Colin Rhinesmith

I’m really looking forward to presenting at the Grassroots Use of Technology conference at UMass Lowell next weekend with a few of my fellow Boston Action Tank cohorts, Marie Celestin, Aliza Dichter, Denise Moorehead, and Ada Robinson. Here’s a description of our panel, entitled “Strategies for Shaping the Media/Tech Future: Policy, Funding & Organizing“:

The media/communications environment is rapidly changing. Who will control the networks and tools that social justice activists use? How can we work pro-actively for media & technology systems to better serve our communities? The purpose of this workshop is to generate strategic thinking about how we can improve the media/communications system and to share some strategy-building tools. We will talk about the types of policies, technologies and economics that can create a better media future, and we will strategize ways to win and protect what we need and want. This workshop will build on the goals generated in the prior session “Organizing the Organic Internet,” where participants will collaboratively write an Internet Justice Bill of Rights. (The sessions are designed to work together, and also independently. We welcome you to join us whether or not you attend both sessions.) This workshop is presented by members of the Boston Action Tank– a new, experimental “think tank” of people who work at the community level using media & technology. We are aiming to have conversations, do research and analysis, and form a sort of strategy lab for projects that can help build the media movement. We’ve created this workshop to help us learn from you, and to help you position your current work in a long-term strategic framework.

Read more or register online at Grassroots Use of Technology 2008.

Share This

Click to play video (QuickTime)

On Monday, June 16 CCTV is hosting an event featuring the work of the citizen journalists involved in our NeighborMedia program. The first year is coming to a close and we’ll soon be accepting applications from Cambridge residents interested in getting involved in the program for ‘08-’09. More info online here.

More info about the event here.

Share This

From Zip Docs:

“Odd Fellows Hall and Dance Complex: a video on the history and use of a historic old building in Central Square, Cambridge. A production by members of the ZIPDOCS class at CCTV: Inéz Eizmendi, Liza Zvereva, Irina Danilova and Laureano Batista. Music by Brazilian Touch.”

Share This

It’s been an amazing couple of months working in my new role at CCTV as Community Media Coordinator. I’ve been involved with an amazing project to connect people with the tools, skills and knowledge to become empowered within a network society. I’ve taught two really fun classes on blogging and participatory media. And I’ve met some incredible people from Cambridge and beyond who have volunteered their time and efforts to create a stronger and more welcoming community at CCTV.

Now it’s time to finish my thesis and begin the work of graduating from Emerson in May. I have an enormous amount of work ahead of me but I am ready for the challenge ahead. I am cutting back my hours at work to concentrate on my thesis and the remaining work for my classes. I’m a bit freaked but I know that’s probably natural.

OK, here we go . . .

Share This

I just finished a two-session blogging class last night at CCTV. It was a small class of three, but the size allowed us to really dive into topics that participants were most curious about. We started last week’s class with an overview of why someone might blog. I focused on blogging as a conversation to point out the fact that blog posts are really just the start of what can be extended conversations.

Most participants were interested in learning how to upload pictures to their blog. There was also interest in videoblogging and podcasting, which we covered in last night’s class. During the first class, everyone created a blog using Blogger.com. But after a week of using their Blogger blogs, they were interested in trying out Wordpress.com. Participants liked using Wordpress much better. They felt that it was easier to navigate and the theme options were much better.

So, I set up a Wordpress.com blog along with the class. It is a great tool for highlighting a number of easy ways to use text, photos, video, and audio on your blog. We also spent a good deal of time reviewing wordpress widgets and other layout options.

It was a great class and a lot of fun. I’m teaching a class on Web 2.0 next Monday, which I’m also really looking forward to.

Share This

“Intake workers Selma and Delores describe the project to one of our applicants.” Photo from Cambridge Community Television

Yesterday’s orientation at Cambridge Community Television for our [bridging the] digital divide program was a great success. Over 30 applicants came to CCTV to learn more about the program and sign up for basic computer training.

As part of the program, participants will receive a free refurbished computer (either PC or Mac) and a wireless Internet access node. During the training, participants will learn how to connect to the City’s wireless network using their wireless node, or transmitter. Through participants’ involvement in the program they will also be helping to strengthen the wireless network for their neighbors closest to them. To learn more about the City’s wireless network involved in this program, visit Cambridge Public Internet Initiative.

