Sophomores Invited to Apply to “News Know-How” Campaign

Oak Park teens starting their sophomore year are invited to apply to News Know-How, a national campaign to engage high school students, journalists, news ethicists, and librarians in a news literacy education project. The goal is to give students basic news literacy skills and the tools to become watchdogs in connection with the 2012 presidential campaigns. Complete the online application at http://opplteen.org/news-know-how-application by May 22 to be considered.

With Oak Park Public Library as their “newsroom,” Oak Park teens engaged in News Know-How will learn how to distinguish facts from opinions and will have an opportunity to work with professional journalists and librarians as mentors. Participants will work in small teams based on shared interests. They will monitor and analyze a specific news media beat, journalist or collection of news sources across various platforms. Students will then create a computer-based presentation or screencast that shares their experience and the lessons they learned with others.

Selected participants must complete four days of training which will be held 10 am to 5 pm on July 10, 11, 23, and 25. Lunch will be provided each day. News Know-How will run from July through mid-December. Following training, teams will work on their projects five hours a week during the summer and two hours a week during the school year.

Oak Park librarians and journalists will review applications for News Know-How and select students to be interviewed in late May. Teens who are selected for an interview and are under 18 must print and bring to their interview the signed permission form available at http://opplteen.org/newsknowhow. Selected students will be notified by June 1. Older teens may be considered if space is available.

News Know-How participants will walk away with:
• connections to real-life issues and journalists
• a digital portfolio on Oak Park Public Library’s website and the national News Know-How website
• equipment to support their ongoing involvement in media production
• possibly, eligibility for scholarship money and/or school credit

Local journalists interested in getting involved in News Know-How, may contact Rebecca Teasdale, Assistant Director for Public Services and Programs, at rteasdale@oppl.org.

News Know-How is a two-year, $750,000 national project. Libraries that will kick off the project include Oak Park Public Library, Chicago Public Library, Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, and several Iowa rural and urban libraries working with the State Library.

Oak Park Public Library is sponsoring the project locally. National sponsors are the American Library Association and the Open Society Foundations. The lead training organization is the News Literacy Project Inc. The program will be assessed by a team at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

For more about News Know-How and to link to the application, visit http://opplteen.org/newsknowhow.