PEG Access TV and The Place of Social Media

I’m still looking for feedback on my last post regarding cable access centers using Internet video, but I wanted to contribute a new thread to this discussion.

As mobile web technologies rapidly advance with the release of the iPhone and other portable devices, it strikes me that the “Place of Social Media” becomes increasingly important (for reasons I hope to further explore moving forward). As an inadvertent plug for Eric Gordon (my thesis adviser)’s blog and issues related to Hub2 (a course I’m participating in this semester), I’m realizing that the role of physical community media centers using social media tools is more important than ever.

Why?

Community media centers that offer social media tools and educational opportunities to learn about them provide very unique physical spaces - beyond one-time workshops - where a local community can interact with others in their community and with online networks simultaneously. There are very few place-based social media centers that exist in quite the same way.

For example, Cambridge Community Televison, Manhattan Neighborhood Network and other cable access TV centers offer classes on videoblogging and podcasting. Worcester Community Cable Access and Medfield.tv use Drupal-powered websites that allow community members to comment on others’ videos and blog posts. These are place-based social media centers that use the web to “act locally” while “thinking globally”.

These centers are quite unique. They provide opportunities for residents to learn with and from one another in their community, while providing a physical space - open to and serving the public - for learning and support within online networks.

There’s much more to explore here and it’s not just theoretical. It’s rare.