Teenagers will document Occupy Pittsburgh as part of a Teen Tech Week program. They will take a supervised visit to the encampment where they will record various aspects using digital tools. Later at the library, they will edit their recordings into a single work highlighting their perspectives, which will be posted online. The goal is to develop the teens' media literacy skills while engaging them with their community through exploring how an event has been portrayed in the media.

1. Teen Tech Week
Program Proposal
Documenting the Occupation:
A Global Movement from the Teen Perspective
Emily Fear
LIS 2633
Technology in the Lives of Children and Youth
Fall 2011
11/28/2011
Fear, Emily – Teen Tech Week Proposal 1

2. Part 1: Program Proposal
Introduction
Under the direction of staff from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Downtown-Business branch,
teens will create a multimedia work documenting Occupy Pittsburgh. Participants will be led on a
supervised site visit where they will then utilize digital media tools to record various aspects of the
encampment. Following the visit, the teens will use library resources to turn their individual recordings
into a single creative work.
This program will run for two and a half hours and is intended for teenagers between the ages of
fourteen and nineteen. Because the scheduled activities includes an offsite trip, written parental or
guardian permission will be required for all participants. Please note that this activity is not a political
action. The teens will be serving in a journalistic context and creating a document of their collected
perspectives. The staff working with the teens will encourage impartiality in the recording process, but will
not be censoring or altering the produced work to align with any particular political beliefs.
Proposal
Rationale
Since beginning in New York City in September 2011, The Occupy Movement has since
expanded to major cities all around the world, attracting attention across every news media platform.
This media coverage has done much to spread awareness of the Occupations, but it has also been
criticized of being biased or willfully one-sided in its portrayals of the events (Folkenflik n.p.). One of the
key aspects of new media literacy is to develop an understanding of the role media plays in “shaping
perceptions, beliefs and attitudes” (Thollman and Jolls 9). This is an opportunity for teens to directly
experience and comment on an event of national and international importance. In doing so, they will be
able to better consider the ways in which media has influenced their own perceptions.
Goals and Objectives
We believe that this program perfectly encapsulates the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's
commitment to encouraging citizenship, and civic participation. Through the use of digital media tools,
Fear, Emily – Teen Tech Week Proposal 2

3. teens can engage with their community in a way that both develops their media literacy and deepens
their understanding of the world immediately around them. Among the new media literacy skills that will
be engaged through this two-part process: Multitasking, “transmedia navigation” (Jenkins 4),
information seeking, collaboration, and the intelligent and creative assembling of information. In addition
to building these skills, we believe this program will further promote the library's digital and non-digital
resources to teenagers and their parents. We expect that this experience will encourage many teens to
return to the library to utilize these resources as well as attend future events.
The Program
The planning of the program will begin two months in advance to Teen Tech Week. First we will
reach out to the Occupy Pittsburgh media team for assistance in our visit to the camp. They will also be
able to help us with alternatives if the camp gets shut down prior to the date of the program. Staff
involved in the program will visit the camp to meet with various members and assess the basic layout.
This will alert us to any issues that we might face when visiting the camp with the teenagers.
Promotional materials will be released around the same time.
The next step will be to gather and review the digital media tools to be used for the program,
including both recording devices and computer software. The staff involved in the program will go
through a series of tutorials to gain a basic understanding of the tools being used. In the weeks leading
up to the event, enrolled participants should be confirmed and parental permission should be received.
Follow-up calls and emails to our Occupy liaisons will be made. Reservations on certain library
computers and tables will be made for the date of the program.
On the day of the event, a meeting space will be clearly designated. Staff and teens will first
meet for introductions and instructions. The teens will then break into smaller groups. Each group will
be given a recording device. They will be given five to ten minutes to experiment with the equipment,
then the staff will lead the teens up the street to the Occupy Pittsburgh Camp. The full group will meet
with the camp's media coordinator, then each supervised group will have 30 minutes of recording time.
After 30 minutes, the full group will meet again and head back to the library.
Fear, Emily – Teen Tech Week Proposal 3

4. Back at the library, the full group will meet to talk about the experience at the camp. Each group
will be assigned a computer where they can review and edit their recordings. Each group will choose a
portion to use, such as a one-minute audio clip, or a three-minute piece of footage. Working together
with staff guidance, they will put these portions together into a single work, which will then be posted to
the library website.
Resources
There will need to be at least one staff member per small group (with the number of small groups
no more than four), so the amount of required staff should range from four to five. This can include an
adult intern or volunteer, provided he/she has a familiarity with basic digital media technology. We will
need four digital media recording devices: A digital camera, a digital video camera, a digital audio
recording device, and a mobile device with the ability to capture pictures and video. The appropriate
battery chargers and connecting cables will also be required. At least four to five computer stations will
need to be reserved for the program. Software that allows for images, video, and audio editing will be
necessary, but many of these tools can be utilized for free or cheap online. Promotional costs will be
minimal, mainly for the printing of posters and cards.
Collaboration
Although it is a creative collaboration with Occupy Pittsburgh, it is important to stress to
participants, their parents or guardians, and to anyone interested in the program that this is not a
political partnership. This is an opportunity for teens to document an event of potential large-scale
importance to their city. By reaching out to organizing members of the camp, we do not seek to build a
partnership so much as we hope to better ensure the safety of the teenagers when they visit the camp.
Diversity
Because the Occupy Movement is focused on a variety of social causes, economic and diversity
issues are sure to be discussed in the process of documentation. Also, by using a variety of recording
devices, we hope to showcase the sophisticated creative work that even low-end tools can produce. We
hope to promote the library as a place where anyone on either side of the Digital Divide can access the
Fear, Emily – Teen Tech Week Proposal 4

