Next week is the big 2010 Alliance for Community Media conference and people from access centers all over the country will be converging on Pittsburgh to network with one another and discuss community media, PEG TV and all the possibilities the future affords. Attendees will be able to choose from six different tracks this year including:

- Citizen Journalism & Social Media
- Community Media Center Management, HR & Board Development
- Fundraising & Collaborations
- Engineering, Broadband, Network management & Related Issues
- Media & Telecom Policy
- Community Engagement, Training & Marketing/Outreach

Our good friend Colin Rhinesmith from CCTV in Cambridge Massachusetts has been charged with leading the Citizen Journalism and Social Media track and I was lucky enough to have been asked to present on the “Using Social Media to Serve the PEG Community and NonProfit Organizations” panel on July 9th. I will be joining Colin, Lee Webster the iYouth Director at channelAustin and Jason Daniels the Executive Director at ECAT in North Easton, MA to discuss the way our centers utilize social networking to inform our communities and strengthen our alliances with NonProfit Organizations.

We were each asked to develop a short presentation on how our own social media strategies have proven to be successful. I have chosen to focus on how VCAM has used social networking in an attempt to build an online identity that is faithful to the values and spirit in our mission. The following are some of the bullet points that I have started putting together for the panel discussion:

Social networking is sharing culture:
- Social media, unlike the “dreaded” newsletter, we don’t have to think of everything to share with our audience.
- We frequently share news items (blog posts, tweets, photos, video – any content shared via social networking) from sources that aren’t directly related to our organization but are related to the spirit and values of our mission. Net neutrality, rural broadband, copyright and creative commons, media access, fair use, free speech etc.
- It is all part of illustrating a larger context and sharing the greater culture around our organization.
- Sharing is key: The power of the retweet or “share” functions: sharing content that originated outside oour center (news from a partner nonprofit org partner for example) = speed skating relay (i.e. teamwork, partnerships)
- By sharing information that others in our social media network have created, we are helping push information further and to more people than the originator of the content could do alone.
- Not only are we indicating to our own network of followers that we value the information we are retweeting, we’re also telling the creator of the content that we appreciate what they have to offer and are willing to help their cause.
- Why do nonprofits come to VCAM? A fundamental principle of ours: We’re here to help others get important information out to their community. Social media is an extension of that commitment.

Strategy around content created by our staff:
- We try to distribute all of our own news throughout our network, link to blog posts and newsletter (constant contact) via Twitter and Facebook, Tweet “round-ups” on the blog etc.
- Redundancy is OK in fact has proven quite useful for us.
- If we shoot a short PSA we’re going to put it on our channel, upload it to blip.tv & YouTube > embed the video in our blog > link to the blog post via Twitter > and share a link to the blogpost on our FB wall.
- Cast a wide net.

Direct benefits of developing our network:
- It has enabled us to offer more effective social media workshops to our nonprofit partners.
- More and more people are listing our social media network as how they heard about our organization and/or know about our workshops.
- Through discussions with many of our members we are noticing a growing familiarity with the larger context of community media (i.e. legislation and policy, challenges associated with evolving technology in relation to our funding structure, why advocacy is essential etc.) and many people have credited our Facebook page and Twitter feed for keeping up to date with important issues facing PEG.

Tips:

- These are things that have worked for VCAM and every center is different..so listen to your community, find out what tools they are using and shape your social media strategy around where they are interacting.
- When developing your social media network remember the phrase “Redundancy is a plus….consistency is a must”
- Lastly, for those folks just starting to develop their social media network and online identity: There are thousands of social media experts out there – feel free to ignore them all. (Just have fun with it)

I hope to update this blog post as the list develops……

Note: Post was updated on 7/9/10 in preperation for panel discussion.

We found this remarkably informative image in a blog post over at Gizmodo. It happens to be one of the best examples we’ve seen of why net neutrality is so important.

A short while ago, nature-lover and VCAM member, Joanna Cummings, approached us with an idea and asked if she could use VCAM’s free public access resources to get her project off the ground. Her idea was to produce a blog “as a means to create social groups interested in sharing their thoughts, activities, videos, photos and knowledge in the areas of Vermont nature, agriculture and the environment.” Joanna indicated to us that she would likely need video production gear to go out into the community and shoot video content, digital editing facilities, a computer with Internet access, a couple different web-design applications, and access to video tutorials to help her get the ball rolling.

As it turns out, VCAM’s new workstation dedicated to web-design (a new iMac equipped with Adobe CS4 Web Premium) along with our video production gear, editing facilities, and subscription to the extensive Lynda.com video tutorial library, were the essential tools for her to get started. Over the last few weeks, Joanna experimented with different templates for her blog, using free web-based applications including Blogger and Ning, before deciding to go with Wordpress. Her goal was to have enough happening on her blog to launch it today, Earth Day 2009, and that she did. Please take a minute to check out Joanna’s new project, leave her a comment or two, and join in the greater conversation about preserving our natural environment by living thoughtfully on the land.

From Reuters…

The Federal Communications Commission said this week that Comcast’s attempt to revise the practices it uses to manage Internet traffic unfairly favors its own voice Internet service.

The last day at the FCC of Kevin Martin, the outgoing Republican chief, was Tuesday, which leaves the issue to his successor. Democratic sources say the new chairman will be technology executive Julius Genachowski, who advised President Barack Obama on his technology agenda during the transition period.

“The president has long been a supporter of net neutrality; his positions are clear,” said Ben Scott, policy director of the group Free Press, which urged the FCC to look into Comcast’s practices. “And Genachowski was the driver behind (Obama’s) technology platform.”

In a precedent-setting decision last year, the five-member FCC voted 3-2 to uphold a complaint accusing Comcast of violating the FCC’s open-Internet principles by blocking file-sharing services, such as those that distribute video and television shows.

“What this represents in my view is the commission taking seriously what it started with its investigation of Comcast,” Scott said.

The case became a flash point in a debate over a concept known as “network neutrality,” which pits open-Internet advocates against some Internet service providers, which say they need to take reasonable steps to manage ever-growing traffic on their networks for the good of all users.

Comcast, which is appealing the FCC’s earlier decision, has since revised its practices. But the FCC said in a letter this week that the company is still discriminating, this time in how it treats voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP, calls.

Here’s another cute installment from the folks at Common Craft illustrating everyday benefits of Twitter. Enjoy!

I was delighted to discover a link to this video while bouncing around on Radiohead.com. Do you remember last fall when VCAM hosted a party for the Vermont International Film Festival and in attendance was Susan Buice, co-director (with Arin Crumley) of the feature film Four Eyed Monsters? Well it appears the dynamic duo has another project in the works, and the subject of this one should hit close to home for VCAM members. As Susan and Arin are never folks to be thwarted by the perils of independent media distribution, this time they’ve decided to take the media giants head-on and have set out, armed with a documentary, to protect the future of our internet. Watch, enjoy and please help others understand why net neutrality is important.

Save the Internet | Rock the Vote