Category Archives: Community Media

New Encyclopedia Entries

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The International Encyclopedia of Media LiteracySince transitioning from being a community media and technology practitioner in the late 2000s to a community informatics scholar during the past decade, I have sought to both highlight and contribute to the existing community media and informatics scholarship during this time. As part of this work, I am excited to announce that I have new contributions on both topics in two encyclopedias. The first contribution on Community Media was published earlier this year in the The International Encyclopedia of Media Literacy edited by Renee Hobbs and Paul Mihailidis.

Here is the abstract:

“Media literacy scholars have identified five essential competencies that support digital and media literacy: these are the abilities to access, analyze, create, reflect, and act (Hobbs, 2011). While these core competencies are often advanced through community media practice, few studies have made explicit connections between media literacy education and the community media sector. Presented here is an overview of the ways in which community media support these essential competencies; attention will be paid to community media’s role in promoting access, participation, diversity, and empowerment as key drivers of media literacy education. This entry highlights youth media as a form of media literacy education within the community media sector. It includes a discussion of the social, cultural, and political contexts that are critical to understanding how community media support fundamental media literacy goals.”

The Blackwell Encyclopedia of SociologyThe second contribution on Community Informatics was just published in the 2nd edition of The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology edited by George Ritzer and Chris Rojek. This short entry provides a concise overview of the field including its origins and more recent developments, including across both physical and virtual spaces where community informatics researchers and practitioners have convened over the past 20 years. I am honored to have been invited to contribute on both topics as they have been core to my own research and practice for many years.

My Comments to the FCC

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Here is the letter (PDF) I wrote to the Federal Communications Commission recently in response to their request for comments “concerning how local franchising authorities may regulate incumbent cable operators and cable television services” (FCC).

To learn more about the FCC’s Second FNPRM, titled “FCC Seeks Comment on LFAs’ Regulation of Cable Operators” visit the FCC’s website.

 

New Article in Public Library Quarterly

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I am excited to announce the publication of my new co-authored article with Simmons SLIS alum, Christiana Urbano Stanton, entitled “Developing Media Literacy in Public Libraries: Learning from Community Media Centers” out today in Public Library Quarterly.

Here is the abstract:

“The rise of digital media labs and spaces for content creation in public libraries has been documented in the scholarly literature. However, fewer studies have investigated the outcomes of media literacy initiatives in community media centers (CMCs) and how they might inform similar programs and services in public libraries. This article reports findings from a study that used qualitative research to investigate the current goals and activities of CMCs across the United States. The findings show that the educational, social, and community benefits of these programs could be useful for public libraries to consider in developing or augmenting their own media literacy initiatives.”

I want to thank my co-author, Christiana Urbano Stanton for her excellent work on this article. This article would also not be possible without the assistance of Mike Wassenaar, President and CEO of the Alliance for Community Media, along with representatives from the ten community media centers featured in the article, including: Arlington Independent Media; Bay Area Video Coalition; Cambridge Community Television; Davis Media Access; Grand Rapids Community Media Center; MetroEast Community Media; PhillyCam; Sun Prairie Media Center; St. Paul Neighborhood Network; and “Community Media Center 10” (name anonymized to protect privacy of participant).

Panel Discussion on Civic Media at Harvard

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It’s a bit late for this announcement, but I thought I’d share that I will be speaking on a panel tonight at Harvard with several absolutely incredible people. I am honored to participate in this book talk event and look forward to joining this important discussion. If you are in the Boston area this evening, please consider attending. Thank you.

Here’s the blurb from the Harvard Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society’s website:

What does civic engagement look like in a digital age? What does it mean to participate in civic life when the lines between online and offline, political and social, organization and network are increasingly blurred? We define civic media as the “technologies, designs, and practices that produce and reproduce the sense of being in the world with others toward common good.” We offer this intentionally broad definition to accommodate what we see as a growing range of civic practices. And we hope that the term is generative, not restrictive – that it sparks the imagination about what it might include. But this isn’t simply a casual investigation. There is urgency in defining the term, as there is danger of these emerging practices of civic engagement simply getting lumped into larger media trends, or on the flip side, getting written off as anomalies narrowly defined. The term civic media suggests an “acting with” as a means of achieving a common good. It is inclusive of the range of intentional actions that people take with and through technologies, designs, or practices (aka media). Throughout the book, civic media is exemplified not through products or outcomes, but through the processes and potential of using the tools available to strive for the common good.

Join the editors and contributors of the new book Civic Media: Technology, Design, Practice (MIT Press 2016) for a discussion on the role of civic media in the changing face of democracy around the world.

New Book Chapter on Civic Media Published

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civicmediaI have a new chapter published in Civic Media: Technology, Design, Practice by The MIT Press and edited by Eric Gordon and Paul Mihailidis. The chapter, titled “Community Media Infrastructure as Civic Engagement,” highlights the community needs assessment process in local communications infrastructure development in the United States as a form of civic engagement, which I argue we must fight to preserve in the digital age.

Here’s an excerpt from the chapter’s introduction:

In this chapter, I argue that it’s critical to look beyond Facebook, YouTube, and other participatory media platforms in order to focus on the underlying civic communications infrastructure that makes free speech possible in many communities around the world. In doing so, I highlight the case of public, educational, and government (PEG) access television in the United States as an example to show how ordinary people can engage with their local governments to determine the shape of their local media landscape and to promote open access to communication technology…

While Internet policy continues to be important in national and global debates, I argue that the history and present of PEG access in the U.S. provides a model for determining how local communities can shape their civic communication spaces. This model of localism in civic communications infrastructure development, I argue, provides important lessons for our thinking about the future of the Internet at home and around the world.