LINKS ALL BOARD MEMBERS SHOULD HAVE

The Community Media Review
The official publication of the Alliance for Community Media
Now available on-line:
http://communitymediareview.org/

The Alliance for Community Media
http://www.alliancecm.org/

Mapping Access
http://www.mappingaccess.com/

Pegasys - Enid, Oklahoma
Our closest public-access television facility
http://www.pegasys.org/

And if you didnt' know already, Pegasys faces a real crisis. You can learn more about it at:
http://www.roguetv.org/News.asp?NewsID=13

I'll add a few more when time allows.

COMPLEMENTARY CURRENCIES AND COMMUNITY ACCESS TELEVISION:
A WORK IN PROGRESS

What follows is the expansion of an idea I began to develop while attending the Alliance conference. Please, keep in mind this is just the skeleton of an idea; an expansion of inspiration, if you will.

I was deeply impressed with the presentations of Bernard Leitaer, the Belgian economist who helped create the Euro and visited Salina recently. His ideas of complementary community currency are already realized in cities and towns in the United States and elsewhere. They are not mere hypothetical situations, or economic counterfactuals, they are being implemented today.

His examples of using these kinds of currencies bubbled and stewed inside my head for a few months. It wasn't until I began to think seriously about fostering substantial programming on Community Access, that his ideas began to seem very relevant to our situation.

Here are a few thoughts I've managed to herd into some sort of sense:

Community Access as an Agent for Economic Development:
Utilizing Complementary Currencies with Community Media Centered Projects

Complementary Currency Unit:
Community Media Credit (CMC)

Value of Exchange:
One CMC = $5.00 USD = One Hour Volunteer Labor

Participating Agencies:
Not-For-Profit Organizations:

For-Profit Businesses:

Relationships of Trade:
Individual to Non-Profits:
Volunteers work to create media projects which highlight the work and mission and community communication needs of local non-profit organizations. In return, they are granted a chit of credit good for the exchange of services from local businesses and non-profit organizations. This comes in addition to the participation in the Heartland SHARE program.

Individuals to Businesses:
Individuals are able to redeem the CMC as cash in return for goods and services from local businesses. Caps on usage and time limits may be enforced in order to encourage the distribution and circulation of the CMC’s.

Businesses to Access:
Businesses are able to redeem CMC’s at Community Access for sponsorships and proofs of in-kind donations in return for generous underwriting production credits.

Businesses to Non-Profits:
Businesses are credited for in-kind contributions to local organizations and recognize a potential tax benefit.

Individuals to Access:
Volunteers are able to redeem CMC’s at Community Access in return for merchandise and production material discounts, as well as discounts on memberships.

Businesses to Media;
Businesses are able to redeem CMC’s at local media outlets same as cash in return for advertising charges.

This is what I've managed to compile so far...and I encourage your feedback, thoughts and ideas as well. The use of such complementary currencies is a perfect tool to encourage the investment of volunteer hours and effort into the creation of targeted content of direct benefit to the community. It rewards volunteers, businesses, and non-profits equally, and results in the generation of a currency that is encouraged to be spent, rather than hoarded.
Let me know what you think...

KEYNOTE LUNCHEON
Speaker:
Shelly Palmer
Author of "Television Disrupted: The Transition from Network to Networked TV"
Host, "Media 3.0 with Shelly Palmer" on PBS

This was the most engaging and dynamic keynote speaker I've seen at an Alliance conference. But the message he had to deliver might have been a bit uncomfortable for some in the crowd.

Palmer began by insisting that we in the public-access industry are in the profession of advanced media creation. Our model is the most flexible and dynamic, allowing us the freedom to innovate and explore various production and distribution techniques that the mainstream media has been hesitant to adopt. He says we need to embrace that profession, rather than shy away from it.

October 12, 2005 is a date of great significance to the media community. That was the day, "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" were offered for download as part of the iTunes Music Store. This sparked the arrival of the IP model of consumer-targeted media distribution, and it will not ever go away. It may change, but it will never go away.

He also warned the audience about six particular media buzzwords which should be examined more closely:

1. Mobile Video
Palmer says this term describes nothing more than a parlor trick, rather than a paradigm shift. Clipcasts and Streamcasts are the only distribution models currently available, and should not be seen as a replacement of conventional television.

2. IPTV - Internet Protocol TeleVision
So far, this transport model which uses the internet to transmit video and audio date is for the most part only found in closed systems, known as CDN's (Closed Distribution Networks). While showing some promise as the dominant form of broadband video and audio distribution, the jury is still out on how the media industry will handle how the end-user receives this type of signal.

3. Broadband Video
IP Video, which uses the public internet (as opposed to the closed systems of IPTV) is the most democratic form of data transmission. While bandwidth restricts quality and quantity to some degree, anyone can send and receive almost any kind of data signal.

