This column was originally published in The Davis Enterprise on Jan. 28, 2011.
What’s it like to be part of a generation that cannot recall what life was like before computers? I’m talking about kids who cannot fathom daily life without texting, Facebook, YouTube and online shopping, and who, I might add, feel rather sorry for those of us who can (and if you are reading this newspaper, chances are good that includes you).
Lawson Snipes, editor and publisher of The Spare Changer, and a formerly homeless man who now advocates for the homeless, is featured on "In The Studio," a local program airing on Davis Media Access's public access Channel 15 (DCTV) and available online at http://dctv.davismedia.org.
Interviewed by Martha Teeter, Lawson speaks about outreach to Davis's homeless, describing his hopes for serving the homeless of Davis through the Davis faith community's "volunteerism." Video excerpts featuring volunteers with the Interfaith Rotating Winter Shelter highlight the success of this four-year old program and the need for more volunteers (www.interfaith-shelter.org, (530) 902-2844).
The Davis City Council currently has one vacant seat, which the four existing council members will fill through a public appointment process. Applicants must reside in and be registered to vote in the city of Davis and must submit a complete applicant packet by 5 pm on January 25, 2011 to the City Clerk. As of the deadline, there are now 10 official applicants for the vacant council seat.
The City of Davis has also asked Davis Media Access to record video statements by each of the applicants to help the public learn more about the candidates.
These videos are available here: http://dctv.davismedia.org
The videos are also available here:
I'm pleased to announce that DMA's Annual & Financial Reports are now available here.
We write these reports each year to tell the story of this facility, its mission, and the people who bring it to life through using media to tell their own stories. DMA creates community through media. We thank you for being our partners in this!
Watch live via realplayer at: http://media.city.davis.ca.us:554/ramgen/encoder/election.rm.
Davis Media Access will present live, election-night coverage from 8-11 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 2. Hosts for the evening are community organizers Lea Rosenberg and Andrea Jones. The show will air on DCTV Comcast Channel 15 and be simulcast on KDRT 95.7 FM, the organization's low-power community radio station. A live stream of the program will also be available from a link at http://media.city.davis.ca.us:554/ramgen/encoder/election.rm, and the program will be archived afterward at dctv.davismedia.org.
"As it has done for more than 22 years, DMA highlights the local races and issues that are ignored by commercial broadcast media," said Jones, who also serves as president of DMA's board of directors. "We view this coverage as core to our mission of creating community through local media." Invited guests include those from the races for local school board and Assembly District 8, as well as seated members of the DJUSD Board of Trustees. A schedule of invited guests is below.
Davis Media Access is airing a variety of local election-related programs now through Monday, Nov. 1, 2010. Election programming, including candidate statements and a variety of local forums, airs on DCTV Channel 15 on the Comcast system in Davis, PEG Channel 99 on AT&T's U-Verse system, and is also available on demand at http://dctv.davismedia.org. Election content is aggregated and a Channel 15 schedule is also available at this link.
By Autumn Labbé-Renault
This column was originally published in The Davis Enterprise Aug. 26, 2010.
It’s nearly September and as we all know, that heralds a season of intense activity in our community. In addition to a full complement of activities and programming here at the media center, I’m pleased to announce the following events:
K-D-R-T-O!
Each second Sunday, those philanthropic Davis Odd Fellows organize a bingo benefit for a local non-profit. We’re thrilled that Davis Media Access/KDRT 95.7 F has been chosen as the beneficiary of the Sept. 12 bingo at the Odd Fellows’ Hall, located at 415 Second Street in Davis. Community members, friends, and family are encouraged and welcomed to come for an afternoon of fun playing Davis bingo, and benefiting community radio. For more information please visit http://kdrt.org.
We thank the Odd Fellows for their continued partnership and wonderful support of community organizations.
This column was originally published in The Davis Enterprise on May 27, 2010.
I’ve written about media policy for nearly 15 years and can say I sometimes feel jaded. But put the words “state-run” in front of the word media, and I’ll admit surprise.
