wil + portfolio

a story of soot + chalk

wil + interactive + ashoka

AshokaHub Mobile Research.
I conducted user experience research with top social entrepreneurs from all over the world including in person focus groups in Bangalore, Buenos Aires, Nairobi and Washington, DC. The video “It’s OK to Text While Driving Social Change” was created to tell the story of my trip to India alongside the unedited testimony from Ashoka Fellows.

AshokaHub Design.
I facilitated a co-design process among Ashoka Fellows and staff to build a unified portal through which previously disconnected social entrepreneurs can now find one another, share updates, and exchange resources.

Event Presence at World Bank Development Marketplace.
I designed an interactive booth that projected the photos of people passing by (not just competition finalists) along with their messages of how they are changemakers. Despite the event being very project-focused, the booth helped position Ashoka as a people-focused organization.

Ashoka Live.
With many inspirational social entrepreneurs visiting Ashoka’s global office, I developed a methodology and platform for broadcasting interactive talks with Ashoka’s Fellows to a much broader audience than previously reached. Talks are occasionally streamed at http://www.ashoka.org/live
In collaboration with Paula Castillo.

wil + interactive + documentary

Spotlight on Water.
This interactive video project won first place in the 2009 Citizens for Global Solutions Multimedia Competition. The competition required that entrants focus on a particular social issue while using interactive storytelling techniques to allow viewers to choose the narrative path.
In collaboration with Simon Stumpf.

wil + interactive + experimental

The Bangor Project.
I co-created this installation which was inspired by Henry David Thoreau’s emphasis that simple living reaps an increased sense of clarity. Participants selected phrases which triggered relevant documentary footage of life in Bangor. When fewer phrases were selected, each clip that played had a longer duration. The more phrases that were chosen, the harder it became to understand what each of the clips was about. I was in Bangor to teach video with SLIGHTLYaskew (http://www.slightlyaskew.org/), which received local media coverage (viewable by clicking through the photos above).
In collaboration with Joel Tomar Levin.

wil + documentary

Citizen Gain.
I studied Documentary Video Production through a Tisch Special Program in Johannesburg in 2006. Through that program, I made Citizen Gain about social entrepreneurs working on economic development in Southern Africa. I was happy to be asked to share my work at the Beyond Ideas: Art of Entrepreneurship and Base of the Pyramid conferences.

Drawing Conclusions.
This video about the situation in Darfur won the Best Digital Video award in the 2008 Citizens for Global Solutions Multimedia competition. It includes sketches taken from statistics in newspapers and other publications.
In collaboration with Simon Stumpf.

wil + experimental

lily.
Based on at least some true facts surrounding the dissappearance of a young girl from California in the 90’s, lily explores the fuzziness around what people say happened and what may have happened. It was shot on multiple super 8 film stocks and cameras and includes some video. This “rough cut” was screened at an event I organized in October 2010.

Spoke.
Wanting to promote the bike culture I found while living in Portland, OR to communities where I had previously lived, I created Spoke. It was chosen as a finalist from over 100 submissions to the Filmed by Bike Festival and was screened at the Clinton Street Theater in Portland.
In collaboration with Chester Bennett.

wil + music

SXSW 2008.
A compilation of artists I recorded in Austin, Texas including Liam Finn, Jukebox The Ghost, Pretty & Nice, Chester French, and Peter & The Wolf.