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I ran into Anni Lyngskaer founder of This is my Story during one of many sessions at South by Southwest a few weeks ago. Look at her project as a great example of positive social change for the world. The project engages women in a participatory video workshop teaching the participants to express themselves and engage in their community. I asked her to tell me more and here are her answers:

The next one is Anni and Mariatu and editing her film

Why do you do what you do?
Well, this is always such a hard question. But I guess I’m working within the nonprofit industry because I believe that all humans are equal and have the same rights. Unfortunately, the world today is so unjust, but I believe it is possible to create chance. It makes me happy when I’m working with This is my Story because I can see it works. I can see that the participants learn and actually gain self-esteem. One of the female participants in Sierra Leone said “I’ve learnt that a woman is also valuable in a community.” – and that quote really says it all, that is why I’m doing what I do.

This is Fanta, one of the participants. They all have so many stories to share, and I feel so happy and blessed that they are willing to share them with me and the rest of the world

What is the key to your success?
I get a lot of ideas, some of them are kind of crazy, but I’m not afraid to fulfill them and follow my dreams. And then I’m curious and always trying to learn new things and skills.

You can aid them by voting for their video “I got rhytm” here>>

Any ideas on where their workshop might be needed, get in touch!

When I post this more than 62 million viewers have seen the KONY 2012 film on YouTube. This movie will socially impact us and create change this year. This movie got us all thinking, wondering, wishing that we will succeed to bring justice to this cause.

The first session I visited was on “Social Media, Social Change, and Social Filmmaking” also #sxDocChange on Twitter. Every session has a pre-printed # to gather a community. This enables us to enchange and continue the conversations long after. I could also find new people to follow.

Here is a great blog post about the session by Calandra Buckner. I put the panel discussion on our Bambuser channel.

Hello Abilene/ACU and Austin/SXSW, looking forward to meeting you on March 4-19. What sessions do you think I should attend? What question would you like answered? I promise to share my journey here on the blog and of course on the Awoque Facebook

On Sunday my US adventures begins. I will start by visiting ACU to meet students, PR professionals, faculty, lecture and go looking for social media creativity. The award winning ACU Connected awakens my curiosity. I will share my findings with you.

On March 9, the conference South by Southwest starts and a delegation from the West Chamber of Commerce will go looking for answers to:
- How can to Göteborg / western Sweden become Europe’s number one meeting place for creative and cultural industries? Here is a short interview with the project leader Sandra Norberg (and Erik Nissen) from October at Handelskammardagarna: