TakingITGlobal Proudly Presents:
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The TakingITGlobal Dispatch!
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For the month of July 2004 (Volume 4.7)
In this Issue:
1 -> Welcome to the Dispatch
2 -> Monthly Theme: Cities
3 -> TIG Member Survey
4 -> Open Forums
5 -> Youth Employment Summit Mexico 2004
6 -> TIG in Russian
7 -> TIG Magazine: Electricities
8 -> Global Gallery Contest "Street Life"
9 -> Global Gallery Contest Winners
10 -> Panorama: Check it out!
11 -> Intersections
12 -> Featured Country Sites
13 -> Wrap Up
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++ 1. Welcome to the Dispatch ++
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Welcome to TakingITGlobal's Dispatch for the month of July! In this issue,
we introduce the monthly theme on "Cities," as well as the launch of TIG's new
offline initiative, Open Forums. You will also be introduced to the pilot issue
of TIG Magazine, named "Electricities," gathering the best of the Global Gallery
and Panorama Online Publication in one print edition. In addition, there's
information on the Youth Employment Summit, the TIG Member Survey, and ways to
get involved with translation of TIG into Russian.
Also, we're thrilled to announced that membership in the TakingITGlobal
community passed 50,000 members in June!
Read on, and get informed!
In Friendship,
The TakingITGlobal Team
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++ 2. Monthly Theme: Cities ++
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"The chief function of the city is to convert power into form, energy
into culture, dead matter into the living symbols of art, biological reproduction
into social creativity."
- Lewis Mumford
A city, at its best, is exactly what Mumford describes it as: a place where
the creative energy of people is condensed and amplified. However, cities today
face problems that threaten to strip them of their creative potential. Pollution,
commercialization, and poverty are making it hard to "breathe" in cities, literally
and metaphorically. To combat these issues, we must make spaces where the positive
energy between people can be kept alive, where creativity to solve these larger
problems can thrive. In this theme, we celebrate the spaces within cities.
We have gathered stories about cities from all over the world: TIG members
share their thoughts about the spirit of their cities, as well as their favorite
"breathing spaces," in written, visual, AND audio mediums! Come and participate by
contributing your story: give your city, large or small, new life on the TIG site! Visit the theme page: http://www.takingitglobal.org/themes/cities
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++ 3. TIG Member Survey ++
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What Members have to say about TakingITGlobal:
In January (when 20,000 fewer people were part of our community) we asked
you - our members - for your opinions, experiences, and stories of using
TakingITGlobal.org. More than two thousand people responded to our request,
and now we are delighted to share the results!
We invite you to download a 3-page summary and the full final report at:
http://research.takingitglobal.org/membersurvey2004
It was wonderful to learn about how TakingITGlobal is having an impact on
so many people's lives, as well as gain insight on how the online community can
be improved. We have already started to integrate the ideas and suggestions
that have emerged from the survey results and will continue to do so over the
next year.
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++ 4. Open Forums ++
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Open Forums are a new initiative of TIG, designed to bring together youth
from a particular country to discuss real and relevant issues that they deal
with in their communities. This gives youth an offline platform for open
discussion to reflect and express what they face in their every day lives.
Also it provides youth with the opportunity to share possible ideas on how to
effect change. Open Forums will take place in conjunction with the monthly
themes of TIG. Issues to be discussed in coming months are Cities, Youth Employment,
and HIV & AIDS. If you would like to learn more about holding an Open Forum in
your community, please visit:
http://www.takingitglobal.org/openforums
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++ 5. Youth Employment Summit Mexico 2004 ++
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Second Global Summit YES Mexico 2004 to be held from October 4 – 7, 2004
Join YES Mexico 2004, the Youth Employment Summit Campaign's first Milestone
Event, bringing together diverse stakeholders which include youth organizations,
governments and NGO's as well as leaders in academia. It will be a space for
participants to learn from the best practices in the world! In addition, you
will have the opportunity to network, share cultures, and have fun in beautiful
and joyful Veracruz, Mexico from October 4-7, 2004.
SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE:
There are 300 partial scholarships available for individuals from developing
countries and countries in transition, who are characterized by their leadership
and commitment to the YES Campaign. These scholarships cover basic shared
accommodation, local transportation, meals, and registration waiver. Please note
that airfare in not included. You can register for the conference at:
http://www.yesweb.org/mexico/register.html
The deadline for the scholarship is July 15, 2004, so after registering for
the event, APPLY ON-LINE: http://www.yesweb.org/mexico/scholarship.html
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++ 6. TIG in Russian ++
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TakingITGlobal continues to grow into a multilingual online community
that will allow young people across the globe to communicate in national/local
languages. After the successful launch of French and Spanish versions of TIG
we are getting ready to reach our next goal – TIG in Russian! Given that
Russian is the language spoken not only in Russia, but in 30 other countries,
the Russian version of TIG would connect Russian-speaking youth living in
different parts of the world.
The translation of the TIG website into Russian is part of TIG's new,
larger initiative in the region of Newly Independent States and Eastern Europe.
