schultzd

Recent blog posts by schultzd

The Counterpublic is Dead: Long Live the Counterpublic!

Submitted by schultzd on September 19, 2011 - 12:10pm

Before I get into my post let me describe my experience with these readings so far as a quick stream of consciousness:

  • Civic media? Easy peasy I know that stuff.
  • Woah, There’s a lot of insight in these papers. I knew nothing before. Now my power level is going to be over 9000!
  • Wait, what the face is an interlocutor?
  • WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BRACKET STATUS DIFFERENTIALS?
  • Maybe I get it now... thanks Google!
  • Oh right, blog post.

So you see, the academic works on public spheres and digital divides have been enlightening, frustrating, exciting, overwhelming, and confusing all at once! It’s been fun.

Growing Up with Civic Media

Submitted by schultzd on September 12, 2011 - 11:12am

Five years ago I was a sophomore at Carnegie Mellon University trying to decide between 11 different fields of study. Meanwhile, the Journalism industry was beginning a transformation of its own as Internet-based panic and disruption was reaching a critical mass among Newspapers and professional informers. That was the year that Knight began their News Challenge, the program that funded the creation of this center.

In what must have been a fluke I became one of the first round winners. This meant that I would very quickly put my own identity crisis into perspective (compared to the unknowns that journalists faced, my directions felt downright narrow). It also meant that I would get to start growing up alongside an entire industry.

Being asked now to define “Civic Media?” I have to smile because I know that the mental magma around this area has only just begun to cool. I’ll play along!

What is Civic Media?

In the style of Monty Python: It’s…

Change Happens Everywhere; Activists Need to Think it Through

Submitted by schultzd on June 28, 2011 - 2:00pm

Cross-posted with PBS IdeaLab.

I attended last Thursday's afternoon plenary "Civic Media Mobilization," at the 2011 Knight Civic Media conference, expecting to hear discussion about specific activist technologies and techniques. I was also anticipating some juicy political friction between the Tea Party consultant and the immigrant law community organizer who were speaking at the event. Neither prediction came to pass.

Instead I witnessed a far more situation-based analysis of what incentivizes action that concluded with a simple, summarizing message: The only thing technology can do is amplify a movement; to instigate actual change you need people on the ground.

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