Response to Digital Storytelling Resource: #4

*I am currently working my way through my fourth semester of the Information and Learning Technologies master’s program at University of Colorado, Denver.  This is the fourth post within a series of responses to digital storytelling resources that I’ve been assigned to write for a course titled Digital Storytelling.

For this week’s resource, I am writing about (or “responding to”) MAKERS, the largest video collection of women’s stories on the internet.  “MAKERS is a women’s leadership platform that highlights the stories of groundbreaking women today to create the leaders of tomorrow.”  It is the largest collection of women’s stories ever assembled and encompasses broadcast documentaries, web and mobile-first video content, and live events.

I chose to write about this website because, well, it’s extraordinary…

MAKERS launched in 2012 and features over 3,000 videos and the stories of more than 300 women.  Here are some of the current MAKERS:

Crusader for women Hillary Rodham Clinton, media mogul & philanthropist Oprah Winfrey, writer, actor, producer Lena Dunham, comedian Ellen DeGeneres, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, network news pioneer Katie Couric, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, actor and producer Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, writer and producer Shonda Rhimes, former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, television journalist Connie Chung, the first African-American woman in space Mae Jemison, the first women to enter the Boston Marathon Katherine Switzer, Little League’s first girl Maria Pepe, the founder of Latina Magazine Christy Haubegger, and more.

The website is very cleanly designed and easy to navigate.  The “Watch” drop-down menu lets you select what category of videos you would like to choose from.  The categories include videos, documentaries, Canada’s trailblazing women, stories of ten Chinese MAKERS, MAKERS Minute (women answer a lightning round of questions in 60 seconds), and MAKERS’ original online “Be the Hero” series.  

There is also a “Read” section, the MAKERS blog, for visitors to browse through that includes ideas and news articles, added on an almost daily basis.  MAKERS holds an annual conference that brings together the world’s most impactful leaders and innovators.  “MAKERS partnered with industry-leading organizations through MAKERS@, not-for-profit organizations, and educational institutions committed to developing and nurturing the kinds of characteristics necessary to produce strong, innovative leaders of the future, to create an audience of global leaders at the conference.”

MAKERS is an organization that inspires, ignites, and transforms through women’s stories.  I look forward to the summer when my semester ends, so that I may invest more time in watching these incredible and inspiring videos.  As a mother of a little girl, I am beyond excited for a movement such as this.  With the current state of the world…scary politics, terrorism, student loans (I had to throw that in there), I fear for her future.  Learning about organizations like this eases the fear, even if just for a little while.

*All images from the MAKERS website.