Colin Rhinesmith

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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.

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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.”

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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 . . .

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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.

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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.

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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!!!”

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Over at Community Media in Transition, I’m beginning to focus in on my research topic for this year. Here’s a bit from a recent post:

“Over the past year, I’ve been exploring online, and talking with community media workers about, a variety of “web 2.0″ tools being used at Community Media Centers. Blogs, podcasts, wikis, social bookmarking, video mapping, and other social media platforms have generated much interest and discussion around which tools are most relevant to their center’s work and community’s needs.

Out of all of these areas, participatory Internet video seems to be the most exciting and relevant discussion most directly related to the medium of PEG access TV. So, I’ll be moving towards developing a framework upon which to further investigate, provide context, and invite feedback on the uses and narratives (e.g., YouTube v. Public Access TV debate, etc.) surrounding the implementation of participatory web video at community media centers.”

I’ve also posted a number of questions that I hope will generate some response and, more importantly, discussion around this topic. To learn more, visit Community Media in Transition.

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The Internet & Society 2007 conference videos are now available for viewing on Democracy: Internet TV. They can also be watched on blip.tv.

We’re working on the mpeg2 files for University Channel so folks at Public Access TV centers and other channels can download them for broadcast.

For the complete conference audio and video archives, please visit the Media page at IS2K7.org.

All videos are licensed by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 license.

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In “Verizon officials catch static over cable TV plan“, Globe staff reporter, Caroyln Johnson writes

Over and over, local officials appeared before the committee noting the current franchise process was working fine, with 49 Verizon cable franchises in place and 19 more pending. Critics voiced concerns that public, educational, and governmental access programming would suffer, that Verizon would be able to “cherry pick” wealthy neighborhoods in which to offer the service, and local governments would lose control of their rights of way under the proposed legislation.”

(Article requires free registration at Boston.com)

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