WOSU@COSI. Just another attraction?

Next month WOSU will begin construction of studios and educational facilities at COSI. According to a WOSU press release, "the center will be designed as community space and used as a local gathering place for civic engagement, forums, performances, events, and meetings; an interactive exhibit area; and television and radio studios." It's a compelling vision that has me filled with conflicting thoughts and emotions.

I worked in public television for 8 years, 3 and half at WOSU. My whole career I observed how the promise of public television often fell short in practice, both at the station level and the system as a whole. I also committed a tremendous amount of energy attempting to revive public access TV, co-founding the Neighborhood Network and bidding on a contract to manage public access, only to discover the City was never the least bit serious about awarding it.

So I have a bit of cynicism and bitterness in me that has me feeling rather cautious about the whole enterprise. WOSU@COSI could be compound acronym for a cultural and civic revival, or it could stand for another over-hyped attraction.

The biggest drawback to the project is COSI itself. In moving to the to riverfront from its former cozy confines on Broad Street, COSI became an entertainment attraction instead of an educational facility. When it was on Broad, I could casually explore the exhibits with my family, read the signage, and discuss what we were doing with the gizmos and gadgets.

Now COSI is an experience in sensory overload, more brain candy than brain food. The water canons, remote control submarines, and tunnel of lights make for fun pre-adolescent entertainment, but I would not take my children there for an education. I can't afford to take them there anyhow. COSI traded its educational value for size and pizzaz that lost money and, judging by the overwhelming levy failure two years ago, public trust.

By locating at COSI, WOSU saves millions by not having to construct a building to house its digital television studio. Bit which COSI is WOSU moving in to? The Old or the New? A recent Business First article pointed out there will be an interactive green screen "like the one used by television meteorologists." This is just the kind of eye candy attraction one would expect at the New COSI. Can WOSU go beyond the chroma key fun house to something really substantial?

Under GM Tom Reiland, the station seems to have opened a previously tin ear to community voices, with a few more local programs and events that pull people together for conversation. This is a refreshing turn from when I worked there as a Producer/ Director. That was when, on the days following 9/11 -- when Americans were uncharacteristically open to grappling for meaning, despite their fear -- I proposed a live call in program only to have idea immediately dismissed in favor of the "proper" thing to do: invite the mayor to speak to his people. (Like mayor Coleman would have anything more important to say about 9/11 than any other citizen?)

So I hope public participation goes beyond sitting in the audience. We need to be talking to each other. We need a media environment that reflects neighborhood voices, that allows us to turn the camera on ourselves and tell our stories, to speak truth to whatever obtuse power we have in our sights. This means we have to control the cameras, produce the programs and have a venue to distribute our creations. Will WOSU provide this?

There are several budding community media ventures in town. Will WOSU support, ignore, or swallow them whole? NPR lobbied against opening spectrum for Low Power FM radio. Now that Columbus is about a year away from having its first LPFM station, how kindly will WOSU take to it? Will it allow audio productions made in its facility to run elsewhere? Will it require a right of first refusal?

WOSU may well need content. Its digital TV signal permits them to multicast multiple channels, quadrupling (or more) the air time that needs to be programmed. But I predict a tension between WOSU and the grassroots. I've long observed the members of the PBS universe playing it safe. As long as WOSU is dependent on corporate dollars, don't expect frequent forays away from the boundaries of conventional PBS "production value." While I was with WOSU, the overriding obsession on the TV side was with producing an annual "blockbuster" for national distribution while many opportunities for timely local programs passed by.

But as I said, times have changed. And that raises another issue: How nimble and relevant will WOSU be with DYI digital media? The irony of aforementioned green screen is that for less than $100 I can by software that will let me chroma key myself on any background with a PC and web cam. I can edit my video with free or nearly free software and then I can distribute it online through google video, iTunes, or any number of indy and grassroots distribution services. Will traditionally stodgy public television work well with the Rip, Mix and Burn generation?

There are ways in which WOSU@COSI can have its cake and eat it too. If WOSU ran its facility as the public access studio for Columbus, it could have the community participation it claims to seek and no obligation to air the programs on a WOSU branded channel. It could have a look at grassroots productions, pick the flowers for itself, and direct the weeds to the cable access channels.

Someone will have to wake up the moribund City Department Technology for this to happen. The Department has been asleep at the wheel for all of the current century. It has been derelict in its duty to enforce and negotiate cable franchise agreements (the financial backbone of access television) and, most egregiously, has failed to assemble any plan or criteria for affordable broadband and digital literacy for residents of Columbus. By not operating a public access channel, the City has failed to uphold its end of franchise agreements established on behalf of the public ten years ago, an act of neglect that jeopardizes future franchise benefits.

It may take the lure of an attractive partnership with two high profile cultural institutions to get the City to act. Any discomfort that WOSU and COSI may have with the access television could we relieved with a slice of the $7 million-plus plus pie the City brings in from the cable franchise fees.

With WOSU@COSI, the potential is there for a unique and powerful cultural center that is as much about learning from each other as it is learning about technology. Getting there will take hard work. I hope each institution takes on that work and does not settle for public participation in the form of amusements or spectator audiences. If so, it will be just another attraction.

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