Dordt Web Series Wins Award
Mumbai is an example of the tensions and troubles that exist in many of the cities in India.
On the one hand, it is considered the richest city in India. Many global companies have offices in Mumbai, and it is the heart of India's financial industry.
Also, Bollywood, the world's largest film industry, is centered in Mumbai. Yet at least half of Mumbai's 14 million people live in slums, says Chris Michael, the host and tour guide of My Passport to India a web series created by Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa.
Most Americans can’t truly understand what it is like to live in a slum. My Passport to India web series is designed to help people understand what God is doing in India.
"Each episode shows a different aspect of life in India, and helps viewers understand that, indeed, God is at work in fantastic ways in India," said Mark Volkers, digital media production instructor at Dordt.
The tour guide takes visitors to adult literacy classes, plays cricket with the children, shops in the local markets, and visits a Hindu temple.
This tour of India was created through the collaborative effort of Volkers and Dordt graduates Dale Vande Griend, and Paul Ten Haken of Click Rain.
Their efforts were recently rewarded when their project was named a Webby Honoree by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.
"It's pretty big news as Webby's are very difficult to get," said Volkers.
The Webby honor puts Dordt's production team in the company of past Webby Award winners: Amazon.com, Twitter, iTunes, Google, The New York Times, PBS, and more.
A local mission agency coordinated planning and production, Volkers and Vande Griend filmed the experience, Ten Haken created a web structure for smooth and easy access to the videos and the program, and Prairie Grass Productions began editing the content and produced the webisodes within eight weeks.
Prairie Grass Productions is Dordt College’s production company. To learn more about Dordt digital media production, go to www.dordt.edu/media.
