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A band that calls itself "Staff Benda Bilili" uses music to stun, inspire, and beautifully blend the highs and lows of life in Kinshasa, the capitol of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).  With instruments made from garbage scraps and cardboard boxes for bedding, Staff Benda Bilili was first discovered by French film directors Florent de la Tullaye and Renaud Barret playing on the streets in 2004. Funded to record and release their music, Staff Benda Bilili's popularity has grown substantially throughout Europe.  Having once showcased their talent in a dilapidated old zoo, Staff Benda Bilili now performs their eclectic music in concerts across the globe, diffusing a message of hope to eager ears. Their story is of a group of men with humble beginnings who rose out of poverty and achieved fame, however, what makes Benda Bilili unforgettable is not only the culmination of their journey but the unique challenges they face along the way.
In Lingala (a Bantu language spoken mostly in the Northwestern region of the DRC), Benda Bilili means "look beyond appearances," a fitting name for a band whose first appearance may be surprising for unprepared eyes. Second only to the quality of their musical talent in significance, appearance is central to Benda Bilili's initial struggle to be heard. Several members of the band suffer from permanent paralysis as a result of battles with childhood polio.  Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease. There is no cure, but there are safe and effective vaccines. The strategy to eradicate polio is based on preventing infection by immunizing every child until transmission stops and the world is polio-free (Global Polio Eradication Initiative). While vaccines are widely administered in most areas of the world, due to their geographic location, low socioeconomic status, and particular situation within the local culture, the members of Benda Bilili were not fortunate enough to be vaccinated for polio.  Well into their adult lives, the polio makes them unattractive candidates for most job opportunities in the DRC, which eventually lands them in shelters and long, sleepless nights spent on the streets. Forced into an extenuating life circumstances, the men join together as a band to use music as an expression of their troubles and joys in being both homeless and handicapped.

Educators stuck in the age of lightning-speed technological growth may sometimes find themselves "the students" when it comes to keeping up with the latest advancements and applications. "The World" by National Geographic, an iPad-compatible app created in August 2011, is the ideal tool to help teachers leave behind the 1970's style approaches of teaching geography--with chalkboards and heavy maps--and move into 21st century education. Now any teacher can give Mary Poppins a run for her money with classroom maps, atlases, globes, and world flags all available in the palm of his or her hand.  Not only great for teachers, "The World" is an enjoyable reference tool for anyone interested in expanding their knowledge of cartography and cultural geography and taking traditional print (maps) into the digital environment.

As one user said [on the iTunes review page], "The pictures are brilliant, the facts presented for each country are perfectly laid out, and the functionality of this app is very intuitive. Hats off to NG for an app well done."

The app allows users to manipulate the world with their fingertips. In terms of exploring physical geography, the "globe" function can spin, rotate, zoom, overlay country or regional atlas data, and identify locations. For more cultural geography uses, the app includes demographics, flags, and National Geographic photographs from every country.

Additionally, the app includes a description of each country highlighting major historical events and offering insight into the current condition of the country.  The demographics include basic facts such as population size, capital city, land area, and government structure, all of which are bullet-pointed for quick, convenient access.

Like what you hear? Bring "The World" to your classroom with our suggested starter activity:

We just completed usability testing for our brand new Education website, NatGeoEd.org, this week. We invited students, parents, and educators to navigate our website in one-on-one sessions with an independent moderator. They told us what they thought about everything from the layout and design of the site to the technical functionality of the tools to the content of the educational material. It was extremely interesting to watch from behind a one-way mirror, and we were lucky to get very positive, constructive feedback.

But of course, we can't bring every website user to Washington, D.C. for a one-on-one session. So, we're inviting you all to take our online survey and tell us what you think about the new beta website. Here's why you should take the survey today.

1) Be one of the first to explore our brand new, leading-edge education website.
After years of research and hard work, we're finally ready to share this beta version with you. Come see all the activities, articles, mapping and multimedia tools we have developed for educators and learners like you.

2) Time is running out!
We're tallying results of the survey at the end of this month (May 31). [Don't worry, you'll still be able to give us feedback via the "Tell Us What You Think" buttons on the website, but it won't be included in this initial survey data].

3) Get a discount at the National Geographic online store as a thank-you for your time and effort completing the survey. May is a great time to stock up on books and other summer learning materials for the family, and our store has plenty to offer!

The New York Times has published an extensive interactive mapping tool called "Mapping America: Every City, Every Block" that allows you to analyze data from all over the country. The data comes from an American Census Bureau study called the American Community Survey, which was released on Tuesday. The survey details characteristics from a sample of one in ten Americans between 2005 and 2009.

How can you get started exploring the new map?
Check population statistics for your hometown, for the city you live in now, or for any place in the U.S. that interests you. Pick an area and find out information such as: What percentage of the population is Hispanic? How has the median household income changed since 2000? What is the percentage of same sex couples? What percentage of elementary students attends private vs. public schools? You can discover the answers to all these questions with the same NY Times mapping tool!

Are you a young adventurer or do you have a family member who is? Join us for a free webinar Wednesday, December 15, 2010 at 7pm ET to learn about our new summer 2011 National Geographic Student Expeditions for high school students.

Sign up now for our webinar to find out more about our summer 2011 expeditions and field workshops, ask our directors your questions, and hear from popular National Geographic expert and marine biologist Tierney Thys. Tierney will talk about her important ocean conservation work and why she loves sharing her passions with teenagers.

This webinar is for interested students and their families, as well as for teachers interested in organizing a special departure for a group of high school students.

