Technology Trend

User-Generated Content

Search “4-H” via YouTube and you’ll find about 50 pages of video clips on topics ranging from skateboarding to beef judging to model rockets. Do some more digging and you may notice that 4-H Network News produced many of the videos—more than 100 of them, to be exact. Launched in Jefferson County, Wash., in February 2006, the youth Internet media service is a national model of how 4-H and CYFAR programs can utilize free, online communication services to generate content for the public.
 
“We wanted to show nonprofits, government entities and small businesses what they can do for free on the Internet to get their messages out,” explains Pamela Roberts, Jefferson County 4-H coordinator. “We also wanted to give a voice to underrepresented youth and adults, many who live in remote areas and in poverty.”

Made up primarily of teens, but also children as young as 7, the 4-H Network News crew produces content that captures events as they happen. In the past year, they have created more than 500 posts on their blog, including videos, podcasts, photos and text. The videos alone receive hundreds of hits on YouTube every day.

“It’s all about the audience, and the ‘audience’ is no longer merely listening,” states the 2007 Horizon Report, a research-oriented effort that seeks to identify emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on education. “User-created content is all around us, from blogs and photostreams to wikibooks and machinima clips.

“Small tools and easy access have opened the doors for almost anyone to become an author, a creator or a filmmaker,” the report continues. “These bits of content represent a new form of contribution and an increasing trend toward authorship that is happening at almost all levels of experience.”

By using tools for creating and tagging content, CYFAR and 4-H program facilitators can promote collaboration not only among youth, but also with colleagues and communities across the globe. Case in point: Through their blog, 4-H Network News not only reaches hundreds of peers, but also develops long-term partnerships with local, national and international organizations.

Accessibility is another benefit of online communication services. Many programs require no more than a Web browser to use. Free blog hosting sites like Blogger and file sharing sites like Flickr and MySpace allow youth to easily upload their original text, images, video and audio from any computer with an Internet connection, offering a low-cost way to publish their work as they develop their skills. “Comparing their own work to that of others can give students a valuable perspective on their own abilities and inspire them to try new ideas or techniques,” says the Horizons Report.

The online tools can help program facilitators to save time as well as money. With just a low-grade digital video camera and minimal, if any, video editing software, 4-H Network News is able to capture footage at events and upload it online in real-time. For example, at the National 4-H Curriculum Summit in June, the crew posted photos, videos of curriculum demos and Gabcast audio files to their blog, all while the summit was still going on.

Furthermore, user-generated content can connect people and facilitate work without an existing technology support center. Like their own personal IT staff, many of the online tools allow youth and adults to custom-tailor the options to fit their own unique needs.

“Inter-institutional collaboration has become more common, and these tools support the kinds of work that happens at a distance,” says the report. “The tools also lend themselves to classroom applications, providing a space where work begun in the classroom can be seamlessly carried on outside of class.”

Considering the freedom, convenience and efficiency that online communication tools provide, it’s surprising that more CYFAR professionals have yet to adopt the technologies. If you’d like to use the tools in your own club or program, there’s no time like the present to get started!