We plan to continue relying on our online volunteers who actively support TIG's
activities and programs, and we already have around 20 online volunteers (all
of them active TIG members) who are ready to begin the translation of the website
into Russian. The members of our recently formed global team of e-translators
live in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Poland, Nigeria, and Canada.
If you are fluent in Russian and English and want to join our team of
e-translators, contact Svitlana Taraban, Regional Program Coordinator for
Russia and Eastern Europe at: svitlana@takingitglobal.org
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++ 7. TIG Magazine: Electricities ++
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"Electricities" is a creative magazine. "Electricities" is a city we dreamt.
A timeless dream that reveals all dreams. Freezing collisions. Time put on pause
giving the time to observe this dream. Time for time to fuse with space. Cultural
fusion. Metropolis, a pleasant nightmare. A compendium of the best in artwork and
creative writing from the Global Gallery and Panorama Online Publication. Through
this magazine we hope to be an incubator for fine, fresh, young talent worldwide.
For your own copy and more information: http://magazine.takingitglobal.org
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++ 8. Global Gallery Contest: "Street Life" ++
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Thousands of cities. Millions of streets. billions of people. Similar
fragments reveal "The City", unveiling its streets and stretching skyscrapers
that seem alike to the eye. Marking a culture and its social fusion. There is
one detail that defines each city, and embodies each of its corners, making a
space singular to the heart. New York is London. New York is not London. Each
day countless numbers of feet hidden in their shoes tread upon asphalt to go
to places. To work, to school, to shop, to a film, to a walk, to a park, to a
friend, to a lover, to a home. Wherever we may go a street is connecting us to
people, places, ideas and emotions. The lucky ones choose the street to take. The
place to go. For others a street is a home. An everyday reality. The only known
landscape, not a choice. People in their own small world. Each hiding a unique
story to tell. The story of a life-time. This contest hopes to capture the intimate
meaning of life on the streets. Whether the sidewalk be the vector on which you move
or a home. Portray in an image the stasis, the movement, the thought, the feelings,
and the stories that dress the streets that surround you. Give meaning to the world
around you.
This contest will open on July 1st, 2004.
http://gallery.takingitglobal.org/contest
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++ 9. Global Gallery Contest Winners: "Communicate: Talk to Each Other"
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Last month the Global Gallery ran a contest entitled "Communicate: Talk
to Each Other". Here are the winners:
WINNER
"Do You Understand Me?" by Marlies from the Netherlands
http://gallery.takingitglobal.org/luneaz/5144
RUNNERS-UP
"Our Earth Ship" by Eddie from Canada
http://gallery.takingitglobal.org/FastEd/4751
"Stepping Into" by Wessel from South Africa
http://gallery.takingitglobal.org/kgotla/4809
"Root of Good" by Angelicum from the Philippines
http://gallery.takingitglobal.org/Angelicum/5080
Congratulations to our winners and thank you to everyone who participated.
Check out this month's contest at http://gallery.takingitglobal.org
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++ 10. Panorama Online Publication ++
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In this issue of Panorama we explore the concept of Cities in all its
variety. From histories of cities to personal histories and interviews with
inspiring youth, our members delve into issues that make cities what they are:
centres where everything and everyone lives side by side. Charles Baudelaire
wrote: "The life of our city is rich in poetic and marvelous subjects. We are
enveloped and steeped as though in an atmosphere of the marvelous; but we do
not notice it." We hope that the writing of Panorama will help you to notice
the marvelous, and not-so marvelous, about cities.
Read more, and contribute your opinions, at http://panorama.takingitglobal.org
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++ 11. Intersections ++
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"Intersections" aims to create a space and an opportunity
for artists who use various media of expression to exchange their
perspectives and experiences of the world through their art. The
intention is that, through Intersections, the connection of artists
across different forms of expression, new forms of creativity and
inspiration will emerge; that people are able to see and create new
artwork because of their exposure to different angles and takes on
the world we live in.
Find out more and ways to contribute with images, writings,
animations and sound at: http://www.takingitglobal.org/intersections
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++ 12. Featured Country Sites: Brasil and Philippines ++
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The country sites being featured this month are Brasil and the Philippines.
To learn more about these countries, and the young people who have shared their
unique perspectives on how life is in their cities, check out:
Brasil: http://brasil.takingitglobal.org
Philippines: http://philippines.takingitglobal.org -----------------------------------------------------------------------
++ 13. Wrap Up ++
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Your interest, support and involvement with TakingITGlobal helps our
community to grow and encourage more young people to become inspired, informed
and involved everyday! Thank you for being a member with the vision of positive
change!
In friendship,
The TakingITGlobal Team
dispatch@takingitglobal.org
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The TakingITGlobal Dispatch is the official newsletter of TakingITGlobal,
electronically published via email, and compiled from various events and news
from within the TakingITGlobal network. Contributions should be sent to
dispatch@takingitglobal.org.
Please include your full name, age, and your member name.
Past issues of the Dispatch can be read in the dispatch archive, found at
http://www.takingitglobal.org/community/newsletters/dispatch |