Poverty, YouTube and Representation [Long Story Short]: A Conversation

Video – Summit #1 – Poverty, YouTube and Representation

Cheap and accessible digital technologies have changed how we tell stories and voice opinions in public, as well as who gets heard. Yet many people fighting to move out of poverty don’t share stories online—some don’t have access, and even if they do, may be so used to being ignored, discounted, and stigmatized, they don’t think others would listen.

Innovative digital video artist Natalie Bookchin‘s work (Cal Arts) Long Story Short provides a critical corrective. Inspired by a tradition of social history told by and from the perspective of ordinary people, Long Story Short shapes its narrative by listening to the—too often unrecognized—knowledge, insights, and worldviews of people with first-hand experience of economic struggle. Using DIY participatory tools and the aesthetics of social media, we are building a large story archive of stories, and out of the archive are making a collectively-told story about the changing face of California and the United States. Participants make video diaries, telling life stories and sharing views and political outlooks. They offer definitions of poverty, describe their hopes for the future, and offer ideas on solutions to American’s poverty crisis.

JustPublics@365 is honored to host Bookchin in conversation about her work with Alex Juhasz (Pitzer), author of Learning from YouTube (MIT Press).

Tuesday, Mar 5, 6:30pm, James Gallery, Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY.

Co-Sponsored by the James Gallery, The Center for the Humanities, and the Mellon Seminar on “Poverty.”