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April 7 - Meeting Stories With Marc Weiss and Barry Joseph

Metanomics interviewed Marc N. Weiss, co-producer of the HBO documentary ‘Meeting Stories’ and creator of the PBS series P.O.V. and Barry Joseph of Global Kids on Wednesday, April 7, 2010.

Host Robert Bloomfield interviewed Barry Joseph, director of the Online Leadership Program at Global Kids and Marc N. Weiss, founder of Web Lab on Wednesday, April 7 2010 at 12pm PST. You can watch the archive of this show on this page. Marc Weiss’ work allows people to tell their own stories online via a new HBO series titled ‘Meeting Online’, while Global Kids are the new stories, kids meeting online and collaborating, not adults.

Marc Weiss has spent the last 40 years as a leader in the alternative media movement, co-founding several organizations, creating the public television series P.O.V. and founding Web Lab in 1997. P.O.V. will soon begin its 23rd season on public television. Web Lab was developed to bring people together to explore personal and public issues, focusing on small discussion groups with avoid the usual trolling and infighting that exists in online communities. It was designed to encourage ‘dialogues across differences’ and includes in-depth exchanges between people with varying backgrounds, experiences and perspectives.

Marc is currently co-producing a new documentary special for HBO which deals with how relationships are impacted by the internet, titled ‘Meeting Stories’. The series is a combination of the power of broadcast as a big microphone and a simultaneous experience with stories being uploaded and told as follow-ups on the Internet.

From the Meeting Stories site:

What do we mean by “meeting online”? It could be anything from Internet dating to making a significant personal or professional connection. In short, we want good stories that revolve around connections made on the Internet. If you’ve met someone online and the relationship deeply affected you (positively or negatively), then we want to hear from you! You might get the chance not only to tell it, but to have it featured on a new HBO show respectfully sharing some of these tales.

Global Kids‘ programs are designed to address the need for young people to possess leadership skills and understand global issues to further success in the workplace and increase participation in the democratic process.

Having made ground-breaking strides in using online tools to promote their program, Global Kids has become a model for youth leadership programs around the world and includes partnerships with the New York City department of education, Adelphi University, Games for Change, UNICEF and many others. Launched in 2000, their online presence helps raise digital literacy levels, foster online dialogues, develop resources for educators and more.

From the Global Kids site:

Global Kids’ programs are led by a team of highly trained professionals with backgrounds in education, a range of international fields, creative arts, and digital media, among others. At more than 20 New York City public middle and high schools and many citywide sites, they engage students in intensive workshops, field trips, guest speakers, and other activities.

They also support The Edge Project, which focuses on online and digital media as a resource for their youth programs, in the hopes of expanding the capacity of civic and cultural institutions to use new media as educational platforms. The program is focused on institutions which bring cutting edge digital media into their youth educational programs.

Guest Biographies

Marc N. Weiss

Marc N. Weiss has been an activist and leader in the independent, alternative media movement for 40 years, first as a filmmaker and journalist, then as a co-founder of several key organizations, creator of the public television series P.O.V., and founder of Web Lab, an online laboratory that has been recognized for its pioneering use of the Internet as a participatory medium.

Before founding Web Lab in 1997, Marc spent more than 25 years in the production, distribution and exhibition of independent films, and was an activist in building support for independent filmmakers. In 1975 he was a founding board member of AIVF (the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers); in 1976 he became a programming consultant for several major international film festivals, introducing American independent filmmakers to audiences around the world; in 1979 he spearheaded the U.S. Conference for an Alternative Cinema, the first national gathering of social-issue filmmakers.

Marc is probably best known as the creator of P.O.V., the groundbreaking showcase for independent non-fiction films with a “point of view” soon to begin its 23rd season on public television. During Marc’s eight-year tenure as executive producer, P.O.V. programs won every major broadcasting award. In 2008, P.O.V. was honored with a special Emmy in recognition of its 20th anniversary.

With partner Robert Kenner, Marc is currently developing a new nonfiction TV series designed to harness the power of the Internet to engage a national audience on hotly debated public issues. They are also co-producing a special for HBO about how relationships are impacted by the Internet.

Barry Joseph

Barry Joseph, Director of the Online Leadership Program, holds a B.A. from Northwestern University and an M.A. in American Studies from New York University. Barry came to Global Kids in 2000 through the New Voices Fellowship of the Academy for Educational Development, funded by the Ford Foundation. He has developed innovative programs for youth-led online dialogues, videogames as a form of youth media, and the educational potential of virtual worlds like Second Life, combining youth development practices with the development of high-profile digital media projects. Barry serves on the steering committee of the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning initiative and his writing will appear in the Foundation’s Ecology of Games volume (2007). His invited presentations include the GLS conference, MIT’s Educational Arcade, the Games For Change conference, the United Nations, and Microsoft’s Wide World Summit; also, his work has appeared in the New York Times, CNN, Marie Claire, BusinessWeek, The Voice of America, and through press in Russia and Japan. While at Global Kids, Barry has successfully launched two non-profit companies, Games For Change and a second working for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.