Community media are media created by individuals to tell the stories and have the conversations necessary for their own self-directed development as citizens. Fundamentally, community media come out of the community rather than commercial interests and are focused on the transmission of ideas and services, not the selling of products or entertainment. Simply put, community media are newsgathering and information-sharing conducted of, by, and for a specific group of people bound together, geographically or otherwise.
-- Charles Benton, Benton Foundation
Changes in commercial media are following, not leading, the revolution in communications induced by increased adoption of Internet technologies. We've all seen this in the doom-and-gloom stories about the news business and the go-go stock ticker and breathless coverage of Google, MySpace, YouTube, and other platforms. Less understood is the emerging revolution in community media's efforts to harness the communications revolution to tell the stories that have never really made it to the mainstream.
We gathered in Chicago on June 14 and 15, 2007 to understand and examine the voices and content that make up community media and to imagine and explore the potentials of community media for serving basic human and community needs.
WHAT IS COMMUNITY MEDIA? is a 4-part video series from the first Community Media Summit in Chicago on June 15, 2007. Produced by See3 Communications in Cooperation with The Benton Foundation, CAN TV, Chicago Community Trust and Community Media Workshop
National leaders and practitioners presented exemplary community media projects and compared notes on lessons learned to date and challenges still to face. A diverse group of community media makers - from ethnic and community newspaper publishers to pioneers in the new arts of Internet-based storytelling - as well as nonprofit leaders and technologists, educators, journalists, philanthropists, and public officials attended.
We learned about how innovators in the fields of Community Development, Immigrant and Refugee Issues, and Creative Expression and Learning are creating and using community media. We shared experiences from Minneapolis/St. Paul, Cleveland, and Detroit. Keynoters Richard Somerset-Ward and Julia Stasch provided a national perspective and Chicago's context for the Summit.
Agenda:
Thursday, June 14
6-9 p.m. Joint meeting of WTTW and Chicago Public Radio community advisory boards
This open forum will both provide two federally-mandated consumer oversight boards a chance to meet to compare notes and an opportunity for input into the performance of the leading local public broadcasting entities.
Friday, June 15
9 a.m. Welcome by Charles Benton and Keynote address Richard Somerset-Ward
What is community media? Where is it heading? Future Potentials?
9:30 a.m. Response panel
Joel Bookman, Local Initiatives Support Corporation LISC-Chicago
Sandy Close, New America Media; Tony Streit, Educational Development Corp
Moderated by Charles Benton, Benton Foundation
9:45 Q and A for Richard Somerset-Ward and respondents
10:15 Break
10:30 Breakout Panels
Room 1: Community Media and Community Development, moderated by Joel Bookman
Ernest Sanders, Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corp.
Mayra Hernandez, Bickerdike Redevelopment Corp.
Patrick Barry, LISC/consultant
Room 2: Immigrant and Refugee issues and community media, moderated by Sandy Close
Gordon Quinn, Kartemquin Films
Brenda Gonzalez, New Routes to Community Health
Tania Unzueta, RadioArte
Room 3: Creative Expression and Learning through community media, moderated by Tony Streit
Michael Reyes & Michael Rodriguez of Puerto Rican Cultural Center
Cesar Sanchez, Video Machete
Joanne Archibald, Beyond Media
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Chicago Broadband opportunities keynote Julia Stasch
1:30 Respondents:
Respondents to broadband keynote
Pierre Clark, Chicago Digital Access Alliance
Juan Salgado, Instituto Del Progresso Latino
David Roche, Chicago Public Schools
Moderated by Thom Clark, Community Media Workshop
1:45 Q and A with Julia Stasch and Broadband panel
2:15 Reports from breakouts
Community Development, Thom Clark
Immigration, Gordon Mayer
Creative Expression & Learning, Demetrio Maguigad
2:30 Reactions from Richard Somerset Ward and Julia Stasch followed by Q&A
3:00 Break
3:15 Regional context and reactions
Minneapolis/St. Paul: Catherine Settanni, Community Technology Empowerment
Project, and Jeremy Iggers, Twin Cities Media Alliance
Grand Rapids: Laurie Cirivello, Community Media Center
Cleveland: Jerry Wareham, ideastream, and Scot Rourke, One Community
Moderated by Alyce Myatt
4:30 The future of community media -- reactions from attendees
Moderated by Alyce Myatt
4:55 Closing remarks - Charles Benton
5:00 Adjourn for networking reception with speakers, panelists, and wine and cheese