I wrapped up a 20-week long after-school outreach I’ve been teaching at an elementary school. I worked with two groups of students: the older group made a documentary about the experiences of their classmates who have moved to the U.S. from other countries, and the younger group made a collection of short instructional videos on topics of their choice (drawing, making a paper airplane, counting to ten in Japanese, making farting noises with your armpit, etc.).

This story takes place in Ohio. I know some of you coastal VISTAs are longing for more Ohio news and charming Midwestern commentary, like you were getting before the election. Perfect timing for me to wake from my procrastination hibernation and write my very first field report!

Summer has begun. And that also means it's closer to the end. ah. And so it goes.

Well there was a lot of deliberation about me going to a conference around here. But finally it was decided that I would be going to the ACM 2007 International Conference & Trade Show.

But things have changed. And it's all thanks to that lovely bit of legistlation that SBC/AT&T pushed down Michigan's throat a few months back.

Comment from lauren bratslavsky on May 1, 2007 - 11:33am

Oh Rich- that's awful. Ohio may go done the path of Michigan. Too bad no one is going, the Grand Rapids CMC seems like one of the best in the country. Are you considering going to the Allied Media Conference in Detroit? (Finally, a media conference in the mid-west). Good luck with the youth media business.

Comment from danielle martin on May 1, 2007 - 2:28pm

Hey Rich,

That major stinks! I definitely feel the pain as we tried to outreach to public access stations to get VISTAs and they just can't do it. And I also know quite a few folks trying to convice PEG access stations to do more stuff digitally and they just can't imagine it. I actually sat in at a conference at MIT a few months ago where someone (a person NOT from the public access world) suggested that public access stations should accept their fate and come up with an "exit strategy" of moving to all online endeavors. It's a really hard fight to talk to folks about too - I mean, many people see public access as a bunch of Wayne's World like content that they don't care about.

ug.

-Danielle

Comment from cheryl jerozal on May 2, 2007 - 12:37am

maybe you could go to this conference: Communities and Technologies Conference

it's not too far away from you and maybe you could convince them you should qualify as a student so you could be a student volunteer

From the Youth Channel newsletter:

News from the NYMAP Video Exchange: Over the next few weeks, MNN Youth Channel and the other NYMAP (National Youth Media Access Partners) will be officially launching the new Youth Video Exchange website out to the world and bringing in new partners. The website www.nymapexchange.net is a networking hub for youth-serving community media centers and youth media sites, which aims to build the infrastructure to make better sharing of youth-produced media possible. The Core Partners in this project are: People TV in Atlanta, Grand Rapids Community Media Center, St. Paul Neighborhood Network, and Portland Community Media in Oregon. Check out the website www.nymapexchange.net , or email andrew@youthchannel.org to learn more or to find out how you could get involved.

Well, we are really facing some nasty stuff in Michigan.

Here's the scoop. Yesterday the MI senate passed HB6456 (S-2). It is a bill that AT&T wants passed. They say it will create competition for your cable dollars and that prices will go down.

Many of you know this stuff, but here it goes.

Here's the big deal. Franchise Fees.

It was determined long ago by the government that 'We the People' own the airwaves. That's why you bought a radio or TV and that was it. You hooked it up to an antena and you recieved programming free of charge. The programming was paid for by advertisers.

Comment from danielle martin on December 19, 2006 - 12:52pm

Hey Richard,

I've been following the Michigan legislation and yes, it makes me a bit depressed. I know there's a few public access stations that wanted to get VISTAs and now they're afraid they won't have the funding to support them.

Good luck...

-Danielle