“Building Bridges with Blogging — a Case Study”

Photos from “Building Bridges with Blogging — a Case Study“panel at the MGP2006.

View the photos here.  View all conference photos tagged with “MGP2006“.

Watch the MGP2006 Live Video Webstream

MGP2006, Democracy & Independence: Sharing News and Politics in a Connected World, is underway today through Saturday at UMass Amherst. Watch the live webstream here: http://www.mediagiraffe.org/live/

Visit the MGP2006 blog to access the conference schedule and join the conversation online.

If you’re blogging the conference, make sure to tag your posts with “MGP2006“, to see what others are saying about the event.

Action Coalition for Media Education Joins Stop Big Media Coalition

ACMEBoston parent org, Action Coalition for Media Education is one of the Charter Members of the new Stop Big Media Coalition.

The Coalition writes,

“The StopBigMedia.com Coalition believes that a free and vibrant media full of diverse, local and competing voices is the lifeblood of America’s democracy.

Massive consolidation of media ownership has dangerously reduced the number of voices in our nation’s media. Today, the vast majority of popular news, entertainment and information is controlled by a handful of giant media conglomerates. These corporations seek to minimize competition and maximize profits rather than inform, enlighten, and promote the public interest.

The FCC and Congress must ensure that our media system is, in the words of the Supreme Court, ‘an uninhibited marketplace of ideas in which truth will prevail.’

The StopBigMedia.com Coalition is working to see that the FCC and Congress protect the American public from the further consolidation of US media ownership.

Click here, to join the coalition.”

Check out the blog and act now.

Podcasting in Education Session at MGP2006

(cross-post from my blog)

As I mentioned earlier, I’ll be participating in a session on podcasting in education on Friday at the MGP2006 conference at UMass Amherst, beginning tomorrow afternoon.

To keep my presentation as close to 5 minutes as possible, I’ve decided to focus on three key points:

• Podcasting is a conversation
• Podcasting in education should invite participation
• Podcasting in education should increase access to knowledge

Because RSS is the contributing factor to what makes a podcast a podcast, I will highlight three main points to help encourage the ideas stated above:

• Cross-posting
• Cross-listing
• And more on syndication (FeedBurner)

Cross-posting

As a podcaster for AudioBerkman, I like cross-posting to our AudioBerkman blog at Ourmedia. I do this because I like the Ourmedia’s mission (and their awesome Digital Learning Center) and also because it increases the chance that Ourmedia users will come across AudioBerkman podcasts.

Cross-listing

One of the great tips I picked up from Podcasting Hacks, was what I call “cross-listing” or getting your podcast listed in a number of podcast directories on the web. This increases your chance of people finding your podcast.

More on Syndication (FeedBurner)

I love FeedBurner, because it not only keeps track of who and how many (or few) people are downloading your podcasts, but it provides a number of ways to bring more visitors to your podcast.

Also, put your educational podcast on a blog (we’re working on it). It does two important things: (1) it gives you a quick and easy way to distribute your content, through RSS–increasing access to knowledge, and (2) it invites participation and learning from others through the use of comment sections.

That’s my three cents worth. I look forward to leaving the rest of the time open for discussion with the audience and to learn from them about how they view the role of podcasting in education. I hope people at the conference (and visiting on the web) will contribute their comments, questions, ideas, etc. on the session wiki.

I plan to record audio and video from the session. I will post links to both here and at the session wiki. I hope this will help to include those who were not able to attend and also to encourage conversation beyond the session.

Colin Rhinesmith
President, ACMEBoston

Save Access!

(Updates from Save Access)

“Dear saveaccess.org supporter,

First we want to thank you! Thousands of letters were sent to Senators last week as a result of your efforts. We applaud you for taking the time to make your voice heard and sending a strong message in support of PEG community media, net neutrality and the need for stronger red-lining provisions. The mark-up hearing on Senate Bill S.2686 resumes tomorrow, Tues. June 27th at 10:00. Very little progress was made in the first day of the mark-up last week (a rundown is at: http://saveaccess.org/node/322).
Please continue to email your Senators if you haven’t already at
http://saveaccess.org/takeaction!

We want to take a moment to inform you of other issues that have arisen in the mark-up proceedings, some good, some bad. If you have Senators on the Commerce Committee (list below), this would be a good day to call them!

S.2686 Amendments and What You Can Do:

Over 200 amendments are to be discussed for possible inclusion in S.2686, including one on broadcast flag with onerous copy protection that impacts on ‘fair use’ issues. Another amendment would expand local radio licenses – a good addition.

1) Broadcast Flag – This is a copy protection scheme that would make it virtually impossible for broadcast media to be reused under current ‘fair use’ practices. To counter the broadcast flag amendment there is an another amendment to strike it. Public Knowledge calls on people with Senators on the Commerce Committee (see list below) to: Call your Senator today with this simple message: ‘Support the Sununu
Amendment to strike the broadcast and radio flags.’

Learn more Public Knowledge: http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/479.

