TV power to the people

Merriam-Webster's word of the year in 2004 was "blog," in 2005 The Oxford American Dictionary selected it was "podcast" as the word of the year. See a trend here? It would not be going out on limb to guess that the word of the year for 2006 will have something to do with personal video publishing and sharing. Public access television stations and media arts centers have been supporting citizen TV and video production for decades. Broadband connections, improved video compression technology, desktop editing software, and affordable DV camcorders have led to an explosion of video production and on-line sharing. The late 2005 introduction of the video ipod and recent upgrades to Apple's iLife software may forever push video making from the underground to the mainstream.

This prompts the obvious question? Will the video revolution be televised? Only if Congress preserves the right of localities to secure public access cable channels and the FCC preserves analog spectrum for public use. Will the revolution be downloaded? Only if Congress passes telecommuication regulation that prevents network gatekeepers -- Comcast, SBC, Verizon, Time Warner -- from network content discrimination.

I hope personal video sharing explodes because I believe that is the only way to break out of the mental framework that binds our communication environment. The problem is we don't see an environment, we see a medium in which they produce content for us. That is the result of the Faustian bargain we made to regulate the "noise" of unregulated chatter on the public airwaves. Corporations stepped in and took control in the name of the public interest. Efforts like the Wagner-Hatfield Amendment in the 1930s, that would have reinstated significant public access to the airwaves, were defeated by the lobbying of incumbant broadcasters. We ended up creating a mass medium with the public becoming the aggregated receptacles of messages sent across channels that corporations treat as their private property. Over the decase we have come to see this as natural. It is not. Now, as I discussed in an earlier post, broadband internet providers want to achieve the same result.

So grab some video gear and express yourself! What will citizen media look like? Anything you can imagine. Here is one opportunity and vision (forwarded by Andy at Uncommon Sense TV) that you will never see on "reality" TV:

"Cultural Agents"
Bimonthly television program through Cambridge Community TV

WE WELCOME PROPOSALS FROM INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS TO BE SELECTED FOR THE
SERIES that features the contributions of arts to society. If you would
like to share with a broader audience a valuable local initiative that
fits into the "Cultural Agents" spirit, submit a 9-13 minute video about
it. We would love to consider it.

"Cultural Agents" is a bimonthly 30 minutes live television show on CCTV
(Cambridge Community TV), geared towards community-oriented initiatives.
"Cultural Agents" will feature creative practices that build society,
because democracy depends on artful and innovative responses to
sometimes unpredictable challenges.

Through this series, academics join artist-activists who go beyond
social critique and develop best cultural practices in ways that promote
replication and sustainable contributions. Some contributions include:

1. bridging ethnic differences through music, as in the Jewish Latin
Mix: Making Salsa, with Larry Harlow;
2. interactive theater developed by Augusto Boal, with sequels in
Cambridge High School and also in Aids Prevention programs in Tanzania;
3. local artists in school programs to keep students engaged from India
to Zimbabwe;
4. muralists who coordinate youth to paint and participate in their
neighborhoods;
5. Photographers who teach visual literacy and the self-authorization
that comes from composing one's own version of the world, among many
other cultural agents.

The aim of this public access television show is to broaden perceptions
of community media. Provide a space for innovative proposals in local
television. We seek to explore the powerful effect of media depending on
who's making it and for what reasons.

Our general purpose is to develop civil society, a web of largely
cultural engagements that make citizens responsible to one another.
Democracy and prosperity depend on the creative relationships that can
thrive with cultural contributions of performance and interpretation.
Invited guests include: Larry Harlow, Alejandro Jorodowsky, Anna Deveare
Smith, and Rigoberta Menchu.

Be part of the project: Let's have a date on the air!

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___ PLEASE NOTE ___
New Contact Information

Chandi Lauzon
149 Goodman's Hill Rd.,
Sudbury, MA 01776

Home # : 978-440-8656
Cell # : 978-460-3151

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