Colin Rhinesmith

I’m finished with my first year of graduate school at Emerson College. It was a great start to what I think will be an even better second year based on a number of projects that I’m looking forward to working on.

I’m writing this post to help me organize some of the stuff going on. Let’s take a crack at it here:

Community Media in Transition

The response to my graduate thesis blog and wiki has been very positive so far. I’ve done some preliminary research there into some of the topics I’ll be exploring for the project. The best thing about it is that folks in access are participating. The thesis has not been formulated yet because I am waiting to see what happens through these participatory platforms (blog, wiki, del.icio.us, etc.) and, more importantly, the people using them to help inform the direction of the project.

Rather than walking into the project with an idea of what I think it should be, I’m learning from other folks in access to help me organize the most important topics. This has been extremely helpful in a way that I don’t think would be possible without the web.

Open Media Publishing in Online Learning Environments

I’ll be working on a directed study in the fall on the topic of open source media publishing tools in online learning environments. My short-term goals include laying out some of the key concepts and ideas building on the work that others have already established in this area. I will be putting together a syllabus and annotated bibliography for the course which I’ll be working on under the guidance of Eric Gordon at Emerson College.

The Open Media Library project that Dean Jansen has spearheaded, along with the overwhelming response from the academic, public media and other non-profit communities has made me really excited to explore the possibilities of a cross-institutional open source platform for e-media sharing.

Dean and I will be presenting a demo of the Open Media Library at the Video, Education and Open Content conference at Columbia U. on May 23. I’m looking forward to meeting and learning from other folks working in this space to help inform the project.

The Place of Social Media

Eric Gordon is writing a book titled, “The Place of Social Media” to explore how sociable media platforms are impacting everyday (real) life. I’ll be working with him over the summer as a research assistant to set-up a blog and podcast for the book. I’m really looking forward to contributing to this project and learning from Eric and his experience in the process.

Jalapenos, Basil, Cilantro, and Tomatoes

I’m also pretty excited about my indoor herb and veggie garden. I’m looking forward to growing and eating them.

Collaborative Media, Community Media, Education, Emerson College, Grad School, Open Access, Open Source, Public Access TV, Social Networking Tools