“Where Stories Meet TeleCommunity” by Dunn

Where Stories Meet by TeleCommunity represents a confluence of ideas, images, and experiences expressed through digital media and shared over the Internet by students from Jerusalem, Istanbul, Orlando, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, and Los Angeles. 

In studio environments, young people (11-17 years of age) work on computer graphics, animations, Web sites, and multimedia projects that evolve into narratives about cultural and social issues, personal and family histories, fiction and fantasy, and documentary efforts. Stories, shared among individuals beyond boundaries, test the perception of reality and lend impetus to the creation of new myths and visions. 

Underlying the social fabric of this  project are relationships enhanced by personal meetings, dialogue, and negotiated understandings between participants. This is sustained remotely by periodic and ongoing network contact, email, Internet videoconferencing,  Web site updates, and file exchanges. Over-arching themes bring diverse responses and help to spark the imagination. The individual grows and experiments within the collaborative group setting, and energies are shared with remote partners. 

The Pittsburgh node of TeleCommunity invites young people to a studio setting at the Duquesne University College of Liberal Arts. The project is extended to an international level by initiating dialogue and building working partner ships with interested educators and artists in other countries.