Learn about our new summer 2011 trips such as our New Zealand expedition and Yellowstone National Park field workshop. And find out more about old favorites: expeditions to Tanzania and Ecuador & the Galapagos, and field workshops in Monterey Bay, California and Tuscany, Italy. Each program includes an opportunity to delve into an area of interest such as photography, wildlife and conservation, filmmaking, archaeology, creative writing, or community service.

Free Webinar: National Geographic Student Expeditions
Date: Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Time: 7-8 p.m. Eastern Time (U.S.)

Webinar space is limited. Click here to register today!
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Have you ever wanted your own personalized music video? Well, now you can have it. Thanks to the marvels of modern technology including satellite imagery and geographic mapping tools, coupled with age-old creativity, you can create a music video starring your hometown in a matter of seconds.

To really understand what I'm talking about, you have to experience it for yourself. Check out The Wilderness Downtown website. All you have to do is enter your address, the name of your hometown, or a notable landmark in your hometown. Then, turn your speakers on, sit back, and watch the music video!

This "Google Chrome Experiment" takes satellite images and street views of your childhood home and infiltrates them with generic music video-esque images, and puts them to the song We Used to Wait by the band Arcade Fire. You will no doubt be inspired by the originality and creativity of this experiment, and you may also feel a tinge of nostalgia for your childhood and the place where you grew up.

What excites me about the "Google Chrome Experiment" is the future potential for this type of technology and creativity. There are so many possibilities for improvement and enhancement. For example, what if you could choose your own song? Perhaps your favorite song? Or, what if there were options for what types of generic images and footage you could use? Google Earth satellite imagery has improved enormously in the last few years, and I don't see that improvement slowing down any time soon. As Google Earth's collection of imagery and the quality of that imagery improves, so do applications and programs like The Wilderness Downtown. Perhaps this experiment will inspire people to make their own music videos - or any type of video - using their own computers, music, images, and innovation, from the comfort of their own home!  

What other cool activities or applications might you expect people to create that use and take advantage of Google Earth?   

Enjoy!

My roommate, another National Geographic Education staffer, first introduced me to the Geography Collective about a year ago. An artist who does a good deal of graphic design work for our group, she was enamored with the playful design of the website. We both fell in love with the Collective's revolutionary approach to engaging kids in real-world learning through "guerrilla geography," and pledged that if we ever decided to pick up and move to the U.K., we'd see if we could join them.

You can imagine my excitement when Daniel Raven-Ellison, a member of the Collective, contacted me a few months later to see how we might collaborate "across the pond" on our respective geography campaigns. He was in the process of releasing a new book called Mission:Explore, a geography "training manual" with 102 missions challenging kids to (re)discover our world, and was looking for opportunities to spread the word. I couldn't think of a better forum than the blog!

Read on for more about Mission:Explore and the Geography Collective, and stay tuned for future collaborative projects with National Geographic Education. Next Mission: Geography Awareness Week. Daniel and I are working on a series of freshwater missions (I might even become an honorary member of the Collective)!

Endangered Geographies
Now is a very exciting and rich time to be a geographer. Opportunities for us as professionals and as a field of study are developing at lightening speed. We  have a better knowledge and are more equipped than ever to understand a wide range of social, economic, and environmental issues empowering humanity as never before. Yet, in my view, there are many ways in which the potential of geography is under threat.

In this blog post I am going to outline five of these threats.

Threat 1 - Children's Physical Geographies

"...Young people can use media to learn about places close to home and far away. The connections they form seem to shrink the physical distance that separates citizens around the world, even as they can reveal disparate experiences and inequalities that young reporters examine through their media stories."










We've all heard the stories of major news organizations struggling in the digital age of new media. If there's a silver lining to the decline of the media behemoths, it's the emergence of more opportunities for diverse perspectives in reporting. For more than 15 years, Youth Radio has been helping under-served young people develop strong leadership, journalism, and media production skills. The National Geographic Education Foundation has supported Youth Radio's work fostering story-telling and civic engagement around local and global issues through grant contributions to the organization. Now, we are excited to join Youth Radio in celebrating the release of a new book about the success of their empowering, educational programs.

There's nothing like a newsroom to make the world feel big and small at the same time. Put young people in charge, and the effect can be even more extreme. At Youth Radio, a Peabody Award-winning, youth-driven production company headquartered in Oakland, California, young people produce stories distributed through global broadcast and digital outlets including National Public Radio, The Huffington Post, iTunes, and YouTube. At a single editorial meeting at Youth Radio, young people and their adult producers might pitch stories on the effects of budget cuts inside local Oakland schools, young soldiers returning from the Iraq war, healthcare reform in a rural Kentucky town, and the transnational Korean musical genre known as K-POP. Inside these freewheeling discussions are recurring teachable moments through which young people can use media to learn about places close to home and far away. The connections they form seem to shrink the physical distance that separates citizens around the world, even as they can reveal disparate experiences and inequalities that young reporters examine through their media stories.

In my new book, Drop That Knowledge: Youth Radio Stories, Vivian Chávez and I take readers behind the scenes at Youth Radio, inside meetings and stories like the ones I've just described. In each chapter, we present a series of Youth Radio media features, detail the negotiations and inquiries that supported their production, and then highlight implications for learning, teaching, journalism, and media justice efforts.

Read the July 2010 Newsletter: Use geotechnology to uncover ancient and modern-day mysteries this summer!

Inside
July Challenge: Give geocaching or earthcaching a go!
GeoFeature: Gravestones and GPS
GeoNews: Join Expedition: Mongolia
Blog: Find bargains near you

Plus: more newsletter highlights on the next page!