4. Podcasting
RSS is the single most important term any access staff person, director, or board member will ever encounter. This allows for directed content distribution, consumer control of content, and audience building and tracking potential all with one service. Distributors control content, subscribers control selection, and producers can view statistics on audience numbers and build in interaction.

5. Mesh Networks
This is related to bit-torrent technology, in which one file in a client-server node is connected to two or more other computers which host the same file. This makes blindingly fast downloads possible over broadband connections, without putting too much stress on a single server unit. This is the technology many are looking at as the way around bandwidth problems in the distribution of large media files.

6. Net Neutrality
Shelly questioned whether fighting for Net Neutrality was a battle which could be won. If the current business model stays in place in the media and ISP business, then it certainly seems as if extra charges for differing levels of service may become the norm for the internet.

On-demand video services will NOT replace television until bandwidth concerns can be addressed. Instead the current broadcast model and on-demand models will work together to co-exist. This means one important, overriding principle must be accepted by Access stations:

Access is NOT in the television business. Access is in the CONTENT business. The medium should NOT be the primary focus of concern for access centers. Social Networking and Collaborative Filtering are areas which need to be embraced and actively encouraged at access centers...or else the role of access nationwide will be diminished, and ultimately erased.

This was a rousing call to action, and to some a disturbing glimpse at the future. When Palmer finished, I was on my feet along with several others giving him our applause. But most of the room merely clapped politely...many with some puzzled looks on their faces. From the vantage point of the balcony alone, one could tell easily who GOT the message...and who didn't. Most of those who did get the message were those under the age of 35.

Not to diminish the follow-up speaker at all...but Jack Stanley simply didn't have the same impactful message as Palmer.
Stanley instead talked about his work as an audio archivist, using the same recording technology as Thomas Edison - wax cylinders.
What was interesting to note, is that those original wax cylinders have been the most sturdy and dependable storage mediums for audio information. Since they're not magnetic, they can't be erased by any EM signals or bursts. Since they're not optical data, they don't suffer the same degradation from lasing technology that CD's and DVD's suffer.
The only thing you had to worry about, he joked, was that they might melt on a very hot summer day.

I also found it interesting that he brought up a very telling point about media savvy. The word "Hello" does not appear in any dictionary until after the invention of the telephone.
Alexander Graham Bell was firm on his insistence that the greeting used when answering the telephone was a hearrty, "Hoy, Hoy!"
Edison, who in his heart despised Bell, lobbied for the greeting "Hello!".
Edison won that fight, and how we greet one another, and answer the telephone today have become one and the same. An interesting observation about how pervasive the impact of new communications technology can be on our societies.

After that, I drank a cup of coffee, and dashed off to the last of the workshop sessions - Mapping and Utlilizing Community Resources.

PAUL GREEN COMMENTARY ON THE ACCESS VIDEOBLOG
Check out my big ol' brain at:

feed://feeds.feedburner.com/ACMVlog

I'll be signing autographs later for a small donation...

WORKSHOP SESSION SIX
MAPPING AND UTILIZING COMMUNITY RESOURCES

Moderator:
Rika Welsh, Community Media Consultant

Presenters:
Richard Turner, Montgomery Community Television
Andrew Afflerbach, Columbia Telecommunications Corp.
Sascha Meinrath, CUWiN
Robin Chase, Boston Mayoral Wireless Taskforce/Meadow Networks

Community Broadband Initiatives
Andrew Afflerbach

There is a digital divide in communities across the nation, and corporate solutions are not capable of responding to community needs - only those of their shareholders.
Facilities need to add mobile components, and satellite facilities to ensure their communities have true access to content distribution systems.
IP based technologies should be used whenever and wherever possible - open source models cut the need for costly IP support, maintenence and content creation services.
Bandwidth must be increased through the creation of neighborhood networks, net neutrality legislation, and municipal broadband services.
Visibility for content schedules and content itself must be increased in program guides and search engines.

Changes on the Horizon for Content Distribution and Consumption
Sascha Meinrath

Wireless broadband access is becoming the overriding medium for communication and content distribution.
The next decade will feature a revolution in how media is distributed, consumed and created.
Content will be targeted to people and social networks rather than geographically.
ISP's are feeling increasingly threatened by community broadband technology...and are therefore building networks that serve their billable moments in terms of broadband access, rather than serving community needs, individuals or person-to-person communication.

Municipal Broadband
Robin Chase

Boston is currently examining its community IP needs, and may soon recommend a municipal broadband authority be established.
Benefits would include an immediate increase in the availability of services to everyone in the community.
Rates would be fixed, and not subject to inflation through the use of artificial scarcity.

