Author: fms

Felicia M. Sullivan is a researcher, educator and community advocate. With an MA in Media Studies, a MS in Public Policy and over 20 years of community-based practice, she works with community-based organizations towards individual, organizational and community transformation and change. She is currently a researcher at the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRLCE) housed Tufts University’s Tisch College. She is working towards her PhD in Public Policy at the John W. McCormack Graduate School at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Current Research Interests: youth development and out-of-school-time programming, human development and organizational learning in community-based settings, social impacts of communication and technology policy, social movements and change theory, social networks, civic / democratic / participatory communications
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Americans Trust Miltary more than Civic Institutions

From the same issue of Harper’s that I referenced in my 4/16 post here is a disturbing stat:

Americans have an incredible trust in the military. In poll after poll they have much more confidence in the armed forces than they do in other institutions. The most recent poll, just this past spring, had trust in the military at 74 percent, while trust in Congress was at 22 percent and the presidency was at 44 percent. In other words, the armed forces are much more trusted than the civilian institutions that are supposed to control them.

This from an article about scenarios for coup d’etats in the US. And we wonder how Nazi Germany came to power.

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A Clash of Values

On Thursday, Russ Newman of Free Press and Susie Lindsay of the Berkman Center presented as part of the UMASS Lowell’sNew Directions luncheon series. The series is designed to bring thinkers and practitioners in the fields of new media and technology to the Lowell community. This particular presentation wrapped up the 2005-2006 series. Both speakers provided great background and activity in the realm of communication’s policy and participants were enaged in disucssing some of the key point highlighted.

For me, one of the most valauable insights came from Susie Lindsay and how she defined the various ages of “television” (broadcast, cable, Internet) and their varying value priorities. I’ve misplaced my notebook for the time being and with it the specifics of what the values in each era are. But the key thought was the idea that current communication battles are reflective of these clash of values (i.e; universal access vs. innovation).

I have thought for a while that the variety of regulatory environments (which I would also include telephony and sattelite) each brought with it a separate set of business practices and public give backs that have been embedded in the ways companies, communities and indivdiuals have come to expect and experience their variety of communication services. Looking at these battles from a value perspective helped me in attaching language to thoughts I’ve had for some time. Thanks Susie.

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A Clash of Values

On Thursday, Russ Newman of Free Press and Susie Lindsay of the Berkman Center presented as part of the UMASS Lowell’sNew Directions luncheon series.  The series is designed to bring thinkers and practitioners in the fields of new media and technology to the Lowell community.  This particular presentation wrapped up the 2005-2006 series.

Both speakers provided great background and activity in the realm of communication’s policy and participants were enaged in disucssing some of the key point  highlighted.

For me, one of the most valauable insights came from Susie Lindsay and how she defined the various ages of “television” (broadcast, cable, Internet) and their varying value priorities.  I’ve misplaced my notebook for the time being and with it the specifics of what the values in each era are.  But the key thought was the idea that current communication battles are reflective of these clash of values (i.e; universal access vs. innovation).

I have thought for a while that the variety of regulatory environments (which I would also include telephony and sattelite) each brought with it a separate set of business practices and public give backs that have been embedded in the ways companies, communities and indivdiuals have come to expect and experience their variety of communication services.

Looking at these battles from a value perspective helped me in attaching language to thoughts I’ve had for some time.  Thanks Susie.

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The Spirit of Disobedience

Harper's April '06 IssueI just finished reading a really wonderful essay by Curtis White in the April issue of Harper’s Magazine. The essay looks at US traditions of religion and reason and places them both in contrast to Thoreau’s thoughts on humanness and spirituality. A culture of death created by money and a corporate society are countered by individual resistance and instence on a stance in opposition to society. I certainly am not doing it justice, but is definitely worth a read.

http://www.harpers.org/MostRecentCover.html

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exquisite corpse: the psp game!

Well, it doesn’t exist yet but how cool would that be?

Eli has been talking up video editing on portable computers for a while now. And as far back as y2k, Play had their Pocket Producer app that was interesting if not always useful. But in class this week, we started talking about the idea of video editing on the PSP (brought up by guest chatter Ryan Junell.) Pretty interesting, right? But simple in-camera effects and edits aren’t anything new. You can do that with a bunch of the Powershots and Cybershots already out there — unfortunately, it’s not much fun.

So if you could implement it on something like the PSP, why not make it a game?

