Rogelio Alejandro Lopez

Vojo and Tracking the Election with Cambridge Community Television

Submitted by Rogelio Alejand... on November 6, 2012 - 7:18pm

Yesterday, Denise, Royal, and I conducted an introductory Vojo workshop with youth at Cambridge Community Television (CCTV). Denise Cheng is a CMS Graduate Student and a Researcher at Center for Civic Media, and Royal Morris is an MIT undergraduate working with Vojo through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). We all met in Central Square in Cambridge to train CCTV youth how to use Vojo so that it could be used today to interview voters about their election choices. CCTV is “a nationally recognized community media center that is the voice and vision of all residents, businesses, and organizations in the city” (more info here). Upon arrival at the CCTV headquarters located in Cambridge, Denise, Royal, and I were greeted by Neha Agrawal, CCTV’s Youth Media Coordinator, who introduced us to a cohort of high school students who will be interviewing voters using Vojo during today’s presidential election.

Intro to Civic Media: Front Page Analysis of Immigrants’ Rights Movements and Farm Worker Movements

Submitted by Rogelio Alejand... on October 29, 2012 - 10:20pm

Front Page Analysis of Immigrants’ Rights Movements and Farm Worker Movements

This blog will cover my final project for the Introduction to Civic Media course, which will consist of a front-page analysis of notable events and occurrences in contemporary immigrants’ rights movements and the farmworker movement from the 1960s. My particular front page analysis will look at the front page of several newspapers in order to determine the amount of coverage that is given to a particular event or topic. In essence, this front page analysis operates under the premise that the front page of a newspaper as a space is reserved for issues deemed most pressing and important. Following this logic, the amount of physical space allocated to news stories signals their significance, with more space given to more important stories. Regardless of the size of a story that appears on the front page of a newspaper, appearing on the front page at all signals a certain level of significance to those stories. I intend to examine the front pages of major newspapers in order to identify how major newspapers present coverage relating to social movements.

Theories of Social Change and Media

Submitted by Rogelio Alejand... on October 10, 2012 - 4:03pm

What is social change? In simplest terms, in signals an alteration to some pre-existing social order, not necessarily for a progressive cause. Last week, the students of Introduction to Civic Media were instructed to break into groups and develop their own model that would outline some theory of social change. This exercise was largely informed by our assigned readings that covered ideas of political economy and marxist interpretations of media industries. In short, our readings underscored how media systems serve a central role in maintaining the status quo in societies.

If overwhelming power rests in the hands of small groups, then how can social change take place? In groups of 3-4 people, the students of our course were able to develop models for understanding how social change takes place, especially considering the role of media. In my own group, our theory of social change had two basic models: a formal and informal path towards social change.

Intro to Civic Media: Understanding Daily Media Practice in Immigrant Communities

Submitted by Rogelio Alejand... on October 2, 2012 - 12:59am

October just started, and it is that time of the semester when final project proposals are due. This is the case for my Introduction to Civic Media course, taught by CMS professor Sasha Costanza-Chock, where I am interested in understanding the daily media practice of immigrant communities in Boston.

For the past few years, my research has focused on media use among immigrant communities in the United States. Specifically, I have been looking at media activism and media practice in social movements for immigrants’ rights. Inspired by one of the earliest exercises in our Intro to Civic Media course about creating a model of digital inclusion, I am interested in understanding how immigrant communities, are already using media on a day-to-day basis. My previous research in this area has confirmed that there is no single “magic tool” that immigrant youth are using when communicating and networking with others. Instead, many media practitioners in the immigrants’ rights movement use a wide variety of media at their disposal, often entire media ecologies, in order to accomplish their goals. What’s more, for older generations, traditional media is still very central.

Civic Media Should be People-Centered

Submitted by Rogelio Alejand... on September 10, 2012 - 11:34pm

Last Wednesday was the first day of Introduction to Civic Media, taught by Comparative Media Studies Professor Sasha Costanza-Chock. As part of our first assignment, we were instructed to tell a little about ourselves to our fellow classmates using a blog, to reflect on the first day of class, and also to discuss our own understanding of what civic media is. For those that do not know me, I am a 2nd-year Master’s Student of Comparative Media Studies and a Research Assistant at the Center for Civic Media at MIT. My research interests include media activism, youth social movements, and popular education/communication, among other things. I began studying media activism in the immigrants’ rights movement as a consequence of direct involvement in political actions in Los Angeles. I still continue to study the role of media and technology in immigrants’ rights movements and youth movements in both Los Angeles and Boston.

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