Digital Media
with Youth - New Skills for the 21st Century
Project-based arts, media, and technology programs, with
academic support, are encouraged to help young people
gain skills that prepare them for college and tomorrow's
workforce. Support for this priority area is provided
by Nettrice Gaskins, adjunct faculty and computer arts
academic specialist, UMass/Boston and Mass College of
Art; board member CTCNet and NAMAC.
Nettrice's
Full Bio. Nettrice
R. Gaskins is the teacher and designer of this web site.
Nettrice has been doing computer animation since high
school in Kentucky. Back then she was using Macintosh
and Amiga computers. When she graduated from high school,
she got a full art scholarship to attend Pratt Institute
in New York City and another full scholarship to attend
the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She majored
in computer graphics at Pratt and art & technology at
SAIC. Today, Nettrice wears a lot of hats. She works at
the Massachusetts College of Art and teaches multimedia
& media literacy at UMass Boston. She has been teaching
and working with youth for 14 years. Nettrice's online
portfolio is NetArt
<<Click Here
Nettrice was a CTC VISTA Project supervisor
at the BNN Multimedia Center, from 2003-2004. She worked
with Derek P. Hixon, a former VISTA, and ran digital art/media
classes for Boston-area youth.
Digital Media.
Digital media
encompasses digital
video, digital audio,
the World Wide Web, other technologies and applications
that can be used to create and distribute digital content.
Digital media represents a significant
change from previous media technologies. Post-production
of digital media is often cheaper and more flexible than
of analog media, and the end result can produced indefinitely,
without any loss of quality.
Furthermore, digital content can
be combined to make new forms of content. The first signs
of this are visible in the use of techniques such as
compositing, sampling,
and remixing.
Today, the term digital media has
replaced multimedia, a once ubiquitous term that refers
to the use of several different media to convey information
(text, audio, graphics, animation, video, and interactivity).
Multimedia was part of the trend of digital convergence
that included computing and communication.
Participation.
It's important to introduce people to the process of making
digital media, not just how to use the tools and applications.
Digital art and media making addresses both visual and
media literacies, as well as using software, computer
technology, and digital equipment. There are many ways
to communicate, share, explore and brainstorm ideas, including
the Mixx &
Mash Blog, a Discussion
Forum/Bulletin Board, and, of course, a mailing list/listserv
provided by CTC VISTA (for VISTA workers).
Overview. In
August 2005, VISTAs attended an overview of the digital
media for youth priority area, led by Nettrice R. Gaskins,
as part of the CTC VISTA Project orientation. Attendees
received a handout during the
session. The materials introduced digital media and youth
development, including examples of computer
animation from the Youth at Art Tech summer class
at the Mass College of Art. This class was also taught
by Nettrice.
For more information about
the CTC VISTA Project click
here <<
Email: nettrice@gmail.com