5. resources he or she needs to develop and flourish as a creator.
Evaluation
We will evaluate our success through two means: The work created by the participating group of
teens, and the rate of teen use of library digital resources in the months following the program. The
permission slip will include an option for parents or guardians to allow the use of the teen's name, but it
is not mandatory. Anonymity will be guaranteed to those who express the desire for it.
Conclusion
We believe that by creatively engaging in a newsworthy event, this program will encourage and
enable the development of new media literacy skills in our teen patrons.
Sincere thanks to Nancy Cohen Todd and Kaitlyn Wittig for their guidance and advice in the
crafting of this program proposal.
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6. Works Cited
Folkenflik, David. “Tracking the Media's Eye on Occupy Wall Street.” NPR.org 13 Oct. 2011. Web. 26
Nov. 2011.
Jenkins, Henry, et. al. Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education in the 21st
Century. Chicago, Illinois: MacArthur Foundation, 2006. PDF.
Thollman, Elizabeth and Tessa Jolls. Literacy for the 21st Century: An Overview and Orientation Guide
to Media Literacy Education. Center for Media Literacy, 2003. PDF.
Additional Resources
Teen Tech Week – Geek Out @ your library, March 4-10, 2012. YALSA, 2011. Web. 22 Nov. 2011.
Fear, Emily – Teen Tech Week Proposal 6

7. Part 2 – One-Page Synopsis
Name: Emily Fear
Name of Program: Documenting the Occupation: A Global Movement from the Teen Perspective
Summary: Teens will create a multimedia work documenting Occupy Pittsburgh. Participants will be led
on a supervised site visit where they will then utilize digital media tools to record various aspects of the
encampment. Following the visit, the teens will use library resources to turn their individual recordings
into a single creative work.
Intended audience: Teens between the ages of 14 and 19. Due to the offsite visit, parental or guardian
permission will be required to participate. The number of participants is limited to sixteen, with
enrollment being on a first-come, first-served basis.
Rationale for the program: News media coverage has done much to spread awareness of the
Occupations, but it has also been criticized of being biased or willfully one-sided in its portrayals of the
events. This is an opportunity for teens to directly experience and comment on an event of national and
international importance. In doing so, they will be able to better consider the ways in which media has
influenced their own perceptions.
Resources required:
- Four to five staff members (can include adult interns or volunteers)
- Two months of planning before event date
- Contact with the Occupy Pittsburgh media team
- Four to five computer stations reserved for the event date
- Computer programs to edit video, audio, and images
- Digital camera
- Digital video camera
- Digital audio recorder
- Mobile device capable of capturing images and video
- Cables and chargers for each device
- Promotional posters and cards
- Website and blog advertising
- Permission form to be made available online
- One large table for group meeting and brainstorming
Plan of Action:
- Two months before the event date: Reach out to Occupy Pittsburgh media team. Take preliminary visit
to the camp to meet with media coordinator. Set hard date for visit, as well as contingency plan if camp
is shut down prior to event date.
- 45 days before the event date: Release promotional material. Gather recording devices (mobile device
can be lent for review purposes, then returned to owner until date of event). Have event staff meeting to
review computer program options for video, audio, and image editing.
- 30 days before event date: Two-hour staff tutorial on computer programs being used for event.
Reserves placed on library computers for event date.
- Two weeks before event date: Confirm enrollments, being sure to account for each attendee's
completed permission form. Follow-up with Occupy Pittsburgh media coordinator.
- One week before event date: Confirm final enrollment number. One hour event staff meeting to review
the event's activities and consider any issues that might be unresolved.
- Day before event date: Final confirmation with OP media coordinator. All devices charing, all reserved
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8. computers loaded with programs. Signs made and posted to designate event area. Call all participants
to confirm participation for the next day.
- Day of event – Teens brought to meeting table for introductions and instructions. They will then be led
on a 30-minute site visit to the OP camp, breaking into smaller groups to record their visit. Following the
visit, they will return to the library where they will compile their recordings into one work. Work will then
be posted to library website and blog.
- One day following event – An email “Thank You” will go out to each of the participants, which will
include a link to the group's project.
Fear, Emily – Teen Tech Week Proposal 8