

ثم بعدها اكملنا العمل، باشراف ديمة، فكشف كل فريق عن أفكاره والمواضيع التي قد نطرحها، في جعل الجريدة شبابية و شفافة الى حد بعيد. تناقشنا في عدد الصفحات وما قد تتضمنه من مواضيع تهم المجتمع. ولعل من جملة ما برز نوع من الأفكار الرائعة، فبعضهم فضل القاء الضوء على خفايا عن سياسيين يجهل الرأي العام حقائقهم، والاخر رأى في جمع الفن والسياسة معا، أمرا قد يراه الشباب مسليا من زاوية مختلفة عند الرأي العام.

ثم جاء دور الصفحة الأولى، وهي التي قد تقرر حجم نجاحنا في استقطاب الشباب، و لا أخفي أن كما هائلا من الأفكار الرائعة قد تجلى، في خلق صفحة تشد القراء، من مختلف الأعمار.

في صوت الشباب، تعرفنا على أشخاص قد نختلف معهم في السياسة أوالدين أو الأفكار الخاصة في نظرتنا الى المجتمع ومفهومنا الى الحياة، لكن حتما هم زملاؤنا في العمل، الذين سنتشاطر معهم خبرات و مواقف جميلة. على امتداد شهر ونصف، سوف يجمعنا يوم السبت من كل أسبوع للقاء نتشاور فيه ونتعارك لاصدار الأفضل فيما يتعلق بالشباب اللبناني من هموم معيشية و حكايا، قد تثيرك اشمئزازا أو ترقصك فرحا.

على أمل أن نلقاكم في عددنا الأول الصادر مع جريدتي النهار والأخبار في آخر خميس من هذا الشهر.

Introducing Youth Voice to the Civil Society by Nadine Ghaith

Young people in Lebanon seldom have a say when it comes to politics. It seems almost an unwritten rule that they should be steered away from the political stage and unengaged in general public opinion. All this however, is about to change thanks to YouthVoice. If you haven’t heard yet, YouthVoice is a project launched by RootSpace in which a news supplement will be written and produced entirely by the Lebanese youth and will be released one week before the elections. The project will also include a website (http://www.sawtashabab.org) on which content will be published starting this week and until Election night.

Students from all different universities in Lebanon have been encouraged to submit material regarding the elections taking place on the 7th of June. Under that one subject, they may explore, comment, investigate and reflect on any aspect they want. Within the boundaries of the law of publication in Lebanon, young people are free to say what they want without their voices being muffled. They will be able to exercise that which Lebanon is famous for among the rest of the Arabic countries: freedom of speech.

To launch the project, an editorial board of twelve members (all under the age of 25) was selected by YouthVoice. The first editorial meeting was held in RootSpace’s offices in Saifi on Saturday May 16, 2009 and focused on concluding the format of the paper and subheadings in which all content will be divided. The paper will be 8 pages long and will be published along with the two leading news papers in the country, An-Nahar and Al-Akhbar, on the 27th of May. On top of that, 5,000 copies will be distributed among various universities and an online website will be available to target a much larger audience.

The Board divided the paper into six sections with intermixed Arabic and English content. Among the sections: News, which will include all investigations about voting minorities, women’s involvement in elections, reflections of the common people in the streets and any controversial issue that needs looking into as well as coverage of what’s going on. The second section is the youth section and will be the largest as it will include all opinion pieces and editorials as well as a “did you know” section and youth quotes; basically anything young people want to say about the elections. Another section will be the media/arts/fashion which will explore the biases of media in covering the elections and take a deeper look at how traditional (newspapers, radio, TV) and Web 2.0 media (websites of candidates, blogs, facebook, youtube) are covering the elections. It will also include a subsection on Lebanese artists’ involvement in the elections. A section on foreign reactions to the election will be dubbed Lebanese elections and the world. This section will look into foreign involvement in the elections and what foreign students in Lebanon make of it. A section on corruption and economy will explore election costs, campaign funds, bribing voters and environmental issues. Finally the entertainment section will feature a health section, funny horoscopes that target politicians, crossword puzzles, political jokes and more.

Young people can contribute to any of these subheadings in Arabic and English or come up with others on their own as long as the topic is relevant. Content submitted before May 22 will be reviewed by the board and selected for the print edition and the home page of the website. However, we will be expecting submissions until Election night, and hopefully beyond. This is a stepping stone for young journalists and citizens everywhere in Lebanon. We aspire for it to grow.

Sawt Ashabab - Presentation

Sawt Ashabab is an exciting project which aims at engaging young people (age 18-25) from different universities, groups, regions, etc on a collaborative media project, to report, monitor, and act as 'citizen journalists' for critical issues in Lebanon.

We are developing and launching this project now related to the upcoming elections, but we are working to develop this into an ongoing effort engaging young people around Lebanon in regular media production and information & media literacy projects.

The immediate goal is to produce a newspaper (online and in print) completely written and edited by Lebanese students, in both English and Arabic. It would be published as a supplement by both An-Nahar and Al-Akhbar one week before the elections.

It is important to note that this effort is the first time in Lebanon that two newspapers, of different political tendencies, cooperate to co-publish content that fosters critical thinking and breaks down unhealthy barriers within Lebanese society.

There are three main outputs to this current effort:
1. A printed newspaper published as a supplement to partner media outlets (An-Nahar and Al-Akhbar) and distributed as a stand-alone paper on campuses and other youth gathering points (cafes, etc), including text articles, editorial cartoons, crossword puzzles or other games, graphics/images/drawings/photographs, etc;

2. Web content carried on our own website (http://www.sawtashabab.org) and in sections of partner online media outlets (including Al-Akhbar, An-Nahar, Jaridtak, Menassat, and UPI), including text articles, editorial cartoons, crossword puzzles or other games, graphics/images/drawings/photographs, etc (as above), and could also include audio/radio pieces, etc; and

3. Video pieces of 3-4 minutes about critical issues of concern to young people, and produced in a creative and original manner, for showing online and possibly through other media outlets.

The web content will be online starting next week and the printed newspaper will be distributed during the last week of May. We are also recruiting a team of students to send us reports live on the day of the elections. Students will be on the ground gathering interviews and reports and producing audiovisual content (videos and podcasts) that will all be published on the website of Sawt Ashabab as well as other web outlets.

We are already working with many universities such as Balamand, AUB, UL, AUST, USJ etc. and we hope to engage as many students and youth as possible because we believe that diversity is one of the primary conditions for the success of this project, so we want students from different universities to work together, think together and of course DO together!!

Initial information is now on our website (http://www.sawtashabab.org), though we will be developing additional content and a main entry portal for this project in the coming days. Once finalized, we will also display the logos of our media and organizational partners.

We believe that being able to participate in the creation of an alternative-citizen newspaper is a unique opportunity that every journalism and humanities student (indeed, youth and students of all interests) should seize and we hope to engage as many young people as possible for this could be an excellent way to create for these students an unbiased platform where they could make their voice heard.