Usually, I don’t push politics. There’s a reason. I’m still learning myself and don’t feel informed enough about any particular political aspirant to share my opinion, even if I wanted to… so I just don’t. I also know that as media persons, our voice, be it in person or through the platforms we use, is influential, and I intentionally choose not to motivate, misguide or misinform anyone unintentionally… but I WILL encourage voting, and registering to vote, which is exactly what I did this year.
I used to be one of those who absolutely refused to vote and had no faith in the process, but then I started looking at things differently. Why I changed my mind is another post that I’ll write before Election Day.
Whether its the Facebook live video on WTJX Channel 12 that streamed during National Voter Registration Day or the interview on TV2 that spoke to my areas of specialty working with youth, farmers and technology, I intentionally took an active step out, so that more people, especially young people, can get involved in the process… or at least made sure they were encouraged to get informed.
From the students who aren’t even old enough to vote to those in my classes at the University of the Virgin Islands who are, they now have more of an interest in the electoral process as well as those who are already in office.
How do we get students actually INTERESTED is one of the questions I was asked by April Knight, a journalist who anchors various segments on News TV2. My responses included the use of technology and “Positive Peer Pressure.” I’ve been using it for years, conducting research with Sankofa Saturdays, Inc. When you allow young people to “play with” the devices that they seem to be glued to anyway, but YOU control, or at least influence the content, then you’ve got a winning combination.
Tried and tested. You give a person a toy and they’ll play. The type of toy and what you do next is what matters more than the toy itself. My own children, who I took to register to vote and to vote, the students I teach at WUVI Radio can attest to it as well as those in my public speaking class this year who attended political forums at the University.
Their attendance to one forum was a class assignments, using critical thinking skills to critique presentations and ask meaningful questions to the aspirants. They went to the other forums on their own, because they were then interested. No grade, no incentive, just organically and innately developed personal interest. Years of experimenting has taught me, there’s a formula… and it works.
Did they really answer the question and remain under the time limit? What was their facial expression and body language like? What are their actual platform points versus the things they just have printed because they are important topics?
I hope to continue studying how to better craft messages using multi-media that can be most effective in motivating thought, positivity and productive use of media. I intend to keep researching, whether it is through my internet and multi-media marketing business or actual theoretical education, as I pursue my PhD in Technical Communication and Rhetoric with an emphasis in Visual Rhetoric, New Media, and User-Centered Design… or whatever else I choose, once I find the money that just won’t seem to shake out of that tree.
Support is needed. I’m seeking scholarships, grants and the ability to spend the time focused on studying and researching. It will happen, I just don’t know exactly how yet, but I have faith. Of course, once I’m done, I intend to share whatever I learn right back home to this community, my beloved United Virgin Islands.
