Quindo: Make Radios, Build Confidence: Tom Christiaens at TEDxUHowest
Channel: TEDx Talks
Date: 2013-06-18

Who Is Tom Christiaens?

He has been a professional journalist for almost 20 years. He started his career in television at the regional network WTV, where he made documentaries and 3.000 tv reportages, mainly about arts, culture and crossborder issues. Tom also helped set up bilingual television programs in Wallonia to improve the understanding between Dutch and French speaking Belgians.

Later he organised a news video service for the websites of the newspapers De Standaard and Het Nieuwsblad, where he also worked as a video- and printreporter.

Tom regurarly writes for magazines and yearbooks, such as Ons Erfdeel, The Low Countries and Les Pays-Bas Français.

He is currently working for Howest University College West Flanders, where he set up and coordinates the medialab and youth radio Quindo. There he teaches and coaches 150 students and volunteers.

Tom is fascinated by media, books, ideologies, fonts and butter.

What is this talk all about?

Quindo: Make Radio, Build Confidence

Quindo, the brand new youth radio of Howest in Kortrijk, stands for atypical and adventurous radio. It plays non-mainstream music and focuses heavily on local bands. In its news programs, Quindo offers information that is relevant to Kortrijk's youth and beyond.

The radio station is the beating heart of a media lab, a space where young people can learn and experiment with cross-media skills and put them into practice.

But Quindo is also a social experiment that unites 150 volunteers from different backgrounds. The media lab has recently given a series of workshops to disadvantaged youngsters, noting that learning media skills is an excellent way to improve one's social skills. Radio Respect is a good example of what media can achieve as a social inclusion-project.

About TED and TEDx

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)