12/7 Local Youth Document Teen Use of MySpace

Library Project Explores Teen Life “From the Inside Out”

Fresno, California -- Working under the direction of Lisa Lindsay, young adult librarian at Sunnyside Regional Library, a group of local teens have spent the past 4 months investigating teen use of Myspace and what it means to the youth who engage in this phenomenon and to the community at large. Using digital cameras, and old-fashioned interviewing and note-taking strategies, the group has been hard at work creating a film exploring this often talked about but rarely documented aspect of youth culture.

The results of their research will be the focus of a documentary film and panel discussion to be held at Terronez Middle School, on December 7, at 7:00 p.m. Free and open to the entire community, the event will also include a raffle for an Ipod Nano. “We chose this topic because Myspace is really popular with teens but a lot of adults don’t understand what it is about -- most of what they know is based on scary news reports,” said Rachel Wilson, one of the youth leading the project. “We want people in Fresno to better understand why youth are so crazy about Myspace.”

The project is part of the California Council for the Humanities recently inaugurated youth-focused campaign, “How I See It,” a statewide effort to enable young people to share – in their own words – what their lives are like, what they care about and what it’s like growing up in a diverse and changing state.

The How I See It in the Libraries program aims to give young people the tools and skills to communicate about their lives and experiences to an audience of community members who may not be used to hearing directly from youth about matters of concern to them. A survey of California youth conducted by the Council in July 2006 found that nearly one in four of the youth surveyed found that young people do not feel accepted by the larger community. Libraries have long encouraged people to read and seek information on topics of interest, but fostering communication between people of different ages, experiences and walks of life is increasingly important as the state grows more and more diverse. According to librarian Lisa Lindsay, “this program has encouraged us to make connections between youth and adults, and to foster necessary dialog among library patrons.”

The program also aims to spark youth interest in the humanities and encourage them to pursue their new skills and interests through higher education. Through the course of the three-month long project, participants have learned research and presentation skills, including how to interview someone, how to conduct quantitative research, how to use new technologies, how to incorporate research into a presentation, and how to organize and conduct a public program. “I would have never had the chance to use a digital camcorder. I’ve really learned a lot about what it takes to make a movie,” explained Rachel Wilson.

Some of the youth participants in Fresno will attend a conference in Spring 2008 hosted by the California Council for the Humanities that will bring young people participating in similar documentary project around the state, together to discuss the Humanities.

How I See It is the third major campaign of California Stories, the Council’s multiyear initiative that aims to strengthen communities and connect Californians by uncovering personal and community stories that tell the story of our state today.

For more information about the Council’s youth projects, and its California Stories initiative, visit <http://www.californiastories.org