a smattering of

The issue of Sudanese migration in Australian society made headlines in 2007 when then Immigration Minister, Kevin Andrews, signalled that he would half refugee intake from Africa, believing the community had trouble integrating into Australian society.
With knowledge of this story and other stories focusing of gang violence- our group set out to explore a more positive perspective regaurding Sudanese refugees. We began our research with the Lost Boys and were fortunate enough to make several useful contacts: Akoch Mannhiem – Leader of the Lost Boys Association of Australia, Trent McCarthy –creator of ‘Turning Sudanese’ a successful show at the 2008 Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Holly Carpenter – Community psychologist involved in Sudanese mental health and social integration/rehabilitation.
As well as filming brief interviews we covered APPRECIATION DAY – The purpose of which is to give the Sudanese community a chance to express their appreciation for the welcome, opportunities and support provided by the Australian government and public by offering volunteer services to various programs around Melbourne.
Ethical issues arose filming at the St Mary’s House of Welcome (a food handout for homeless people). Only one table agreed to appear on camera, the rest were not comfortable on film, for a variety reasons. We were careful to comply with their wishes both in editing and filming.
Also covering the story that day were some ABC journalist. It was interesting to see them in action – commanding and, in some ways, pushy. One of the shyest of the Sudanese women was carrying a tray of 6 bowls of soup across to the table and the cameraman made her return to the serving area as he had missed the start of his shot. Later he also nudged a volunteer out of the shot, explaining “you’re not black, mate.” I suppose it comes from knowing what you need for a story and getting ‘that shot’ as efficiently as possible, but it made me a little uncomfortable.
We broke up the content of the website into two main sections: Appreciation Day and Talking Heads on key issues.
This includes coverage of: the concert, footage at the Collingwood Children’s Farm, Cooking for homeless, cooking at Footscray and the Concert – spread out over a timeline of the days proceedings.
The talking heads cover four main topics: youth, identity, integration and community.
The group worked well together on the whole, each taking on filming (myself, James and Tamara), interviewing and writing (James and Jane), editing (all) and website. (Tamara handled the flash and I worked on the design and look of the site.)
There are a few minor layout changes I would make to the sire but overall I am pleased with the final website, the design pulled together all the content into a comprehensive and informative webpage that is hopefully interesting to read and was certainly rewarding to produce.

[THE LINK TO THE WEBSITE AGAIN, JUST INCASE YOU MISSED IT EARILER HERE IT BE]

click here to have a look…

quite intrigued by this topis and happy to be working with Jane, James, Tamara and Gina.

in the little reading i’ve done thus far, i’m interested by the use of the word “displaced” rather than refugee.

fascinating.

SEE PAGE HERE

How well does the site use navigation?
The site has very clear navigation, headings along the top of the page provide links to major Issues, and within these pages you can navigate to short videos of industry representatives.
A timeline along the bottom of the page provides links to various points in the Mauro Saldanah’s shift.
The video content begins as soon as you click on the story link, but the Play, Stop, Start etc buttons are is easy to find clearly labelled below the Video Player.

How effectively is it designed?
Timeline shows a microcosmic view; it is the individual cabbies story.  The “issues” bar demonstrates issues faced by all cabbies.  In the design, it both personalises the issue and informs. You come to care about Mauro Saldanah’s – his story offers insight and drives the narrative effectively.
There is a lot of info packed into a small space yet it is designed effectively so as to be uncluttered
Range of interviews provides a balanced view of the issue

How effectively does it use photos, graphics, broadcast and interactive?
Stills from the video content provide the imagery,
Text is divided up into “bite sized” sections of information you don’t have to scroll through
Taxi motif is present throughout and ties all content together
Video is well put together different angles, positions
The video footage also has subtitles to make it accessible without audio/headphones etc

Elements? List the elements that are present.
•    text
•    video/audio
•    photos

How well are the stories written/presented/packaged?
Authentic
Pearls of wisdom
While the other text is very straight here is the info style

What did you love about it? Hate about it? Why?
Narrative driven, personal touch its telling a story

easy to use/navigate

Provides an insight into an industry that is often forgotten or maligned in the media

i’m doing some thing with a long name that causes my relatives eyes to glaze over (read: bachelor of arts multi media media studies) and i’m doing it via project which means i get to loose my mind trying to write an exegsis and procude a art base film instilation and find a galery to exhibit in.

i like pictures more than words at the moment…which might exlapin the amount of my exegisis that is written. words and purdy are fighting these days. which is sad because when i have the time i like to play with my words as much as  images.

but for now…pictures.

cigarettes will kill you.