Jeff Bennett's Blog

Students from Worcester Academy, in Worcester, Massachusetts, have descended on Washington, DC with the mission to cover the Presidential Inauguration.  Students in all schools are joining Facebook.  Many schools are going beyond this to integrate the practice of using social media tools to publish and share information.  At Worcester Academy, teachers David Bill and Pete Smith have been working with social media technologies and identified the significance of it’s increased use during the election.   I have blogged about the incredible advantage President-elect Obama had with his campaign using social media in the campaign.

There are eleven Worcester Academy students in the nations capital armed with cell phones, Flip cameras and iPod recorders to aid them in reporing to the world on the historic nature of this Inauguration.  All the media including the interviews collected will be done using both audio and video will be accessible via the trip website.  The students will be posting video via YouTube and Qik, images on Flickr, audio via podcast on the group’s website, and Twitter throughout the entire trip.  The students will also report back to Worcester Academy via Skype order to update the school on the inauguration and to provide everyone an opportunity to see what the social media reporters are experiencing.  To follow the students before during and after the Inauguration, visit http://wainauguration.org.

What a great experience and excellent use of social media to capture and share this historic event with the world.  Watchout networks, the next generation from Worcester Academy, are on the scene.