Drupal content management system (CMS) is an open-source tool that is being used by community media workers to build their access center’s websites (see MNN, Medfield.tv, CCTV and others). Drupal gives users the ability to upload audio, video and images in an interactive environment that extends the physical space of community media to online spaces. Drupal also provides its site’s users with the ability to create blogs and groups that enable physical community media members to participate online in-between face-to-face meetings.  Community member participation is then archived and searchable through tags and other metadata.

I’m interested in the use of Drupal in PEG TV, not necessarily because of the tool itself, but because of how people are sharing information around it. Behind the scenes, community media workers are sharing information about modules and Drupal extensions both online and off. This information sharing, while mainly technical, connects community media workers through the technology. Online, community-generated support forums, such as those found on PEGSpace, offer other community media workers with guides for incorporating Drupal into their own communities’ communication platforms.

This type of information exchange is not unique to the open source community. But within the PEG TV community it plays a significant role worth further examination. My interest for this project is to understand how community media workers use and share information using the web to enable their own physical communities, through these participatory platforms.

Again, what is interesting to me is how Drupal, as a tool, is bringing people together through knowledge sharing across distant community media centers. In doing so, collaboration around Drupal development and implementation (1) connects distant community media workers through online forums, (2) creates opportunities for knowledge sharing and support, and (3) provides spaces for individuals in physical communities to not only communicate, but to become more literate and saavy in networked environments.