I recently revisited the audio from the Alliance for Community Media 2006 conference panel, “PEG in a Shifting Media Landscape,” featuring Felicia Sullivan (moderator), Hans Klein (Georgia Tech), Susie Lindsay (Former Berkman Center for Internet and Society Fellow), Michael Eisenmenger (Manhattan Neighborhood Network) and Fred Johnson (Community Media & Technology Program, UMass Boston).
Listen to the audio (MP3)
The discussion is still quite relevant, particularly for access practitioners interested in moving into the online participatory media world but not sure exactly how to get started.
During the session, Susie Lindsay introduced a really interesting idea that I think is worth restating. She talked about how access centers with the resources to build community online around their work might consider moving into the role of online digital media moderators.
For example, a community media center with resources might designate staff time to find good locally relevant stuff online that may be of interest to others in their physical community. This could do two things:
First, it could highlight online content (Creative Commons or other open access licensed blog posts, audio, video, photos, etc.) from people who may not be involved with the access center – as an outreach tool.
Second, it could help transform a community media center into a trusted source (aggregator) online where individuals in a geographic community (or beyond) could go to find digital media of interest to others in their community.
An alternative might be to open source the model.
Meaning, that members within the community could volunteer their time – particularly younger or other web saavy folks – and submit ideas to a point person (staff) at the community media center. This might also create a scenario where individuals could take ownership of finding stuff online, that might even lead to content that could be aired on the cable channel. In many ways this is very similar to Denver Open Media‘s model:
“YOU use the equipment, YOU create the shows, YOU provide feedback as viewers, and YOUR votes determine the broadcast schedule . . . “
The other really valuable point that Susie made was looking to youth to serve as digital media trainers at community media centers. Because youth are quite saavy online (See danah boyd’s “Why Youth Heart Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life” PDF and her other work) this would be a great way to create training programs for others in the community, particularly adults, parents and others who may be less experienced in the online world.
There are lots of other great points mentioned by all of the panelists. That is why I definitely recommend that folks take another listen to the audio.
As a side note, it’s really unfortunate that the ACM Boston 2006 conference website is no longer up and running. It was such a wonderful resource. I hope there is a way that the website can find another home somewhere else online.
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