Project Overview

15 Aug 2015 Claire Bohrer
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People and industries all over the world are working diligently to keep up with the ever-progressing technology of our times. Journalism is not an exception. From written, to online, to virtual – Journalism is continuously being altered to fit formats that will present stories and reach audiences in the most effective ways possible.  Pursuing that quest, the Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State University recently won a grant to support using new technology for innovative storytelling.

Kennesaw State University is one of the 2015-16 winners of the Challenge Fund for Innovation in Journalism Education.
Read more about the winners and the competition.

Our Project Title: Marginalized Youth Voices Amplified on Virtual Worlds
Read about our project and our proposal on our Project Overview page.

Our project uses the open source, OpenSimulator virtual world platform to tell stories of  individual youth in the Juvenile Justice System. Through the virtual world  and machinima viewing experience, the audience will actually be able to walk through each youth’s story: their life before the system, why they were put into the system, and images of what life is like in the system.  Partnered with the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (JJIE.org), Twelve Kennesaw State University students from several majors and concentrations, along with professionals, technologists, and researchers, will bring light to the systemic abuses involved with the Georgia Juvenile Justice System.  The main goal of this project is to amplify the voices of marginalized youth with theinnovative technology of virtual worlds and machinima. Our main project goals are listed below.

  • Project Goals:
    – Amplify the voices of marginalized youth with innovative technology.
    – Broadcast their voices to audiences via mobile apps.
    – Allow the youth to participate in telling their life story.
    – Gather a collaborative, interdisciplinary cohort of students, professionals, technologists and researchers to create and broadcast an innovative, immersive form of journalism, while teaching each other new technology for storytelling.
    – Implement OpenSimulator virtual world platform software and Firestorm Viewer software, demonstrating their practicality for collaborative projects.
    – Build accessible apps.
    – Disseminate findings to universities and news entities.
    – Forge relationships on campus, advancing our teaching, research, service and long-term sustainability missions.

As we strive to reach these goals, we hope that you will continue to follow this front page blog to keep up with our progress on this influential project.  Also, be sure to explore this page to learn more about the project’s background.  On their personal blogs, each team intern shares their individual learning experiences ad isights.

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