New Wireless Distribution Benefits
Richard Turner

Creating content for wireless distribution is not very different from any other method of content creation.
The final step is transmitting your content over wireless broadband systems, for use in traditional computing settings or through portable devices.
Demonstrated creating, uploading and distributing video content through a wireless modem connected to a portable video server and viewed using his son's Play Station Portable unit.

This was one of the more politically charged workshop sessions, especially for those proponents of community broadband services. Some incredibly thought-provoking material was presented, especially concerning the staggering amount of "dark fiber" the telecoms and cable industries are keeping dormant in order to create an environment of artifcial scarcity.
The problem of bandwidth is a persistent bugaboo, though. The requirements of uncompressed video are enormous - but there is hope.
The continued creation of bit-torrent like distribution services, which utilize a cloud of servers to hold and distribute fractions of content over a broad base of network systems could very well be the key in helping make bandwidth usage much less harsh. Advances in improving the efficiency of data transmission could also help.

Most of us who had a least a basic understanding of the technology agreed that content distribution was approaching a universal IP model. We also agreed that terestrial cable distribution was going to be around for a good, long while, too. The important thing was moving our centers to a position that allows us to take advantage of these new promising technologies, many of them not costly, and IP-based.

WORKSHOP SESSION FIVE
(Re)Build Your Own Cutting Edge Media Website

Moderator:
Sean Effel, Cambridge Community Television

Speakers:
Moshe Weitzman, Drupal project
Briana Martino, Simmons College
Ravi Jain, Boston Artist, Producer of "Drivetime" Videoblog

All the speakers agreed the future of content distribution will become centered on the internet. The promulgation of broadband technology is at approximately the same stage of development as early corporate CATV systems, and will only grow more capable and sophisticated with time.

There is a difference between Actual Communities and Virtual Communities, but the two can be merged by Access centers that bring together local community content producers and use their centers as physical social networks so volunteers can pool their resources and expertise to work on common projects.

For instance, a television producer may team up with a blogger or podcaster to create content that would be distributed both through the local cable channel as a television show, and on the internet as a series of blog entries, photo-slideshows, or video clips.

Some communities are involved in "Community Mapping Projects" where the access center invites volunteers to gather for a weekend, and begin "mapping" their local communities and favorite spots in order to create an interactive digital map of their town, complete with text information, photographs and video clips. This alone opens the door for funding from economic development monies, especially if businesses, restaurants and shopping locations can be mapped.

DRUPAL
Moshe Weitzman

This was perhaps the most impressive part of the presentation, and one that has firmly convinced me that our station needs to adopt the Drupal content management system as soon as possiible.

Drupal is an open-source server piece of software that allows web page creation and updates in an amazingly simple and convenient way. Imagine no longer depending on Dreamweaver, Front Page, or FTP programs to update information on a web site. Imagine anyone on the staff being given their own areas of web space to develop and update on a regular basis. It's a blindingly fast and simple way of making an access center's web presence more effective and content-rich. A built-in content aggregator pulls in media updates from outside sources AND features a very robust security scheme.
NASA uses Drupal for its web pages...and perhaps best of all...it's FREE.

Take this a step further, and you can empower individual producers to create and maintain their own blog spaces on the access server, with the aggregator sending fresh updates each time a volunteer producer adds new content or entries to his or her space. By centralizing the access center as a place where emerging media producers can congregate physically, and supplying volunteers with the tools to create, update and promote their own content, Access could take an incredibly bold and innovative step into the future.

In addition, Access could becom the true center for non-profit based web content and communication, freeing local organizations from the burden of paying for committed IT supprt and services. Something the creators of the original Salnet had in mind all along.

Grooming Volunteer Producers to Use Emerging Technologies
Briana Martino

Access centers need to take advantage of Social Computing - where people are creating a social dynamic both on-line and off-line around content creation. This was hinted at by fostering partnerships between tech-savvy internet users, and more traditional television producers. It also creates a cafe-style atmosphere where people can cluster in groups and learn about and share the content creation experience.

Portable devices are becoming more commonly accepted as outlets for media distribution and consumption. Cell phones that download music, iPods and other MP3 players, and portable DVD players and laptops are slowly becoming more commonplace in our society. Being able to create community-oriented content for these devices will make sure that distribution stays current.

Training and Services must become very individualized, catering to separate needs and interests of volunteers. Less emphasis should be placed on group training, more on individual training, but groups should be formed around project-based activities. The above-mentioned community mapping project would be an excellent example.

Collaboration is critical. Volunteers must network and invest common time in completing those project-based activities. This forms the core of a collaborative model of content creation for an access center.

Blogging and Blog Creation
Ravi Jain

The "Drivetime" video blog is creaated entirely in Jain's car. He interviews guests while on his morning commute, picking them up and dropping them off along the way.
He stresses the necessity for teaching producers about the internal consistency of any production, whether it is a blog, television show, or podcast.
The benefits of IP based communication is the increase in interactivity between the producer and the audience. Feedback is more immediate and direct, and can lead to a greater chance for interaction between producers and audience members.

