Ready to Share: NAPWA Embraces New Media

By Miguel Gomez

Earlier this week, Michelle Samplin-Salgado and I gave a workshop on using new media in response to HIV/AIDS at the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) annual Skills Building Institute for HIV Testing and Awareness Day Events and Campaigns. The Institute is part of NAPWA's “Mobilized to Succeed” initiative.

It was an honor to be with NAPWA, and with our colleagues from POZ Magazine , to learn alongside people who are living with HIV/AIDS and the organizations that advocate for them. There is no better voice in the response to AIDS than those who are living with HIV/AIDS themselves.

For me, our goal at AIDS.gov is to embrace, when appropriate, the use of new media in response to HIV. NAPWA offered an amazing opportunity to explore the basics of new media, and Michelle and I shared our experiences using new media tools like blogs, wikis, and Twitter. Sally Cherry from The Black Educational AIDS Project signed up for Twitter during the presentation and sent her first few tweets. From the looks of it, she's off to a good start! Other participants (including a couple of people who have been living with AIDS for nearly 20 years) were eager to begin sharing their stories through blogging.

Ian Anderson, President of Smart + Strong and Chief Operating Officer of POZ Magazine, co-facilitated the session with us. He brought a handful of Flip video cameras and we all explored making and uploading videos. Some of the videos were uploaded to YouTube during the presentation — check out the videos by Maurice Chapman , director of the Austin Health Center in Cook County (Chicago), IL, and Brian Burton , director of health promotions at the Southwest Louisiana Area Health Education Center .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl4xnnmZqV4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGp2SWRCTGM

It was exciting to see how quickly participants adopted the technologies during the training — using new media to embrace the values of NAPWA's Denver Principles , a manifesto of self-empowerment written in 1983 by a group of people living with AIDS. The Denver Principles “demanded that the voices of people living with HIV be heard. It asserted the right of people living with HIV to participate in the decision-making processes—at all levels—that would fundamentally affect their lives.”

What I love about new media is the way it parallels the Denver Principles. It involves peer-to-peer communication and networking, and asserts the importance of individual voices. New media, like the Denver Principles Project, uses the collective wisdom of the HIV/AIDS community to best respond to the epidemic.

Comments

[fas]

New Media is surely one of the biggest changes of the generation. If on ehas the right to opinion, he/she should be able to embrace it. And thats where the new media really helps. I think Denver project is a pretty good stuff.

[BJ Cavnor]

Its is about time we see ASO's stepping up and using new forms of media. My question is what is NAPWA doing to involve people from across the US in AIDS Watch?

[Sally Cherry, BS, MT(ASCP)]

As far as your goal at AIDS.gov..."to embrace, when appropriate, the use of new media in response to HIV"... all I can say is "Mission Accomplished!"

First, I must thank NAPWA for the opportunity to attend the Skills Building Institute and to explore various "New Media" tools and strategies. Plus the great networking opportunity... it was exciting to hear what others have done (or plan to do) for HIV Testing and Awareness Days.

T~h~a~n~k Y~o~u to Miguel, Michelle, and Ian for the "Using New Media in Response to HIV" presentations. You were very generous with your time and sharing your expertise. Now that I understand Twitter, BEAP wil be "tweeting" HIV prevention messages throughout the World Wide Web... in 140 characters or less (of course).

PS: Ian, my Flip Video Camera is being shipped as I type (smiles).

[Michelle]

Sally: Thank you for your kind words. It is so exciting to see how you are embracing new media. We're following BEAP's tweets and can't wait to see your first video!

[Vonney]

I just wanted to say I am a full supporter of aids awareness. I will dedicate a section to AID Awareness on my site http://www.universityloveconnection.com/blog