2) Expand Local Radio – Sen. McCain has offered an amendment that would expand Low Power Radio licenses. This could result in hundreds of new local radio stations serving local communities. Our friends at Prometheus Radio are asking people to call on their Senators to support TITLE XI: LOCAL COMMUNITY RADIO ACT by calling and saying:

‘I support, and my community supports, the language in Senate Bill 2686 that would expand low power FM across our state and across this country. In an era of natural disasters, and few opportunities for churches, schools, and community groups to make their voices heard, we need more local radio stations in our cities and towns. Please support low power FM in Senate Bill 2686.’
Learn more at:
http://www.prometheusradio.org/take_action/emergency_alert:__take_action_to_expand_low_power/

3) Protect PEG Provisions - The Alliance for Community Media is asking supporters to support the gains made including PEG provisions in S.2686 by:

• Calling or faxing your Senators again.
• Send a copy Senators Inouye and Stevens.
• The message is simple:

‘We ask that you prevent any amendments to S2686 that attack PEG funding, franchise fees or municipal authority. Thank you.’

These phone calls/faxes are especially important if your Senator is on the Commerce Committee (see the list below). And please continue to send your emails via our site which also seeks to protect PEG provisions.”

ACMEBoston Thanks Save Access For Their Work!

Take Action To Support Media Democracy Today!

“Human Hybrids: Creating a Global Identity”

Watch the video

This video is the introduction to a panel, titled "Human Hybrids: Creating a Global Identity", that took place during the ID Mashup Conference at Harvard Law School on June 20, 2006. The video features co-founder and CEO of ASAFO Media LLC Derrick Ashong, Slam Poet Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo, Jair of Imaginy Community Network, and Jamaican Educator Marvin Hall, Halls of Learning.

Panel description from the conference website:

"In a world where people are increasingly able to connect across cultural and geographic boundaries, what is the future of human identity? Has technology equalized the transmission of culture, or amplified the voices of some to the increased exclusion of others? In the formation of a global identity, what will be the criteria that define “who we are” and who we hear?"

Time: 6 min. 59 sec.

Please note: This movie file is 30mb and may take some time to load.

This is video that I shot using my little handheld video camera. The full length audio podcast from this panel will be available later this week for download at AudioBerkman.

Colin Rhinesmith
President, ACMEBoston

This video was originally shared on blip.tv by acmeboston with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

MGP2006 This Week

(crosspost from my blog)

I'm working on my presentation today for the MGP2006 conference this week at UMass Amherst. I will be speaking on a panel on Friday with Bentley College Profs. Elizabeth Ledoux and Mark Frydenberg, titled "Morphing from Music: iPods Enter the Classroom".

I built out the wiki page for the panel yesterday. We're hoping that folks will contribute to the wiki during the panel by adding their notes, ideas, questions, suggestions, etc.

My contribution to the discussion will be to talk briefly how the Berkman Center at Harvard Law School (where I work) has embraced podcasting as a tool for education both inside and outside the classroom. I am only planning to speak for 5 minutes, in order to leave plenty of time for discussion.

I am asking some of the following questions, in advance (which I've also added to the wiki):

• How are new media tools like podcasting changing our understanding of what a classroom is?

• How can more teachers, students, and educational institutions be encouraged to use and embrace podcasting as a tool through which more access to ideas, skills, and knowledge can be shared and built upon?

• How can a local classroom use podcasting and blogs to create global classrooms and online coversations with those who enjoy access to these resources?

• How can students and educators use podcasting to help bring more people online to bridge both the local and global digital divides?

I hope to also get a recording of the panel (either audio or video, or both) that I will make available here, following the discussion.

Colin Rhinesmith
President, ACMEBoston

Keep The Net . . .

Watch the episode

Updates on Senate Telecom Bill and Live Blogging Congress

If you missed last Thursday's Senate markup on S. 2686, the Communications, Consumers' Choice, and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006, you can listen to audio from the session here.

While I applaud the Commerce Commitee website for having a RSS newsfeed, it would also be helpful if they made a podcast available from their hearings and markup sessions at the Audio/Video page on their website.

Save Access writes, "The Senate Commerce Committee mark-up session for S.2686 will resume Tues. June 27th at 10:00. Continue to Email Your Senators!

Over 200 amendments are to be discussed for possible inclusion, including one on broadcast flag with onerous copy protection (see EFF)"

There's also a summary of last Thursday's hearing that was live blogged by Kathy Gill over at About.com, which is great. Jason and I did this (but nowhere near as detailed) over at the Media Policy Blog during a February hearing on Net Neutrality.

FCC Debates Media Ownership Rules

The Nation's John Nichols writes about proposed rulemaking at the Federal Communications Commission involving the often heated debate over media ownership. While Net Neutrality and Public Access TV have recently taken center stage with current bills in Congress, the issue of Media Ownership remains another a key issue in the battle over U.S. communications policymaking. Nichols writes,

"At the top of the corporate wish list is the elimination of the 'cross-ownership' rule that prevents a single company from buying buy up all the daily and weekly newspapers, as many as three television stations, as many as eight radio stations, the cable system and primary internet sites in the same metropolitan area. This 'company town' scenario — known in FCC parlance as 'cross-ownership' — was agreed to by the commission three years ago, despite broad public opposition. Only when Congress and then the courts intervened did the scheme get tripped up."

Read the article here.