Content hosting is available in many forms from many different services, some of them free, some of them not. I have a list of some which are all free that I will be publishing soon.

By far the most encouraging and exciting of the conference tracks. I felt this one workshop session made the entire conference worthwhile.

WORKSHOP SESSION THREE/FOUR
DIGITAL CONTENT DISTRIBUTION FOR THE PRODUCER/ACCESS CENTER

This is the part of the conference where things started to get really interesting. As discussion moved away from policy and its related implications, people began to learn some pretty startling things about the state of technological innovation and its impact on community communications.

Session Three: Digital Content Distribution for the Producer

Moderator:
Jay Dedman, Node 101/Fireant.tv

Speakers:
Ann Theis, Manhattan Neighborhood Network

Aaron Valdez, Public Access Television, Iowa City

Shawn Van Every, Interative Telecommunications Program, NYU

Jacob Redding, Manhattan Neighborhood Network

This was perhaps the most exciting and beneficial workshop of the entire conference, so far. It addressed the myriad possibilities which can now be used to deliver information and foster dialogue inside communities, and between them.

Let's begin with blogging. The fact that you're reading this...and that some of you have engaged in conversation and communication by posting replies...is evidence that this internet-based form of a bulletin-board is an effective tool for speech. Using nothing more than simple text (since my videocamera was damaged during the trip), we're exchanging information and talking about ideas and concepts. It's not that difficult to add pictures to the mix, either. Depending on yor blogging service or software, it's nothing more complicated than a drag-and-drop operation. If a volunteer can use Final Cut Pro in only the most rudimentary way...they could still be a successful blogger.

Take that to another level with podcasting. Sit in front of your computer...or just find a tape-recorder and sit somewhere else...find a friend and have a conversation. Or just talk to yourself. It doesn't matter. As long as you have a way of recording yourself, and then digitizing that audio, you have the foundations for a podcast. Just a shade more complex than creating a blog, podcasting allows for producers to not only offer an audio component to their web interactions, but they can begin syndicating that content to an audience. By creating a simple RSS feed*, volunteers can offer their thoughts to the universe-at-large, and see what comes back. Jump up another level of complexity, and you can begin to offer not just text, still images and audio, but video content as well.

There are a number of exciting services which offer to host short-form video content for free. Networking volunteer producers with those resources is how a small, but growing, number of Access centers are getting volunteers connected and communicating in the digital age.

Especially in places in Iowa City, volunteers at the local access station are being gathered together to work on net-based mapping projects which highlight their communities. Acting alone, but working together, they spread out and cover their neighborhoods, posting content that enriches and celebrates their hometown.

Simply learning about the alternatives that are available for volunteers to exploit was extremely exciting.

Workshop Session Four:
Digital Content Distribution for the Access Center

Moderator:
Jason Daniels, Lowell Telecommunications Group

Speakers:
Jesse Lerman, Princeton Server Group
Donna Liu, University Channel/Princeton University

This was a bit heavier and sadly, a bit more pedantic than the previous meeting. Since next to no one in the audience had any familiarity with the technical processes behind this process, the workshop was a sort of very basic training. What it boiled down to are the following two choices:

1. Host material yourself, on your own server using your own bandwidth.

OR

2. Purchase hosting services from someone else.

Those are the two main options...but there is a third alternative, which involves some home-brewed peer-to-peer filesharing software. This application is called "Digital Bicycle", and is used to facilitate the rapid sharing of massive video files between access centers. I believe (I'll need to check to be sure) that this is one example of an open-source piece of software development which is free of charge to use.

The use of distributed file-sharing in a peer-to-peer environment using bit-torrent-style tools is pretty interesting, but may be just beyond the comfortable technical grasp of our Access facility. Unless there's a culture of computer users that our center can engage in a meaningful way, that is...hmmmmm.

This morning, I learn about (re)designing websites to be cutting-edge presences on the web, take in the keynote luncheon speakers, and then (time willing) hit the last of the confernce tracks before rushing off to the airport to catch my flight back home.

I may or may not get a chance to update this blog today...so please forgive me if you don't see anything new for a while.




*I didn't want the post to be too technical, but RSS feeds aren't just for audio and video information, they're for ANY kind of updated information on a website. That can include new text announcements, new pictures...whatever. Your aggregator will check for xml updates on a regular basis, and download the approrpiate content when it's found.

ALLIANCE LEADERSHIP AWARDS

I will post a list of the winners in an updated blog entry.

HOMETOWN VIDEO FESTIVAL

The honors paid to community producers seemed a bit rushed with the pre-packaged awards video, and cafeteria-style handouts of awards. There are so many different categories, and so many awards to be given that it seems impossible that an access center such as ours isn't being recognized more often. Frankly, the level of some of our volunteer work should easily outshine some of the programs which received honors at this year's festival.

