The Future of Digital Public Media

Public broadcasting executives and producers discuss their changing roles as digital technology transforms the news and entertainment industries, and provides individuals with powerful tools for shaping their communities. Moderator Jake Shapiro asks panelists to discuss ventures that illustrate new dimensions of public media. As a newcomer to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Robert Bole says he was attracted by CPB’s national reach, its “free, universally accessible content,” which is not necessarily true in the digital world. Bole is exploring how to reshape content for new digital platforms. He describes a project at WNYC that uses crowd sourcing to get a fix on New York’s “economic indicators” – information that informs the station’s radio broadcast. He also hopes to create an American archive of arts and culture material drawn from the many stations in the system, if he can overcome rights obstacles. And while localism is a strength of public broadcasting, he also frets about the challenge of coordinating 800-plus public stations to make the most out of “system wide investments in public media platforms.” Marita Rivero describes World 2.0, a national, online civic engagement project launched by WGBH that enlists the “public to define issues of the day.” She believes public broadcasters are uniquely positioned for such expansive ventures, since they are “grand masters at taking complicated issues and presenting them in ways for people to digest,” have partnerships with community groups all over the country, and are respected curators and distributors of news content. New communications tools will permit stations to reach out to underserved communities. Our role, says Rivero, is “to think about how to invite participation and development of a shared space with other communities, so it isn’t just us talking.” With Makers Quest 2.0, says Sue Schardt, radio producers were invited to invent new formats, blending traditional platforms with new content tool...

Channel: MIT World Video Length: 0s Date Found: Thu, Apr 01 2010 5:25 PM Category: Science Date Produced: Thu, Apr 01 2010 12:00 AM View Count: 0