Neither young filmmaker agrees with the current notion of student voters – and youth in general – as completely apathetic, however. Programs acknowledging the need to engage further in their communities, both note, help Wisconsin youth become more aware of their surroundings, but that does not mean these students were or are politically or socially apathetic.

“I’ve found it to be the opposite, actually,” Berens says. “Teenagers and college-aged kids today, and even younger generations, like middle school – I have younger brothers and sisters – are interested and curious about these issues. They want to know what the parties mean and why they're important."

Gaylon notes that while youth are not as apathetic as they are often portrayed in the media – but are extremely apathetic compared to the levels of student political activism in the 1960s – more needs to be done to inspire political activism, and these efforts must be multifaceted.

“While I don’t necessarily think video will help young people in Wisconsin engage in their communities by itself – you need grassroots action and forums and interactive sessions for them to attend as well – film certainly helps.”

Political activism, however, is not the only facet of community in which today’s youth can engage. Film can help students, as well as adults, tap into their communities’ multimedia resources to become more technologically literate and professionally competent citizens.

Madison’s Malcolm Shabazz City High School is an alternative high school-level learning program that focuses on service learning, or learning in which students work to give back to their communities. Started in 1997, the school’s Student Technology Leadership Project pairs students with staff members in a mentor-mentee relationship, with the students instructing the adults in various forms of technology, whether they be learning software, developing multimedia or setting up high-tech office equipment.

According to Tina Murray, the project’s staff supervisor, the project began by inviting other Dane County schools into the fray. Eventually, 16 Dane County schools developed their own versions of the program.

While most of Malcolm Shabazz’s program does not focus on filmmaking, Murray says developing multimedia is one of the more exciting parts of the program.

“When we do get to do things like filmmaking, it’s fun, though,” says Max Kellerman, 16, who is paired with Martha Vasquez, an art teacher at Malcolm Shabazz. “There’s something really engaging about making a film, more so than just putting together audio files or writing a story.”

During a technology coaching session Oct. 6, Kellerman shows Vasquez how to use Flash to create a mini-site for one of her art classes. She catches on quickly, plopping files in the correct folders and adeptly creating link buttons. But some do not take to the up-to-the-nanosecond technologies as easily.

“It can be frustrating – some older people don’t pick up the technologies as easily or kind of resist change. You know, they grew up without Internet, and to some it’s still a pretty foreign concept,” Kellerman says. “But that’s kind of our job – to help them realize it can be easy and fun and accessible. It’s not this huge, unknown system that makes no sense.”

As a service learning community in particular, Murray noted, she hopes the technology will help advance the community. “We really hope we are moving Wisconsin forward with this innovative program. It’s helping people become more technology literate, and with that, we’re hoping to expand community involvement in technology,” she says.

And as Murray and Malcolm Shabazz City High School work to move Wisconsin technologically forward, UW-Madison is joining the efforts.

The advent of the Internet has led to increased do-it-yourself documenting of footage, especially among young people, according to UW-Madison assistant professor of educational psychology Erica Halverson.

“But they’re doing it now in a very hands-on, very visual and engaging way that other people can see,” Halverson says. “It’s a bit voyeuristic, to say the least, but it’s fascinating from a sociological point of view – we can literally see our future generations developing on the Internet.”

Braun illustrates Halverson’s point as she clicks her way through YouTube. Stopping on videos of puppies and then videos of Sarah Palin’s speeches, she pauses, iterating the bottom line – film is an innovative way to participate in her Wisconsin community.

“I should make a documentary! About my classmates and what they think of the election,” she exclaims. “Now all I need is a cell phone video camera.”

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