Multimedia instructors

I am a member of a Dutch multimedia entrepreneurs’ association. It has its roots in the graphical sector and especially in the pre-media, but the board members realised that the graphics industry was changing and that they would have to move to the new media. They found a partner in another small association and merged into the association for Communication Media, CMBO. The association has adopted a multimedia competition, EUROPRIX.nl as a quality indicator.

The association has also taken it upon itself to build a bridge between industry and education. One of the board members is making an inventory of all courses on multimedia, interactive communication and digital life on the level of university, junior college and vocational training. It is amazing to see how many kids are in school and have as their goal in life to make internet sites. What I know for sure is that we will not have companies enough to take them in. So this will result in a lot of starters – which in itself is not bad – in the same field. In other words, the communication media industry will not grow autonomously, but will first have to go through a period of consolidation in order to come to growth. In order to keep in touch with the schools, CMBO organised a meeting under the aegis of the Instructors’ Network.

The Instructors’ Network is a group of European multimedia instructors. Their binding factor is the support for their students who participate in the EUROPRIX Top Talent Award, a European competition for young multimedia talents under 30 years. The competition specifically for young talents was started up as Top talent Award and the Instructors’ Network was formed around it as a kind of backing group. And annually the instructors have come to Vienna in order to hold a conference and share in the joy or sorrow of the nominees. This meeting of instructors has yielded in the meantime an active network, bustling with idea, international student projects; from 8-10 July there will be a workshop on digital storytelling in Salzburg (AT) for the instructors.

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Date: 8 – 10 July, 2005
Venue: ICNM – International Center for New Media (Salzburg, Austria)
Topic: Teaching Interactive Storytelling
Speakers: International producers and experts in Interactive Storytelling
Participants: Instructors in Multimedia & ICT
For further information please take a look at the attached PDF!
Register soon at: http://www.summerschool.europrix.org
The number of participants is limited to 20!
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So under the banner of the Instructors’ Network, CMBO organised a meeting with representatives from educational institutes. The meeting was held at the Rotterdam junior college in Rotterdam, the bustling mainport of Europe. During the meeting plans were announced for a survey on skills needed for the industry. It was also indicated that contacts were being made with ministries of Economic Affairs and Education. The instructors indicated that there were two lines of activity needed. For the educational managers surveys and contacts were needed. The instructors, who face daily the students, contact with each other was more important in order to exchange experiences, programs and domain knowledge. It was agreed to meet again later this year.

As it was beautiful sunny weather, we went with some people to a bar after the meeting and sat outside, nipping from a nice cool glass of white whine. A long weekend is coming up. This is still a remnant of the Christian tradition in The Netherlands. While most of the tradition is not adhered to anymore, the holidays are still stuck to and not replaced for example by a muslim holiday (Sugar feast). But on Monday, if the sunny weather continues, the beaches will be full again.