Ryn Shane-Armstrong is an independent media-maker, a language and technology educator, an activist for social and economic justice, and a mad baller.  Originally hailing from the American south (dirty, dirty), Ryn has worked and lived many places in the United $tates, even adopting Tucson, Arizona, as a second hometown.  Currently, Ryn resides “downunda” in Melbourne, Australia, where he is pursuing a Master’s degree in Community Cultural Development at the Victorian College of the Arts — an elitist, whine-and-cheese gangland posing as an institute of higher learning (snap).

Despite his status as a ‘CCD newbie’, Ryn is particularly interested in new media, digital storytelling, marginal communities, and the convergence of the three within global migrant/youth populations.  A strong proponent of ‘vernacular creativity’ (Burgess) and ‘praxis’ (Freire), Ryn believes that digital storytelling is a very real and necessary step forward for all media, education, and potential liberation technologies.

Nowadays, Ryn shares a tiny room in a big house with his lovely wife, Xu Yan, a native of the People’s Republic of China and an aspiring everything (chef, psychologist, accountant, whatever).  They are both fervent sinophiles, and they hope to return to the ‘middle kingdom’ someday for some real Chinese food!  Ryn is particularly missing ri gan mien and ma la doufu, though at this point he’d settle for just a few crumbs of old moon cake… pathetic.