Beyond Broadcast 2006

Last Friday and Saturday (May 12 & 13) I attended Beyond Broadcast: Reinventing Media in a Participatory Culture at the Harvard Law School (Cambridge, MA). The goal of the convening was to:

Create an opportunity for interaction between active participants in traditional public media and new participatory web-based efforts; to showcase and discuss the latest projects and models emerging faster than anyone can keep track of; and to cultivate a shared understanding of the potential and meaning of a renewed public media role

Here's an edited movie clip of the proceedings on day one (just the stuff I was interested in):



Day two of the convening was an Open Media Developers Summit, inviting open discussion of related technology and themes from day one and beyond. I participated in the group on Iterative Media facilitated by Kenyatta Cheese and Ryan Shaw. From the wiki:

Can we create a world where content is commonly created like software -- with roadmaps, feature feedback, and versioning? We see parts of this emerging in officially sanctioned fansub contests and open source documentary projects. What processes, platforms, and policies need to be in place to enable a world of Iterative Media?

Truthfully, I initially thought it was about interactive, not iterative media (I thought it was misspelled) but I decided to stick with the group I was in and I actually learned some stuff. I also contributed my own experience participating/collaborating with members of okayplayer.com, some of whom have been working on WTF: An Okaymentary. It seems like ages ago we shot footage in Boston and submitted it to the central "players" of the project. I was encouraged to share it as a case study. I sketched a workflow and we discussed pre-production, production, and post-production.

Overall, the conference was interesting but I still felt like it was missing grassroots media, youth media makers, and independent artists. Oh well...

Stories Of A Revolution

I launched a new project that goes into production this summer (next month). The working title is S.O.A.R. (Stories of a Revolution). Feel free to visit the blog at http://soarproject.blogspot.com/ to check on my progress.

Get A Second Life!

Last night I joined and took the orientation tour of Second Life. For those who are unaware Second Life is a "3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by nearly 100,000 people from around the globe."

I created an avatar and her name is Nettrice Bethune (I wanted Apogee).

I became obsessed with the appearance of Nettrice Bethune. For some reason I wanted her to look somewhat like me, including skin coloring and a voluptuous body. There were so many choices and sliders (see on the left). I did not get to bed until late last night but it was fun.

I can see how people could create their fantasy avatars in Second Life and be or look like something totally different from themselves in the real world but not me! I want to be myself all the time (ha, ha!).

Of course there are lots of things to get distracted by in Second Life. Many people can become entrepreneurial and make real money in the virtual world and it also has become a gathering place for "progressives".

I am attending an interesting conference tomorrow called Beyond Broadcast, an open convening at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. The goal is to "explore the thesis that traditional public media — public broadcasting, cable access television, etc — face a unique opportunity to embrace new participatory web-based media models — podcasting, video blogs, social software, etc — and create a stronger and more vital public service."

For the conference some people created Berkman Island.

Our virtual location within the Second Life world, Berkman Island, is the product of a fruitful collaboration with Second Life citizens. Members of the community have helped landscape, enrich, and create unique content. For the purpose of this conference, we have built an inworld broadcasting center and a 3D replica of the Ames Courtroom at the Harvard Law School. We hope our efforts will encourage residents to broadcast their own information, create movies within this environment (or machinima), and continue to expand the borders of knowledge.

I teleported to Berkman Island in anticipation of meeting conference folks but there was very little activity. I'll check back in later. Click here for more info about this virtual world.

Finally, I learned about Democracy Island (also Second Life) during a New Tech meeting hosted by North Carolina-based Working Films. Working Films convened a bunch of filmmakers and activists to explore new media and methods, including Second Life.

Virtual world environment to offer government entities and interest groups an on-line space for conducting citizen consultation. In short, this project will use the metaphor of the “county fair,” a familiar civic event in the life of a community. This will be a place – like a meeting tent, a town hall or even a shopping mall – where groups can congregate online. The aim of this project is to design a space where interested parties, such as trade associations, activist groups and scientific experts, will be able to set up virtual booths for presentation of information and deliberation as well as advocacy.

Crazy stuff!!!