PANEL DISCUSSION: COMMUNITY MEDIA: FIXING WHAT THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA BROKE

Moderator: Dan Kennedy, Northeastern University

Panelists:
Kevin Howley, Media Studies, Depauw University

Sascha Meinrath, Free Press

Felicia Sullivan, Media, Information and Technology, UMass Lowell

This turned out to be one of the most interesting panel discussions I've seen at an Alliance conference. Being held in Fanueil Hall, where the first rumblings of rebellion were echoed in our country, the conversations focused on how our current system of media consumption in this country has created a loop of complacency, apathy and disconnection among our communities.

The items marked with a "*" were issues I was concerned about, and will address at the end of this blog entry.

Dan Kennedy began the evening by making the following points:
*Conservatives have sometimes been more active at realizing the potential of access centers than liberals.
The internet is seen by some as "the new public access television".
Television requires more individual effort than newer, internet-based communications technology.
Access centers should be re-purposed for internet-centered access operations.
Radio, television and cable should all serve the public interest.
*There has been a trend in media conglomerate break-up among certain print-oriented operations.

Kevin Howley then presented his concerns:
*He is ambivalent about media culture.
New technologies are being pressed into the service of style over substance.
*The growth of civic journalism suggests a crisis in mainstream journalism today.
Political discourse and communication have been reduced to consumer spectacles.
The result of that is widespread apathy.
But this type of media culture is not inevitable, and is also subject to change.
Modern journalism seems devoid of any relevant context.
Modern journalism is event-driven.
Access programming is issue-driven.

Sascha Meinrath continued with his introduction:
There are three missing elements in commercial media - Diversity, Disagreement, and Debate.
Modern media organizations have evolved away from their community-centered roots into a broadcast model concerned with delivering a crafted content message to a mass of passive consumers.
New technological infrastructure is being moved away from peer-to-peer interactive models to a "cell-phone" model which requires all messages to be handled by a third-party translator.
These things have resulted in high prices and low customer service.
Current regulatory thought is moving away from the idea of Net Neutrality.
There is an atmosphere of artificial scarcity being promulgated by media and cable companies. There is a massive amount of dark fiber left unused in our country, and is being left vacant in order to increase demand and drive prices higher.
Media content is vapid and contributes to an atmosphere of forced ignorance in our communities.
*Discourse is lacking, which will lead to a fear of disagreement and debate.

Felicia Sullivan concluded introductory comments by basically celebrating the achievements of access centers in the past in their efforts to promote diversity and open communications within their communities.

Here were my concerns, addressed in order:
*Conservatives have sometimes been more active at realizing the potential of access centers than liberals.
Why in the world is this being treated as a "concern"? I think this is perhaps the most telling point about the creation of an "access media culture" which seems to be rooted in liberal activism, rather than true progressive thought. If a conservative has an issue or idea - that issue MUST be treated with the same legitimacy, celebration and care that is given to the voice of any other citizen. We cannot afford to play ideological favorites when it comes to program content. To even suggest such a thing is to start down a very, very slippery slope. Unfortunately, it was a suggestion I've heard more than once at this particular conference.

*There has been a trend in media conglomerate break-up among certain print-oriented operations.
While this is certainly backed up by fact, I think it's a reach to say this is a positive thing for community media. I would suggest this is merely the price the print media is paying for the rise of internet-based communications alternatives. Those who refused to be early-adopters of an on-line format were caught with their pants down, and circulations plummeted. Even those who did happen to smell the coffee are fighting a constant battle with new sources of on-line competition. This so-called "trend" may be nothing more than the natural reaction of a business which is no longer as profitable as it had been in the past. It's hardly evidence of a new "trend" toward increasing local ownership of media. Witness the continued mergers and acquisitions in broadcasting for evidence that conglomeration continues to be path most media outlets are following.

*He is ambivalent about media culture.
Well, I'm pretty ambivalent about access media culture. Especially since most of it seems to be geared toward pandering to liberal activists. The simple fact of the matter is media will do whatever media must do to survive in a business environment. The lack of strong government regulation is what has turned most media into what it is today. There is no "fairness doctrine" in place any longer, outside of requiring media outlets to charge the lowest rate to any political candidate (but only during certain times of the year). There is no public-service requirement for licensing from the FCC any longer. There is no requirement for any station to grant a person equal time to respond to something they heard on the radio, or watched on TV.
I think that laying all the blame for this at the feet of the media culture is a mistake. It's time to realize the problem rests with a lack of education, and a trend toward apathy that simply cannot be pinned on the media. The problem runs deeper, as do the implications.

