PEG Point

VIDEO: Sascha Meinrath and the Open Technology Initiative

Jackie Hai — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:11:11 +0000

I had the opportunity to sit down with Sascha Meinrath, director of the New America Foundation's Open Technology Initiative, after he delivered his keynote address at the Alliance for Community Media 2010 conference in Pittsburgh. In this series of videos, Sascha discusses a number of topics:

1. On Digital Feudalism
What is digital feudalism? An explanation of enclosed private systems and the push for opening up critical infrastructures to a public commons.

2. Building Your Own Internet
The benefits of community-owned broadband infrastructures (such as ongoing fiber-optic initiatives by the Bay Area Video Coalition and in Lafayette, La.), and the obstacles to building out services posed by incumbent providers.

3. Four Action Items
An overview of the four action items presented during the ACM 2010 keynote address: e-rate reform, universal service fund reform, opening up of the low-frequency TV band for public use, and grassroots mobilization among PEG centers to counteract telecom lobbyists on Capitol Hill.

4. PEG and Community Media Centers
The role of PEG and community media centers in a functioning democratic society, and the critical need to fight the systematic de-funding of institutions for participatory media.

Live Coverage at the ACM 2010 Conference: Using Social Media to Serve PEG and Non-Profits

Jackie Hai — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 12:53:15 +0000

Session description: Many nonprofit organizations including city departments and agencies need access to social media and digital literacy training. Many PEG access centers are uniquely positioned to serve this vital community communication need. This workshop is designed to help you develop a social media workflow for your organization. Topics include: how to develop a communications strategy, how to generate followers and stimulate discussion, how to create a social media identity, how to manage your time, and how to measure success.

Live Coverage at the ACM 2010 Conference: Hyperlocal Journalism in Diverse Communities

Jackie Hai — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:24:27 +0000

Session description: As the digital divide persists within marginalized communities, many people continue to face challenges without access to computers and broadband technology at home. This session will discuss how can PEG centers, community technology centers, and citizen journalism projects are addressing this problem by providing public access to cable television and broadband media tools?

Live Coverage at the ACM 2010 Conference: Citizen Journalism Pre-Conference Panel

Jackie Hai — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:52:17 +0000

I'll be live-blogging some of the panels and discussions happening here at the Alliance for Community 2010 Conference in Pittsburgh this week.

Click the Replay button after the jump for coverage of the morning panel convened during the Citizen Journalism pre-conference. Facilitated by Jan Schaffer of J-Lab, the panel included Laurie Cirivello of The Rapidian, Ben Ilfeld of Sacramento Press, Steve Reinbrecht of Berks Community Television, and Jessica Durkin, Media Policy Initiative Fellow at the New America Foundation.

ACM 2010 Conference Citizen Journalism Track

crhinesmith — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:58:20 +0000

The Alliance for Community Media is presenting a Citizen Journalism Track at this year's conference in Pittsburgh, PA, July 7-10, 2010 to discuss community, civic engagement, and the future of local news.

If you are interested in participating as a speaker or attendee, please contact Colin Rhinesmith, Community Media Coordinator at Cambridge Community Television to learn more. Send email to colin-at-cctvcambridge-dot-org.

Please also consider taking this Short Survey which the conference organizers will use to develop the Citizen Journalism Track at the conference.

Community Media, Technology and The National Broadband Plan

crhinesmith — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:15:28 +0000

Over at Broadband.gov, the Federal Communications Commission is accepting ideas from the public to help them create a national broadband strategy. More information about the National Broadband Plan can be found on the Benton Foundation's website.

Implementing a national broadband plan is going to require formidable resources - and physical locations - where broadband services can be offered to those in need. My hope is that community media and technology centers, as trusted community institutions, will play an essential role in this process.

Connecting Communities Through Online Video

crhinesmith — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:26:26 +0000

Editor's Note: Today we have a guest post from Anne Jonas, Community Outreach Coordinator at the Participatory Culture Foundation, an Americorps VISTA position through the Digital Arts Service Corps.

This week, Medfield.tv launched a local video site at video.medifeld.tv, bringing together their content with community produced videos from across the web.

It sounds like something that any local community should have - a one stop shop that aggregates video by people in the area, about the local community, wherever it was originally posted (like YouTube, a video blog, human rights hub Witness), featuring the best of community contributions and organizing them into easy to navigate categories.

5 Steps to Increase User Contributions to Your Community Site

admin — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:10:00 +0000

Editor's Note: Today we have a guest post from Ben Ilfeld, Operations Manager of the Sacramento Press.

Our contributors are not "free labor." They all have incentive to write or they simply would not write. The question then is what incentives compel writers to write?

For example, Facebook compels me to upload photos and share links by connecting me with my friends and family in an easy and relatively private way.

At The Sacramento Press our goal is to provide local news and information. We need to incentivize writers to contribute that content.

Micro Communities at a Public Access Media Center

jdaniels — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:24:39 +0000

Click to enlarge.
by Jason Daniels
This illustration is a reflection of a lot of tech heavy thinking and talking, listening and reading over the past few months around reframing local community and PEG access TV. It also is about my experiences working at a small community TV station.

Alliance for Community Media Citizen Journalism Listserv

crhinesmith — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:55:09 +0000

The Alliance for Community Media launched a new citizen journalism listserv today. Here's the info:

"The Alliance for Community Media's Citizen Journalism listserv is an email discussion forum for individuals and organizations interested in connecting with others and building best practices around citizen journalism projects affiliated with community media centers."