Yesterday’s orientation began with coffee and snacks for intake workers with whom I met to review the following intake process that took place throughout the day:

1. Intake workers reviewed the program with participants.

2. Participants wrote down their goals and what they hoped to achieve during the program.

3. Participants filled out a computer skills assessment in order to be placed in the appropriate computer trainings.

4. Participants signed a contract that explained our commitment and their commitment to the program.

5. Intake workers filled out a training registration form with participants.

The process went very smoothly throughout the day. After participants met with intake workers, Matt Landry (Cambridge Educational Access) and I signed up participants for computer trainings set to begin next weekend. The day was a great opportunity to meet with and welcome participants in the program. It was also a lot of fun.

The participants I met with seemed genuinely excited and appreciative to be involved in the program, which has been over a year in planning with many different parties involved across the City of Cambridge. It’s exciting to see the program finally in action.

To learn more about the program and to follow along with its progress, visit the digital divide group at Cambridge Community Television.

Share This

I had an amazing first week at my new job as Community Media Coordinator at Cambridge Community Television. I should say up front that I’ll probably be blogging a lot about my job here because there’s so many exciting things happening. But to be clear, I am not getting paid by CCTV to write about my job on this blog. Rather, I am getting paid to blog here. And that’s where where I will be providing updates regularly.

In my new role, among other responsibilities, I am the project manager for an initiative that we’re working on with the City of Cambridge to provide refurbished computers and training for residents at one of the city’s public housing developments. Residents who participate in this pilot program will receive a desktop computer for their home that will be used to connect to the city’s wireless network. To read more background on the project, as well as ongoing developments visit the Digital Divide group on CCTV’s website.

I’m also working with the amazing volunteers who intern and provide technical support to residents in CCTV’s computer lab, computerCENTRAL. I also look forward to providing regular updates on the computerCENTRAL blog, where you can watch videos with CCTV’s “Computer for Seniors” participant Marie Caso and local artist RamRam Abdellah.

It’s also CCTV’s 20th anniversary and there are many celebrations planned throughout the city and throughout the year. So stay tuned to our channels if you’re a Cambridge resident and/or on the website.

Share This

I just finished reading Anthony Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential,” a book that my beautiful wife gave me for Christmas this year. She knows I’m a No Reservations nut. “Kitchen Confidential” made me a little nuttier, but definitely in a good way.

But this post is not about my inclination towards one chef and his show on the Travel Channel. Although, I’d probably like to write more about it. Instead, I thought I’d take a look back on this New Year’s eve at a few tidbits from 2007 before jumping head first into 2008.

2007 was an incredible year for me. I got married (most significantly), participated in a gathering with other educational podcasters at Apple HQ in Cupertino, CA, was invited to speak at Bentley College, built a virtual re-design of Boston City Hall Plaza, interviewed a visual artist in Second Life, participated in two conferences at Harvard and Columbia, helped rebuild a website, served on the Board of Directors for two amazing organizations, supported a really exciting research project funded by the NEH, learned a ton about the web and digital culture in grad school, produced a podcast about citizen media and the law, and had the good fortune to continue to work with and learn from some truly world class people at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, while attending grad school. I am very, very lucky.

Of course there was lots more geekery and fun (and not so much fun) along the way. Most notably, what I learned and continue to learn from the dedicated volunteers and community media workers struggling to remain relevant, and survive, in a changing media landscape. Particularly at a time when pressure from large cable and telephone companies = state legislation continues to beat down community media center after community media center slamming the door on opportunities for local voices and community concerns all across America to be seen and heard on cable television.

In 2008, this will become my world - even more than it already has been.

This week, I’m leaving my short, but life-changing, work experience at the Berkman Center at Harvard Law School, where I began as a Staff Assistant in 2005 to join the staff at Cambridge Community Television as Community Media Coordinator.

In 2005, while in my last semester at Emerson as an Continuing Ed student, I joined a dedicated group of student volunteers to shuttle (by foot) video tapes of Democracy Now! from CCTV to Boston Neighborhood Network, because BNN did not have a satellite dish to broadcast Amy Goodman and crew on cable access in Boston. The CCTV staff was incredibly generous in helping our effort to bring DN! to Boston, via their tape recordings of the show. Ever since, I’ve had a great admiration for CCTV and the people involved. Now, I’m joining the crew.

