The Southern California Library is an archive and educational/cultural center in South Los Angeles that documents and provides access to histories of communities in struggle for justice. Combining our rare collections, technology, and innovative programming, we engage people in learning from these histories—so collectively we can better understand and address critical conditions facing our communities today, such as poverty, incarceration, policing, and homelessness. We work with local residents, community-based organizations, students, educators, and researchers, especially in communities of color that have historically been marginalized. For more information about the Library, see www.socallib.org.

The second Digital Media and Learning Competition from HASTAC and the MacArthur Foundation is here!  This year, the competition focuses on participatory learning, including "the many ways that learners (of any age) use new technologies to participate in virtual communities where they share ideas, comment upon one another's projects, and plan, design, advance, implement, or simply discuss their goals and ideas together."<

Hi, I'm Martha Kurtz and I'm really excited to be the project champion for FamilyFarmed.org!

Hi. By way of introduction.. I'm a life-long Californian and have spent the last couple decades serving as founding executive director of a non-profit media organization -- Davis Community Television.  We taught people to use the tools of television to make programs about subjects they cared about to show on our local cable system.  I left that job just a few months ago for -- I think it's safe to say -- bigger and better things.  Cable television programming suddenly feels woefully inadequate as a vehicle for expression, advocacy, information sharing and effecting social change.  I've become convinced that while television is a powerful medium, it pales in comparison to the potential effectiveness of digital media making and internet distribution.  Our work to educate, inspire, mobilize and engage people can be far more effective through the use of new media tools.  The community media movement, whose workers are largely baby boomers, can learn a lot from the Millennial Generation -- youth who are revolutionizing the way we make and share media.  I'm here to learn how to use new digital media for positive social purposes.