On Kauai, Leslie and colleague Nikki Miyamoto give pointers on “voice-overs” to HIKI NŌ students.

The firehose of information flooding the web is available to all users. How much of this web free-flow is reliable?

More and more, students are learning the skills used in journalism to vet information for accuracy and fairness. Media literacy is an increasingly valued 21st-century skill.

And despite having that web world at our fingertips, there’s still nothing like “being there” and seeing for oneself.

So, in our tech-heavy digital and broadcast field, PBS Hawaii opens our doors to students and teachers for in-person sharing, and we go where they are, too.

This summer, we hosted young students from a summer program at the College of Education program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Professor Christina Torres’ students from 12 public schools, five charter schools and six private schools toured the TV station and learned the elements of factual storytelling with a creative flair. (We look forward to holding many more gatherings next year in our new building, under construction.)

Our HIKI NŌ team heads across the state for teacher/student workshops in digital media and quality storytelling, in collaboration with some of Hawaii’s top digital media teachers. Last month, at Kauai’s Chiefess Kamakahelei School in Lihue, HIKI NŌ Assembly Editor Nikki Miyamoto and I coached students on video “voice-overs” or narration. Beginners (and I was there once) tend to adopt a robotic or singsong delivery in an effort to sound neutral and objective, but real people speaking of new developments don’t speak that way.

Would you like to see our HIKI NŌ students’ completed work on the big screen? We invite you to join us in celebrating students’ media literacy and other 21st-century skills at these free screenings of outstanding hyperlocal stories:

MAUI: Sun., Aug. 16, Historic Iao Theater, Wailuku,
3:00 pm reception, 4:00 pm screening

HILO: Sat. Aug. 22, Palace Theater,
3:00 pm reception, 4:00 pm screening

KONA: Sun., Aug. 23, Aloha Theater,
3:00 pm reception, 4:00 pm screening

KAUAI: Sat., Aug. 29, outdoors at Island School, Lihue,
6:00 pm reception, 7:00 pm screening

OAHU: Wed., Sept. 2, Ward Consolidated Theaters,
Honolulu, 4:00 pm reception, 6:00 pm screening

A hui hou (until next time),