Archive for November, 2007
November Brain Dump
“CMT Mind Map” via Flickr (CC license)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Article
In an article titled “Who needs public access TV?” by Adrian McCoy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette the author writes
“Public access supporters argue that Web video isn’t really as democratic as it appears. Sure, anyone can do it — anyone with enough money for a video camera, high-speed Internet access and the right software. The truly [...]
Does Public Access TV Matter in a Digital Age?
In a brief online exchange, following a recent Philly Independent Media Center article, entitled “Public Access TV in Philadelphia is Finally Here,” one commenter inquires about the relevance of public access in a digital age. The commenter brings up two relevant issues: (1) the growing popularity of internet video production, publishing and distribution platforms and [...]
Locating Community Media within the Space of Flows
Drawing from community informatics literature, I found Slack and Williams, “The dialectics of place and space: On community in the “Information Age’” (2000) of particular interest because of its focus on the role of physical place within online networks. The article highlights a study of The Craigmillar Community Information Service, which the McDonald and Denning [...]
Definitions of Community in the Digital Age
From Karen Christensen’s Berkshire Blog:
“But what is community, anyway? A famous article, from 1955, listed 57 definitions – like ketchup. Just what kind of community are we talking about here today?
I usually say that communities are human webs that provide essential feelings of sharing, belonging, and meaning. Tom Bender, a historian at NYU, wrote that [...]
On Community Media and the Internet
From “Everything Old is New Again” by Felicia M. Sullivan in the Winter 2005 Issue of the Community Media Review:
“The roots of community media are solidly planted in the idea that access is provided to allow our citizens to participate in a democratic society and to affect and engage in decision-making that benefits all in [...]
The Online Potential for Group Formation in PEG TV
In New York Law School Professor Beth Noveck’s article, “Democracy–The Video Game: Virtual Worlds and Collective Action,” from The State of Play: Law, Games, and Virtual Worlds, she talks about the promise of virtual worlds, like Second Life, in fostering new forms of group participation in democratic practice. She explains that while the “First-Generation [...]
More on YouTube v. Public Access TV
From Ken Picard’s article, entitled “Does Public-Access TV Still Matter in the YouTube Age?” in Seven Days, Vermont’s Alternative Weekly:
“[Lauren-Glenn] Davitian is often asked whether public-access television is still relevant in the age of YouTube. Her reply: These are both the best of times, and the worst, for community media advocates.
On the one hand, people [...]
From Person-to-Place in Public Access Media
In Barry Wellman’s 2001 article, “Physical Place and Cyberplace: The Rise of Personalized Networking” in the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, he writes that growth in online communication has led to a shift in societal interaction away from place-based communication to “person-to-person connectivity” (238). As a result, “Communities are far-flung, loosely-bounded, sparsely-knit and [...]
The Community of Practice in Public Access TV
I just found another great resource through Eric Gordon’s del.icio.us feed. He recently bookmarked an online article, entitled “Communities of Practice: a brief introduction” by Etienne Wenger, author of “Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity.” The article is particularly useful because it describes communities in a way that’s very descriptive of communities in public [...]