*The growth of civic journalism suggests a crisis in mainstream journalism today.
I think this is a very dangerous "post hoc" argument, but one which is very seductive. The growth of civic journalism may very well be the result of people beginning to realize they can now possess the tools for creating content which were before only available to businesses or individuals that could afford their enormous cost. To suggest that this growth is representative of some sort of "crisis" in mainstream journalism strikes me as a bit irresponsible, and more than a bit derogatory to the masses of hard-working journalists who do an excellent job each and every day. Statements like this one will not make many friends among those embattled journalists who are already struggling under the perception that they're members of a "liberal media elite". If anyting, such statements merely reinforce the belief that access activists are nothing more than loud, crybaby crackpots.

*Discourse is lacking, which will lead to a fear of disagreement and debate.
The only reason I marked this as an item of concern, is that I see it as evidence that there is a disconnect happening between "access culture" and the real world we live in. After all, isn't one of the primary reasons for a lack of minority programming from the black community in Salina because of the fear of some perceived reprisal for telling their stories? I've heard that from more than just one volunteer. If that's the case, then this problem is one that may very well be a "skeleton-in-the-closet" for our community...and something worthy of investigation.
In addition I find it odd to hear this message coming from a panel which is focusing on the purely negative aspects of current "media culture".

Seeing as I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut most days, tonight was no exception. I challenged the panel's vilification of "media culture" by asking it to defend the evolution of a liberally-biased "access culture". I also asked for their thoughts on Public Television, seemingly a sacred cow since no one mentioned it once during their presentations.
If franchise fees are dropping, and the lack of funds becoming more of a concern to access centers across the nation, doesn't anyone see the potential conflict which could arise between Public Television stations, and Public-access television stations?
Anyone who beautifies public radio or television over more mainstream media offerings may be in for a rude surprise. Public television has grown accustomed to the regular struggle to generate revenue and become more self-sufficient...access facilities have not. That could be the beginnings of a struggle which may very well leave the public in the losing corner.

Sometimes it feels like I'm taking crazy pills...

WORKSHOP SESSION TWO
PEG in a Shifting Media Landscape

I decided, on the urging of several people I met here at the conference, to attend this second session of the Emerging Media track, rather than the storytelling track I'd considered earlier. I'm glad I did. The conversation was very lively, and in the brief time I have to update this blog, there's no way I can truly do it justice.

The premise of the workshop is as follows:

New technologies are creating new challenges and opening up new opportunities for
community media. Production and distribution resources are now in the hands of many in our communities. At the same time, the telecommunications industry is changing rapidly, causing community media entities to rethink their roles.

Moderator:?Felicia Sullivan, UMass, Lowell

Speakers:
Hans Klein, Georgia Tech
Susie Lindsay, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard Law School
Michael Eisenmenger, Manhattan Neighborhood Network?Fred Johnson, The Community Media and Technology Program.

Felicia asked the questions, and I've noted just the briefest outlines of replies from the panelists. I was typing hunched over on a conference chair, so please forgive any typos...I'll get them cleaned up in the near future.

1. What kind of skills and resources will we need in the future?

Hans - how does new technology contribute to the relationship between a station manager and his governmental authority?
Any technology which makes the relationship stronger should be embraced.

Michael - Access Centers need full-time IT staff. Investigate PEGspace. A development person is crucial to help with fundraising.

Susie - There is not much choice beyond moving to an internet-centered environment.

Fred - it is urgent to begin moving staff, board and volunteers toward communicating in an electronic environment. Use blogs, e-mail lists, etc. Google “Richard Florida”. Access in a state of irrevocable change.

Michael - Map the community.Findnd out needs and allocate resources according to them, build partnerships, and work to build on services that other non-profits offer without duplicating them.

2. What are the roles an access center should fill in a changing digital landscape?

Hans - understand the new media. Educate and train the public how to use the new digital resources in their lives. Investigate how to bring disparate media producers together to form a geographic community.

Susie - the local community media channel should be used as a bullhorn, while the internet carries the majority of individual messages and media. Become a moderator and help build the digital community within a community.

Fred - become a facilitator and trainer, begin to leverage more community communications tools. Investigate economic development money available as a media employer in the community.

3. What do new technologies mean for the audience, and how do they affect what we think about the audience and viewers.

Hans - There is a current difficulty in connecting with the audience. The problem with "appointment viewing" is that not every program is effective at reaching its audience because of a lack of awareness about when and where to find the program”. Internet-based communications are not isolated in time, that information can be accessed by any viewer at any time.

Susie - the audience can become part of the production process. viewers are able to progressively interact with the producers of the program. open source radio. simple call-in shows.

Michael - internet models can be very expensive propositions for hardware, software, and staff.

Fred - does not like the term PEG Access. live television is still one of the most important resources an access center has to offer its constituency. live radio should be another important component.

