VOICES: “ZAPMIL” video project quizzes teens on today’s media literacy issues

RIGA, Latvia — If you could give your phone a name, what would it be? Which social media platform do you hate most? What’s the first thing you do when you wake up every day? How come Snapchat is popular in the U.S., super-hot in Saudi Arabia and dying in Europe?

Student journalists searched for the answers to these questions in an innovative pop-up video project launched at the Global Media and Information Literacy Week Youth Forum here on Oct. 26.

Called “ZAPMIL” — a sassy take on UNESCO’s Global Alliance for Partnerships for Media and Information Literacy, known as GAPMIL — the project asks funny, teen-focused and often probing questions aimed at uncovering how teens really feel about social media, disinformation and digital tools shaping their generation.

“Like GAPMIL, we have a fierce desire to drive social issues forward, but based on the voices of teens like us who often feel the problems first,” said J.J. Hennessy, webmaster for Global Student Square. “Everyone has an opinion and we have to listen to all of them.”

In addition to Hennessy, project leaders include GSS opinions editor Macy Quinn-Sears, Afrika Youth Movement blogger Amina Alaoui Soulimani and European Youth Press videographer Maria Trinidad Giner Soler.

“I didn’t see ZAPMIL coming, an overnight idea brought to life only in a few hours! I really enjoyed putting people on the spot and asking them questions they didn’t expect.” Soulimani said.

Click here for an interview about ZAPMIL with Hennessy and Soulimani, hosted by Roberts Nils Steinbergs of the University of Latvia’s Radio NABA.

—Featured photo: (Left to right) Amina Soulimani of the Afrika Youth Movement, J.J. Hennessy of Global Student Square and Roberts Nils Steinbergs of Radio NABA recorded an interview about their ZAPMIL project on Oct. 26, 2018. Photo by GSS staff.