SCRATCH PAD

In Olympia WA, learning about Olympia community media

Mike Wassenaar — Sat, 15 May 2010 20:07:33 +0000

I’m at acm-nw, where Trevor Griffey is talking about Olympia Newswire, a community based journalism project

Frameworks for Sustainability and Community Media

Mike Wassenaar — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 01:16:29 +0000

This is an excerpt from a conversation at the Alliance for Community Media Conference in Washington DC in 2008 on Seeking Sustainability for Community Media Centers. I'm part of a discussion led by Sue Buske, with Richard Turner, and Keali'i Lopez.

The video is from Jay April at Akaku Maui.

Gloria Tristani speaks in Minneapolis

Mike Wassenaar — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:37:07 +0000

Here’s a video of comments from former FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani at the Alliance for Community Media Conference in Minneapolis in July. Gloria spoke on spectrum policy, issues before the FCC, and the recent controversy on Ken Burns’ documentary in Latino communities across the U-S:

Protecting Community TV in Illinois

Mike Wassenaar — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:15:34 +0000

One of the great legislative success stories in the fight to preserve community television happened in Illinois this summer. While a statewide cable franchising bill passed, it only did so with major concessions for local regulation, consumer protection and preservation of PEG benefits. Here’s a video of Illinois Senior Assistant Attorney General Susan Satter talking about what happened in Illinois.

For more information about the Illinois bill, go to Keep Us Connected.

Hannah Sassaman at ACM National Conference

Mike Wassenaar — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 01:57:25 +0000

After a summer-long hiatus, it’s the return of Scratch Pad!

To get things started off, here’s video of Hannah Sassaman from the Prometheus Radio Project at the Alliance for Community Media national conference in Minneapolis this summer. She’s introduced by Denis Moynahan from Democracy Now!

Nice Article on Community Television and Immigrant Voices

Mike Wassenaar — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 20:56:02 +0000

If you haven’t seen it, there’s a nice article from the Associated Press out of San Jose on the how much community television is used by immigrant communities.

J-Lab New Voices Grant

Mike Wassenaar — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 19:57:02 +0000

SPNN got some nice news this past week about grant support for a news project we’re developing from the New Voices project of J-Lab. What’s even nicer is other community media and media justice groups (Reclaim the Media, Access SF, Cambridge Community TV) got awards for new projects.

The press release on the awards is here.

Does this guy Sleep?

Mike Wassenaar — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 21:00:30 +0000

Oh my god. I am tired and need some B vitamin after reading Colin Rhinesmith’s blog.

It’s a great compendium of “stuff” surrounding digital culture, law, participatory culture, media arts, and just as importantly, community television.

Oh, and he’s a graduate student working part-time. I remember now. He doesn’t sleep.

How do we clone this guy?

Citizen Media meets Citizen Media

Mike Wassenaar — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 18:32:33 +0000

Here’s a mention of community radio station KAXE in Grand Rapids MN working with some of the people involved with citizen empowerment on the web in Minnesota. I don’t know Griff Wigley that well, but he’s sort of a friend of a friend and has been involved with MN e-Democracy. Nice to see, especially because KAXE has such a great tradition of giving citizens a voice in their community.

How to Cook a Mancini’s Steak

Mike Wassenaar — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 17:26:06 +0000

Serving Our Troops, a local volunteer group in Saint Paul, has been leading a support effort for troops and Minnesota National Guard stationed overseas in Kosovo and Iraq the last three years. The latest effort will ship over 11,000 steak dinners from the Saint Paul steakhouse Mancini’s to troops in Iraq in April. Then families in Minnesota will join their loved ones via video teleconference for a family meal together. It’s a great community project.

My thanks to John Marshall for asking SPNN to be a part of this project.