4. How does the attrition of localism to globalism contribute to our future?

Hans - it'’s a matter of choice. Some technology forces you to be local, while others make it an option.

Fred - if there are people in your community, they probably have already developed their own on-line digital communities.

Michael - offer video conferencing with other countries from your facilities.


5. What do new tools mean for the tradition of protecting the first amendment?

Hans - the most interesting form of free speech is "“speaking truth to power"”. This needs to be encouraged at a very fundamental level for everyone in a community.

Hans - there is a trend to flatten out the organizational model from a top-down hierarchy to a flat voluntary model.

Paul Green's Question from the Crowd:
Can an access organization afford to ignore becoming adopters of emerging technologies? Is television slowly becoming less relevant to our constituencies? Can an access organization afford to focus its resources on a television-based model of communications?

Fred - future access trainees should be required to develop and create a project before getting trained in order to avoid wasted training and vanity tv. (There was some significant discussion and dissension about this particular comment)

Susie - look at what community media was set up to achieve. Television is no longer the primary tool used for communication at the community level.

Hans - these are the questions which are being considered, nationwide...and the answers are not yet clear.

Fred - wants to keep the high-resolution space. Performance standards need to be established so communication can become more effective between groups and individuals.

Michael - everything is cheaper now than in the past. Access centers should be training centers. Centers should invest in people, rather than equipment.

The overall feeling from the panelists was this:
Both the perceptions of access facilities, and the reality of their missions are not necessarily converging for the benefit of their communities. That is to say more simply...access centers need to embrace, adopt, and more importantly begin training their members how to exploit new technologies in order to communicate and build community. I have several pages of notes about this track, and I'll update this post as soon as possible.

Opening Plenary

After the usual Alliance fanfare, the plenary featured a thoughtful and balanced panel discussion about the impact of proposed changes to United States telecommunications law. Moderated by Sue Buske (the leader of the same Buske Group which has peformed the evaluations and studies of Community Access Television of Salina, Inc. ), the panel included the following:

Jim Hornwood, Counsel, Spiegal &McDiarmid

Dan Brenner, Senior VP, Law and Regulatory Policy, NCTA

Lori Panzino-Tillery, President, Board of Directors NATOA

Link Hoewing, Asst. VP, Emerging Issues and Internet Technology Policy, Verizon

Tony Riddle, Executive Director, ACM

The primary thrust of the speakers seemed to be getting the message out about how little PEG access issues were at the forefront of any legislative conciousness in Washington, DC. Instead, attention has been revolving around the issue of Net Neutrality - which may prove to be the deciding factor in the passage of a joint House-Senate Telecommunications Act.

International Reception
The International Reception this year was held just down the street from the Park Plaza Hotel, and across from Boston Common at Emerson College. While walking there, I was struck by the sense of history which pervades almost everything in this part of the city. I stopped to take a closer look at a shopfront, and noticed a plaque bolted to the brick wall above. It informed me that I was standing at approximately the spot where Edgar Allen Poe was born...and just a few streets over, he published his first collection of work. This put me in somewhat of a thoughtful mood as I made my way to the reception.

The keynote speaker for the evening was John Marks, the president and founder of an organization called the "Search for Common Ground".

http://www.sfcg.org/

His group focuses on exploiting the media as a resource for greater understanding between peoples of varied ethnic and cultural backgrounds. In several globe-trotting examples, he displayed how community media was being used to mediate ethnic and cultural conflicts around the world, from Albania to Nigeria to Israel and Palestine. Some of his statistics were rather startling.

In one recent study of a project done in Albania with Albanian and Macedonian teens, Search for Common Ground asked the combined group how likely they would be to invite a member of another culture into their homes for a friendly visit. The number who replied "yes" was about 30%. After another group of Albanian and Macedonian teens worked to produce a television program about ethnic relations between their two cultures, the positive reply doubled in the sample group. 60% of those teens replied they would now welcome someone of a different cultural background into their home as a friend.

While those numbers, and the other examples Marks talked about during his speech were very positive, I began to question their overall relavence to our community in Salina. After all, we don't have separate ethnic groups acting in openly hostile ways to one another. Violent conflict isn't about to erupt on Santa Fe any time soon.

But that plaque about Edgar Allen Poe got me to thinking. What IS our history? How do we venerate it in ways that are meaningful to as many people as possible?

That train of thought led me to a rather unsettling destination. Out of the total population of business owners in Salina, how many are black? How many are Latino? How many are Asian?

From conversations I've had with volunteers in the past, getting minority programming on the air has been problematic because very few in our minority communities want to risk stating their views in such an open and public forum. Why is that?
And more importantly, how does it relate to what we do as an access center?

I think the answers to some of those questions might be very interesting for us to consider.

