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.