About This Interview Blog



In the intricately networked web world, the role of a brick & mortar, public access media center is a work-in-progress. What are the key ingredients to be a relevant and sustainable community resource?

This is a series of podcasts sharing best practices and advice for community media center advocates, managers, staff, producers, and volunteers. It features interviews with leaders in the field who share their expertise and perspectives.

You can visit the page for each person and either listen to the full interview or to particular clips.

This series was made possible by support from:

The Surdna Foundation

Media and Democracy Fund

Media Justice Fund


For related content about community media go to:
The Alliance for Community Media


Thursday, December 24, 2009

Sean McLaughlin


Sean McLaughlin is an educator, media access advocate and non-profit executive. In 2006, he became the first executive director for Access Humboldt , a community media organization providing local access channels, broadband network connections, digital media production resources, training and support in Humboldt County, California.

McLaughlin is a policy wonk – he has published articles, provided expert testimony before legislative and regulatory agencies, and participated in international conferences. Previously, McLaughlin was the first chief executive officer for Akaku: Maui Community Television.

In this interview, McLaughlin describes the ways that Access Humboldt has increased the value of Access Humboldt to the rural communities it serves by creating wireless broadband connectivity for people who would otherwise be "off the grid." McLaughlin also talks about an innovative, affordable approach to providing video on demand, and other innovations.


Listen to the interview here. A log of the interview (appearing just below) will tell you about specific sections of the interview and where to find them.

Share with others by mailing this link:
http://www.archive.org/details/SeanMclaughlinInterview

Interview Log

0:00 – 7:55 Access Humboldt comes up with a way to leverage its I-Net and create wireless services to an outlying rural town.

7:55 – 11:45 How a dynamic public-private collaboration took form to make it happen quickly. What’s still to be added.

11:45 – 14:55 Feedback and subsequent broadband projects.

14:55 – 18:15 Why the push for broadband access fits right into the Access mission.

18:15 – 22:15 As a new access center in the digital era, how did it affect the planning for services?

22:15 – 28:45 A dynamic and cost effective way to present video on demand

28:45 – 31:30 Sean’s roots in Access TV and the first video he produced that demonstrated its potential to build bridges.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Tony Shawcross


Tony Shawcross is the Executive Director of the PEG facility in Denver, CO. He developed and launched the visionary - and provocative model for community media that has evolved into the Open Media Foundation. The Open Media Foundation replaced the previous PEG nonprofit and receives a much smaller funding package from the city. Before founding Deproduction and Denver Open Media, Tony worked with Little Voice Productions, the Colorado State House of Representatives, the Pan African Arts Society and FreeSpeech TV, among others.

In this interview, Tony talks about innovative ways to empower access users and eliminate some of the gates that are still in place with our traditional operations. He describes the work OMF (previously Denver Open Media) has done to build a Drupal web site in collaboration with other media centers that feature modules unique to PEG operations. The project is funded by the Knight Foundation. In Denver it has allowed the PEG operation to do more with less city funding.

Listen to the interview here. The interview log is listed just below.
Click to listen
Share with others by mailing this link:
http://www.archive.org/details/TonyShawcrossInterview

Interview Log
:0:00 - 4:45
Keep reducing the "gatekeeper" role on citizen generated media. Look at the "Wikipedia" model.

4:45 - 9:55
Overview of seven drupal modules that automate PEG operations including scheduling; also voting on shows for additional cable showings

9:55 - 11:55
Video on Demand (VOD) and an example of one series and how to search

11:55 - 14:30
Membership; Beta test of drupal functions and eventual online program exchange.

14:30 - 18:00
Internet literacy and "digital divide"

18:00 - 29:00
Details on the Knight grant to create drupal web site template for any PEG media center; more about the specific modules.

29:00 - 34:15
The advantages of having come out of a computer technology center (CTC) background; facing the challenges of PEG operations with decreased funding.

34:15 - 35:15
Advantages of open source; competitive advantages of nonprofit community media.

35:15 - 36:20
When will we know we succeeded?