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Multimedia features 2021 - 2023

 

Multimedia projects

I enjoy weaving together stories with art, technology, and spectacular visuals. Here’s some multimedia articles I recently wrote, storyboarded, and produced.

 
 

9 to 5 in a virtual world

The metaverse is a series of virtual worlds you can explore on a VR headset, your phone or desktop, and it can take you and your avatar into lots of unexpected places.

For those who’ve not yet dipped their toes into a metaverse, it’s best explained as a blend of virtual reality and real life. Typically people use a virtual reality (VR) headset to get the full experience, but you can also use your phone or desktop to access its many platforms, using your avatar to explore worlds.

For Sci-Fi nerds – it’s an imagined future that could look like anything from the Holodeck on Star Trek to a video game played on Ready Player One.

Though Facebook, now called Meta, has staked a claim on this immersive internet world, and other big players like Microsoft and Google are racing to launch their platforms, there are other smaller companies who’ve created their own platforms for socializing, education and work.

It’s no longer purely science fiction, as more people are jumping in to discover what’s possible. CBC Ottawa set out to explore, starting with the future of work.

Ash Abraham explored five ways people are harnessing its power and possibilities for work, education and fun.

Dive into a new career as an underwater welder | Swim with sharks on a first date | Rock out at a concert in ancient Egypt | Dance in between classes on a virtual campus

 

From behind the counter, TikToker films raw look at homelessness in Ottawa

While most of Ottawa sleeps, Ziggy Haile begins his overnight shift behind the cash register at a convenience store at the corner of Dalhousie and Rideau streets, where some of Ottawa's most vulnerable people congregate.

Haile started working as a clerk at Zesty's in August 2021. After witnessing what he describes as "the good, the bad, the ugly and the permanent ugly," he began documenting his interactions with customers on his TikTok channel @gangsterapu.

Though some may criticize his efforts, he said he is well placed to tell these stories because he's been "in the struggle" himself.

See Rideau Street through the eyes of night-shift convenience store clerk, Ziggy Haile. In this CBC Creator Network project, Haile explains why he started a TikTok channel to show the realities of life for his regulars, many of whom are homeless, and what he is doing to support some of Ottawa’s most vulnerable.

 

Meet the Afghan-Canadian artists who are painting a different picture of women in Kabul

On Aug.15, 2021, Zahira Sarwar’s heart sank as she watched the Taliban raise its flag over the presidential palace in Kabul.

“I felt like I was watching a horror movie,” reflected Sarwar, whose family is originally from Afghanistan’s capital.

“The Afghan diaspora around the world grieved when the Taliban replaced our national flag with theirs. It has pierced our hearts worldwide,” said Sarwar, who moved to Canada with her family when she was nine years old.

Afghan-Canadian artists Zahira Sarwar and Maryam Habib illustrate the spectacular landscapes and culture of Afghanistan. They shared their story with Ash Abraham for CBC Ottawa’s Creator Network

 

Read more up-to-date stories by Ash Abraham on her CBC Bio page here.