UPDATED - FRIDAY AFTERNOON

Here's the first workshop session I'll be attending tomorrow (Thursday, July 6)
I'll give you the rundown as it's described in the conference program, then follow it up with my thoughts on what actually emerged.

Emerging Media Track
Workshop Session One
"Community Media Culture: Trends and Emerging Practices in Community Media"
Description:
This session is designed to explore the emerging community media practices and applications in the context of critical theoretical and practical issues in community media. Using recent research on community media conducted by the Benton Foundation and the Community Media Program at UMass Boston, community media practitioners and scholars will explore the potential for empowerment, civic discourse and engagement, community development and cross-platform collaboration across a diversity of community media platforms - cable access, satellite set-asides, community broadband, community networks, LPFM, commercial and public broadcasting. Through presentations and small work groups, participants will build a vision for strengthening citizen participation and democratic media for the network society in the 21st century.
Moderator:
Fred Johnson, UMass Boston
Speakers:
Hye-Jung Park, The Funding Exchange
Inja Coates, Media Tank
Barbara Popovic, Chicago Access Corp.

I will edit this post as soon as time allows to give you some of my preliminary thoughts and a more detailed look at what happened.

***UPDATE***

With something of a tone set at the opening plenary, this particular conference track has undergone some changes. The first session broke into groups which explored and discussed several targeted areas of concern base on two primary assumptions about what to expect in the next five years:

I. Expanding and evolving forms of effective community media taking advantage of digital technology and increasing sophistication in community engagement.

II. A protracted political fight at the Federal and State level regarding the openness of telecommunications, and all associated forms of public support for community media and public media in general.

The discussion groups separated according to the following four topic areas:

1. Resource Mapping - Who and What are our Allies? Methods of building grassroots constituencies.

2. PR-Press - Starting with our own communities and working out to more mainstream media. Anticipating stereotypes and attack framing strategies from most opponents.

3. Lobbying/Advocacy - Identifying Key Political Figures and Allies.

4. Effective Community Media Practices

Expect more details on what these teams discussed in my next update - which should happen around 3pm EST this afternoon.

The Eagle Has Landed...
After an exciting flight from Kansas City, complete with turbulence and a small child staring at me from over the top of his seat for more than two straight hours, I made it to Boston.
This will mark the fourth Alliance conference I've attended in the past five years, and perhaps the most important of them all.
It was in Houston that a group of young adults from the Manhattan Neighborhood Networks put together a presentation on emerging technologies and their impact on telecommunications - especially television production.
In the years which have past, a great number of their predictions have come to pass into reality. Tapeless production workflows are now not only possible, but being implemented on a fairly wide scale. The internet has grown into a conglomeration of media networks, information services, and personal expressions of speech that very few people stood to imagine just a handful of years ago.
I'm excited at the offerings being presented at this year's conference. There are a number of educators, government-access programmers, and cutting-edge media manipulators in attendance. From the few conversations I've had, and overheard, so far today...there is a widespread anticipation (and in some instances, dread...) at how public access centers will have to grow in order to stay relevant with the changing times.
I expect to meet a number of new people at tonight's opening ceremonies, and I look forward to learning more about how they're dealing with changes in today's media landscape.

The Alliance for Community Media annual conference and trade show is arguably the single most important gathering of community media producers, administrators and volunteers in the United States. This year's conference features a number of interesting tracks, and it has been challenging to choose the most important for me to attend.
My trip has been funded through a Woodworth Grant from Kansas Wesleyan University, and I would like to take the time to thank the KWU administration for providing me with this opportunity. They have been remarkably progressive in their attitude toward embracing convergent technologies, and a strong partner with Community Access in the past.
Here's a look at the conference itinerary:

Wednesday - International Reception (7:00pm EST)

Thursday - Workshop Session One: (11:00am - 12:30pm EST)
Community Media Culture: Trends and Emerging Practices in Community Media

Thursday - Workshop Session Two: (2:00pm - 3:30pm EST)
Digital Storytelling: Narratives of Individual and Community in the Access Setting

Thursday - Hometown Video Festival and Leadership Awards Ceremony (5:30pm - 7:00pm EST)

Thursday - Community Media: Fixing What the Mainstream Media Broke (7:00pm - 8:00pm EST)

Friday - Workshop Session Three: (10:30am - 12:00pm EST)
Digital Content Distribution for the Producer

Friday - Workshop Session Four: (2:00pm - 3:30pm EST)
Digital Content Distribution for the Access Center

Saturday - Workshop Session Five: (10:30am - 12:00pm EST)
(Re) build Your Own Cutting Edge Media Website

Saturday - Keynote Luncheon (12:15pm - 2:00pm EST)

Saturday - Workshop Session Six: (2:15pm - 3:45pm EST)
Community Media Reaches Beyond Cable Television

I will be updating this blog as often as possible, with as much information as I can gather.