Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Discussion Notes Part 6: Net Neutrality, Oppression & Youth

Even after the video cameras ran out of tape, the discussion continuted. Andy Carvin offered that there is other proposed legistlation that we need to be aware of in this arena: DOPA and the Internet Safety Act. He recommended going to CNet.com to read up more about these bills.

Fred also countered that being aware all all these bills and issues related to communications policy need to be in our awareness as citizens.

Nina LeNegra, a concerned resident of Boston and media literacy activist, expressed that all this sounds like a big media literacy problem, but also a problem of oppression. She's interested in where the discussion is of changing the larger oppressive models, such as violence in our community, in these media policy discussions. Jason Pramas, a UMB student and Mass Global Action activist, responded that he has been working with local groups to get organized around these issues in the Boston area. These groups are not just media focused groups and have the potentional to galvanize all different types of people in the media policy debate.

Another audience member added that we all just need to act and use our voices to show the strength of public media as the voice of our citizens. Nettrice Gaskins also added that in terms of education, new meda channels such as MySpace create a new dynamic opportunity to teach media literacy. Dan Coughlin again stressed that the process of these local community media creators talking with each other to come together to figure out their own interests, is actually making folks more proactive and visionary about what we can create in the future. This may be the first steps of us creating a new public media structure for our country. Finally, Fred responded to Nina that we are not naive to think media is the only issue out there - but we are asking people to make media their second issue. Because media is a big part of how we build our identities and express ourselves, it's very important.

Bamboo, from Envizion Artists, pointed out that people are not sensitized to see what's happening in the media sphere. But he sees this new colorful group of people getting organicly involved with making media. If media is an art, there is a lot of potency in media as a way to translate ideas. He stressed that we need to support organizations that are on the frontlines of working with youth, because they are teaching media literacy and advocacy with our next generation. (For more information on Envision Artists, email envizion@yahoo.com).

And that's all folks!

2 comments:

Nettrice said...

Time (or lack of it) being a factor I kept my comments short but I made a note to post my comments here where they may or may not be seen by folks at the convening.

Artists, media makers, community media/tech centers, etc. are facing a perceptual paradigm shift. The World Wide Web was the catalyst for the shift and it continues to create new and interesting opportunities for people to connect with their audiences.

I think providers, practitioners and educators need to widen their nets to include gamers, Google videographers, and MySpace enthusiasts. However, in the end these technologies are just tools. In the end it comes down to serving needs of communities and individuals, including youth and folks who need it most.

Although there are new media "channels" such as MySpace the same media literacy issues remain.

Colin Rhinesmith said...

Amazing notes, Danielle! Thank you!