http://www.spiritlinking.com/products-services/redway-bc-news-e-zine
RedWAY BC News is a free monthly on-line magazine. It has been published since 2003 by Spiritlink Communications.
According to the founder of RedWAY, Kristen Kozuback the mission of the publication is to build relationships based on respect and recognition and to celebrate the diversity of cultures, talents and strengths of Aboriginal people..
Many of the recent efforts by RedWAY focus on ways youth can build media technology skills and develop the experience necessary to start careers or businesses as writers, editors, videographers, and photographers. RedWAY‘s YouTube channel and video productions (made by youth) can be found here.
Here are some of the regular sections from the magazine:
- JPEN – Job Postings & Employment News
- From the Streets and RHR: readers helping readers
- Smoke Signals: a community announcements page
- International Indigenous News: often self-governance items
Readership Demographics: most of the readers and contributors are Aboriginal youths who reside in British Columbia – 85% self-identify as Aboriginal; 80% live currently in BC; over 45% are under age 30; 70% have their own social networking site.
Teaching Tip: In coordination with Spiritlink, RedWAY, and the First Nations School Net Program, 7 youths attended the 2008 Gathering our Voices Conference held in Victoria, May 17-20, 2008. These youths were provided with hardware (laptops, cameras) + software + brainware (training) + spiritware (encouragement and empowerment) and the result was a significant ‘earning and learning’ experience.
Adele Alexander commented on her reflection the conference in a holistic way. Her posts describe the influence the conference had on her:
- intellectually
- emotionally
- physically
- spiritually
I found this to be a very interesting way of having students look back at an experience. It transcends the mere ‘lessons learned’ and gets into a more authentic reflection of any experience. Researchers looking into innovative, grassroots efforts to empower Aboriginal youth through media should definitely take a look at RedWAY.