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.
(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.
posted by Paul Green at 1:47 PM
2 Comments:
Paul, regarding video/community mapping, I recall that Amazon is doing an online broadcast from its website with Bill Maher, and they have ads for their latest products sandwiched in, e.g., the Dixie Chick's latest, etc.
Are you suggesting that, on a local level, a company or business which hosts an online blog or padcast on Access TV's website, which anyone can access at any time to see the program with links to the sponsoring business? Or one which would be of specific interest to a clientele, like a music podcast of local musicians, "sponsored" by Midwest Music, for example?
Here's what I envisioned:
A massive volunteer effort, supervised by Access, which would "map" the entire community of Salina; including businesses, schools, parks, attractions and non-profit organizations, complete with photos/videos, weblinks and a brief description of each location.
I think you could put together a pretty good proposal for economic development block grant money for something like this.
The benefit would be a comprehensive, searchable, on-line mapping/database resource freely available to anyone on the planet.
Using Drupal to power the Access website, on-line advertising as sponsorships could be used to create additional income for the Access center.
This is also a great project for involving volunteers who find the television experience a bit intimidating. Creating and updating a Google Map is child's play in comparison to the workflow involved in creating a cohesive television program.
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