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Public Media Caucus – Los Angeles
Sunday, October 16, 2005
2:00pm to 5:00pm
California State University, Los Angeles
Music Building, Rm. 149
5151 State University Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90032-8111

What role should public media play in the American media landscape? What should a vibrant, sustainable public media ecology look like? The Center for Digital Democracy is holding a participatory caucus to outline what public media should be in the United States and how we can make it so. All of us are deeply concerned about the current state of the media, but unlike efforts in other countries, the U.S. has lacked an open, deliberative process to determine our public media needs and how to effectively meet them. The purpose of the caucus is to actively engage the independent media producing, distribution, activist, and funding community and those institutions that regularly use independent media such as libraries and museums in developing strategies to ensure a vibrant public media ecology.

Join panelists Aliza Dichter, Center for International Media Action, filmmaker Evangeline “Vangie” Griego, Anthony Riddle, Alliance for Community Media, and Jake Shapiro, Public Radio Exchange, who will provide an overview of independent media including a brief history of media production, distribution, and activism, along with examples of new production and distribution paradigms that are proving successful in generating audiences and revenues. The panel will be moderated by media consultant, Alyce Myatt.

The format of the Caucus will begin with the panel followed by a question and answer segment after which we will break into smaller working groups where the audience will participate in outlining public media needs and identifying strategies and tactics. We will then reconvene as a whole, with the groups reporting-out their key points. We will consolidate the information and determine specific action steps for moving forward.

The Caucus will take place on Sunday, October 16, 2005, from 2:00pm to 5:00pm at California State University, Los Angeles, Music Building, Rm. 149, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032-8111

This is third in a series of caucuses the Center for Digital Democracy will be conducting around the country. (The first was held in San Francisco and the report can be found at http://www.democraticmedia.org/ddc/PublicMediaCaucus.php.)

We are working in concert with other local and national organizations and individuals to elevate the issue of independent public media and its critical role in civil society. We are particularly interested in combining the efforts and good thinking of the media makers with the work of media activists and reformers.

For more information and to RSVP, please contact Alyce Myatt, amyatt@nyc.rr.com, (212) 765-0193. Seating is limited, but we hope you are able to join us.

http://www.democraticmedia.org/NPM/PMCLA.php

Public Media Caucus – Seattle
Friday, October 7, 2005
2:00pm to 5:00pm
911 Media Arts Center
402 9th Ave N
Seattle, WA 98109

What role should public media play in the American media landscape? What should a vibrant, sustainable public media ecology look like? The Center for Digital Democracy is holding a participatory caucus to outline what public media should be in the United States and how we can make it so.

All of us are deeply concerned about the current state of the media, but unlike efforts in other countries, the U.S. has lacked an open, deliberative process to determine our public media needs and how to effectively meet them. The purpose of the caucus is to actively engage the independent media producing, distribution, activist, and funding community and those institutions that regularly use independent media such as libraries and museums in developing strategies to ensure a vibrant public media ecology.

Join panelists DeeDee Halleck, Deep Dish TV/Paper Tiger TV, media activist Sharon Maeda, Rick Prelinger, The Internet Archive, and filmmaker John de Graaf, who will provide an overview of independent media including a brief history of media production, distribution, and activism, along with examples of new production and distribution paradigms that are proving successful in generating audiences and revenues. The panel will be moderated by media consultant, Alyce Myatt.

The format of the Caucus will begin with the panel followed by a question-and-answer segment after which we will break into smaller working groups where the audience will participate in outlining public media needs and identifying strategies and tactics. We will then reconvene as a whole, with the groups reporting-out their key points. We will consolidate the information and determine specific action steps for moving forward.

The caucus will take place on Friday, October 7, 2005 from 2:00pm to 5:00pm at 911 Media Arts Center, 402 9th Ave N, Seattle, WA.

This is second in a series of caucuses the Center for Digital Democracy will be conducting around the country. (The first was held in San Francisco and the report can be found athttp://www.democraticmedia.org/ddc/PublicMediaCaucus.php.)

We are working in concert with other local and national organizations and individuals to elevate the issue of independent public media and its critical role in civil society. We are particularly interested in combining the efforts and good thinking of the media makers with the work of media activists and reformers.

For more information and to RSVP, please contact Alyce Myatt, amyatt@nyc.rr.com, (212) 765-0193. Seating is limited, but we hope you are able to join us.

With eBay's purchase of Skype and Google's free WiFi service in San Francisco, Internet companies are making an aggressive and unprecedented push into services traditionally offered by phone and cable companies -- threatening to upend the business of transmitting voice and data. Troubling for telecoms, Google would bring to the industry an entirely different business model. Google generates nearly all its revenue, which totaled $3.2 billion last year, from the small advertisements it shows alongside search results and other Web content. By offering consumers free service, Google could pressure traditional providers to slash fees for Internet access, a growing source of telecom revenue -- when they don't have Google's advertising revenue to make up the difference, and have large, extensive networks for transmitting voice and data to maintain. Google's proposal to use wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi, technology would cost far less than a traditional network. It also would give Google a direct pipeline into consumers' homes -- long the big edge for telephone and cable companies. Ironically, most of the newer, bigger Internet entrants see telecom services almost as an afterthought, not a key product. Companies like Google, Yahoo Inc., Microsoft and eBay consider free voice just an add-on service they can provide consumers to win their business loyalty and make their main businesses more attractive. For example, eBay customers could buy and sell more if they can talk to each other. EBay and Google have even said explicitly they are not seeking to compete with telecoms. But whether it's deliberate or not, some industry executives and analysts think their plans potentially could steamroll the telecom model.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jesse Drucker jesse.drucker@wsj.com, Kevin J. Delaney kevin.delaney@wsj.com and Peter Grant peter.grant@wsj.com]
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[Commentary] After 9/11, it became clear that inadequate communications systems hampered rescue efforts and may have contributed to loss of life. Four years later, little has changed. As Congress wrangles over spectrum rights, a unique private-public project has been making notable strides in harnessing bandwidth already available nationwide. The GUARD (Geospatially Aware Urban Approaches for Responding to Disasters) program is developing the Emergency Broadcasting System spectrum for distributing emergency alerts and command and control information to the public, first- responders and homeland-security personnel. GUARD makes use of the robust 2.5 GHz band licensed to public broadcasters coast-to-coast. In conjunction with federal, state and local government, Thirteen/WNET and Rosettex Technology & Ventures Group have adapted this spectrum to the needs of a post-9/11 world.
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)