While it was a difficult decision to leave the Berkman Center and all the extraordinary people I’ve met there, I couldn’t be more excited to join this new, but familiar, community in Cambridge. I look forward to working with the staff, members, volunteers, the Board (which I previously served on) and other new friends I hope to make along the way. I also look forward to continuing the relationship that Harvard Law School Professor and Berkman Center Founder, Charles Nesson helped strengthen during my time there.

For all these experiences from 2007, I am grateful. For those yet to come in 2008, I couldn’t be more excited.

Share This

I thought I’d use this post to share some of the work that I’m currently involved in. I find that these periodic updates also help me to get my head around it all, particularly as the semester winds down.

Grad School

This semester at Emerson College, I’m taking one class, I’m involved in a directed study and I’ve started my year-long thesis project. Here are some updates:

Hub2: As I’ve noted previously, I’m involved in a course at Emerson College that is exploring civic engagement through the design and social use of virtual platforms. Hub2 is the umbrella program, that currently involves students enrolled in a day class (that I’m in) and a night course. I’ve blogged a bunch about our group project in SL here and also on my blog at Emerson College. Soon, I’ll be starting a research paper around issues involved in the course

Fair Use, Media and Education in the Digital Age: This directed study seeks to learn more about the challenges facing educators and students in sharing online access to copyrighted material. So far, I’ve explored a number of philosophical, political, and legal issues related to this ongoing balancing act between copyright holders and educators. I’m currently structuring ideas for my research paper due at the end of this semester.

Community Media in Transition: While I’m very lucky that I enjoy all of my courses at Emerson, my grad thesis is perhaps the most exciting part of my work this semester. I’ve refined the topic a bit. I began a study recently that seeks to understand the role of the community media center for those involved in this form of local media practice. The purpose is to challenge the notion that the community media center (Public Access TV) is no longer necessary because of the Internet. I’m grateful to those in access who have contributed to my thinking on this topic.

Paid Research and Digital Media Production

The Digital Lyceum: Also at Emerson College this semester, I am supporting two faculty members for a NEH grant-funded project to research mixed-reality event production in the humanities. The Digital Lyceum, seeks to develop best practices and to propose a sustainable model for producing these with the purpose of contributing to humanities scholarship.

Citizen Media Law Podcast: We’re off and running with our new podcast at the Citizen Media Law Project at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society. I’ve had a lot of fun working on this project. We’re still experimenting with the format and look forward to seeing how it progresses.

Volunteer Service

Action Coalition for Media Education: The new ACME website launched this fall and we’ve been pushing our fundraiser at the site. There’s lots of activity there, including blogging from board members and others. I’m excited that we’ve been able to license our media education materials under a Creative Commons Attribution Nonommercial 3.0 Unported license.

Cambridge Community Television: I’ve been working with others in the Membership, Outreach and Advisory Committee on a report about our recent web survey of CCTV members. The survey was very successful and I thank everyone in the committee for their hard work.

For these reasons above, I haven’t had a lot of time to blog here. But, I look forward to being more active on this site as I head towards the home stretch in December. I’m also looking forward to my Television Culture and Communication Ethics and Diversity courses next semester, along with completing my grad thesis. A busy year and lots to be thankful for.

Share This

I just learned from Sam Mayfield (via the ACME listserve) that a group from Public Access Television in Vermont at the Center for Media and Democracy are going to Africa this fall to work with folks at Coastal Television in Cape Coast Ghana. Check out this short video about their trip and help support their efforts by giving a donation at Sam Land. Here are the details from Sam:

“A small delegation from Ch.17/ Center for Media and Democracy in Burlington, Vermont is going to Africa in November to visit the first and only Community Access Television station in Ghana. The Access Station, Coastal Television, has been on the air since May. This is the first form of independent community access television to exist in Ghana.

We are raising money for this trip. Currently they have the bare essential equipment needed to broadcast, produce a program, and capture community events.

It would be incredible to show up with headphones, microphones, tape stock, or even a digital camera for community producers to use - it would be amazing if this was made possible by donations! You can watch the progress of the trip or make a donation at the blog below.
http://samville.blogspot.com/

We will teach at their Television School and will encourage community members to take advantage of this new great asset in their community. Since they are far from the “major” television stations in the big city, the stories of the folks in southern Ghana are rarely told. The advent of this station in southern Ghana has revolutionary value!

If you are able to make a donation please do so, if you would like to send this message or a link to the blog to your networks, that would be great and appreciated! http://samville.blogspot.com/

Lets support Community Access Television Globally - If there is one station in Ghana there can be many more!!!”

Share This