Think of it as a palm-top front-end for a ccMixter for video?

Gameplay could consist of weekly remix contests like the GYBO challenges. Users could download the relevant clips to their portable devices and get a week to make their own iterations. They post their final submissions back up to ccMixter and the clips with the highest rating after three days wins. Include Keyworx-like functionality, and allow folks to create live collaborative VJ events that could be viewed by others.

Guitar Hero and Taiko Drum Master prove that games based on “content” do work, but neither put a lot of emphasis on community or collaboration which — to me — are the more interesting parts of cultural communities as a whole and hip-hop (including remix and mashup) culture specifically. While we’ve learned that adding community to FPS and RPG games make them infinitely more compelling, we have yet to accept the same with our media. Until then, we’ll be stuck with efforts that do little more but to serve our feudal lords.

http://www.kenyattacheese.net/braintag/2006/04/13/exquisite_corpse_the_psp_game.php

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Fake TV News

While prepping for my Media Literacy class on journalism and mainstream news, I came across this site on Fake TV News.  Even for a critical (and old) media consumer as myself, it is still pretty amazing how constructed and manipulated our news environments.

Teaching this class has awakened my awareness about how much consumer society and corporate agendas are seemlessly woven into our experience of reality and our information / communication systems. Consumption, capital, corporations – you know they are there, but its good to get a wake-up call every once in a while.

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Communicating Vision

I’ve encountered several instances lately when I’ve found myself in the challenging place of trying to communication my vision. I see things so clearly in my mind, yet the language to make it clear to other evades me. I’m usually really excellent at this. Maybe I am finding myself in these situation where I am still not clear and the specifics are not clear and hence other not so much.

I do know this:

  • communication is essential to communities, a community unable to communicate its values, ideals, and needs will find it difficult to grow or compete
  • the tools and systems of modern communication have never been more accessible, but so many still are without access to or the skill in using these new tools
  • corporations and governments are rapidly changing how we organize society, and if communities don’t advocate for the public sector we will loose a core ingredient for a true democracy
  • I want to be one of those working to make sure that all of this happens and I want to work with other committed souls who have this as their mission

And so I found this:

Developing and communicating vision from the Community Toolbox.

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Media Arts Stories

I particiapted in a NAMAC regional meeting today were about 20 other thouhgt leaders were in attendence sharing thier stories of inspiring and impactful media arts experiences. There were so many recurring faces and a few new ones to me. I really felt the span of generations. So many wonderful experiences from a range of media arts educators, activists, adminstrators, exhibitors, etc. The common threads revolved around seizing opportunities, articulating visions, being open to new ideas and discovery, and most importantly acting.

George Fifiled talked about the first Boston Cyberarts festival and how it distilled a community of people aorund art and technology.  Wendy Blom about the Southeast Asian Water festival in Lowell and how it transformed how she thought about public access television.  Danielle Martin talked about having to quickly improvise a digital storytelling workshop for hearing impared girls.  Joe Doullette shared his story of mentor a young filmmaker.  Laura Simmons recounted the formation of the her People of Color Collaborative and creating new opportunites.  I could go on, but you get the idea.
It was a good gathering.

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Connect – towards a sustainable communications ecosystem

So what does it mean to have a sustainable communication and information ecosystem. How do you build community capacity to insure that the information and communication needs of all are met? How do you ensure that local skills and infrastucture are built. This is the direction that I’ve begun working in at UML these days.

Here is part of a concept paper I have been working on that I’ll be brainstorming with ohters next week.

overview
Communication and information systems are forming an ever-present ecosystem that is becoming harder and harder to separate from our daily lives. These systems are the roads, shipping lanes and railways of the 21st century form the bedrock of commerce and culture. Without access to the technologies that form these systems, both creative and consumptive, communities will simply not be able to compete. Individuals who lack access and the ability to use these systems will find they are unable to be engaged citizens. Some may find they are unable to support themselves or to participate substantially in the culture around them.

mission
CONNECT collaborates with community-based organizations and individuals to create communication capacity within a social and economic development context.

vision
CONNECT sees the opportunity to form sustainable communication systems that serve a variety of information needs for those in the Merrimack Valley and contributes to the overall health of the region. At the core of this system are content production & distribution activities, learning opportunities, community-based research and technical innovations that span across university, city, regional, and community organizations.

There is more, but you get the idea.