Public Media Showcase

This week’s Public Media 2.0 showcase features One Economy Corporation, a global nonprofit that aims to increase access to technology and information for everyone, regardless of income. According to their website, One Economy helps to "bring broadband into the homes of low-income people, employ youth to train their community members to use technology effectively, and provide public-purpose media properties that offer a wealth of information on education, jobs, health care and other vital issues."Read more...

The SILVERDOCS conference and festival are well under way and everyone at the Center is immersed in conversations on new innovations in the field of media and doc filmmaking.Read more...

Next in our series of Public Media 2.0 Showcase we take a look at Opposing Views, an online discussion forum that brings together experts and publics to discuss current issues. The words of John F. Kennedy introduce the site: "Without debate, without criticism, no public can survive." In our white paper Public Media 2.0 Dynamic Engaged Publics we suggest that public media 2.0 takes place when the audience actively uses media platforms to learn about and find solutions for shared issues. Opposing Views provides the context for just that. The site affords the opportunity to engage in critical debate on current issues.

For the next installment in our Public Media 2.0 showcase, we're taking a look at Spot.us a social media website that works to pioneer "community funded reporting." Spot.us was founded by David Cohn in November of last year and funded by the Knight Foundation. It was formed so the, "public can commission investigations with tax deductible donations for important and perhaps overlooked stories." This is a perfect example of public media 2.0, in which the public is placed right in the center of the media. The project invites media makers from all walks of life, both amateur and professional, to submit a pitch online for research into a specific field. Got a story you want to investigate and need some funding to do it? Look no further.

In the coming months we'll be exploring promising experiments in our new Public Media 2.0 Showcase, with an eye toward measuring impact. What do we mean by public media 2.0? We've laid out a series of parameters in our recent white paper:Read more...