To provide some context, let me first recap the past few months. Media conglomerate Comcast proposed to merge with other media conglomerate NBC. Partially in response, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been holding a series of public meetings to solicit public comment on its media ownership rules, as well as the impact of technological changes on journalism.
The FCC is tasked with being the public watchdog on such issues, and with evaluating media ownership rules to promote competition and diversity in local media markets. Though the proposed Comcast-NBC merger has been a nexus for criticism, there’s been a slow, steady erosion of media diversity in this country for decades. With each consolidation, jobs are lost, along with local perspectives. What happens to democracy when local stories go uncovered or are limited in their perspective? This sort of question keeps me awake at night.
This column published May 2, 2010 in The Davis Enterprise, http://davisenterprise.net. Hometown media are rare, and Davis has many. I think that says a lot about our community. I've written about community media and media policy for The Enterprise since Feb. 1996 and thank them for an enduring partnership and years of coverage.
By Autumn Labbé-Renault
There are thousands of hours of social-interest content being produced each day at community media centers across the country, but this content has been disproportionately absent from new media platforms such as YouTube. Challenged by dwindling funding, detrimental legislation and constantly changing technology, these typically small non-profit centers have had difficulty adapting to the significant workflow required to upload and manage large quantities of video online.
Media demographics have shifted significantly over the years. People still watch TV (consider Comcast, AT&T and Dish Network all vying for their market share), but a growing audience asks our staff at Davis Media Access (DMA) ‘’Why can’t you put this content online?” Until now, the tools available to us required encoding and uploading to outside video file sharing hosts and consumed large amounts of staff time. We’ve been uploading some content, but we’ve been limited.
All that is now changing. I’m proud to announce DMA has completed Phase 1 of our participation in the Open Media Project with the launch of a new video-sharing website for Davis Community Television (DCTV).
Davis Schools Foundation "School Matters!" Video Contest for DJUSD Students:
http://davismedia.org/content/school-matters-video-contest
What is it?
An opportunity for Davis students, grades K through 12, to spotlight
their creativity by producing 90-second (or shorter) Public Service
Announcement videos. Working in groups of up to four, students can
either work under the guidance of staff members from Davis Media Access
at one of two workshops, or can produce the videos on their own. Entries
must be submitted to Davis Media Access by May 7, 2010.
Of media tools & instruction manuals
By Autumn Labbé-Renault
Special to The Enterprise
This column originally appeared in The Davis Enterprise Feb. 26, 2009
I saw “The Lightning Thief” this past weekend, which may explain my analogy of contemporary media to a Hydra, that multi-headed Greek mythological beast that, if decapitated, grows a few more heads to replace what was severed.
By Autumn Labbé-Renault
This article was originally published in The Davis Enterprise Jan. 31, 2010.
In conversation with community media colleagues from a seven-state region last week, a hot topic was the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling Jan. 21 in Citizens United vs. Federal Elections Commission (http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-205.pdf). Free speech advocates all, we took issue with the decision that equates corporate-financed campaign speech as protected, and wipes out over 100 years of laws designed to curb corporate influence on state and national elections.
[img_assist|nid=203|title=goodman|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=132|height=200] On Nov. 20, noted journalist Amy Goodman shared with a capacity crowd at UC Davis her unique perspective gleaned from 13 years hosting “Democracy Now!”, as well as selections from her new book Breaking the Sound Barrier (Haymarket Books, 2009). I’ve long admired her work, so it was a thrill to meet her and to hear her resounding support for our community’s independent media outlets. I also enjoyed meeting Denis Moyihan, who's worked with Amy for years on the show and column, and edited this most recent book. Goodman appeared the same night as students were occupying Dutton Hall on campus. She called...
Davis Media Access (DMA) has produced several voter education programs pertaining to the Nov. 3 election on Measure P. DMA has provided voter education programming and in-depth coverage of local elections for more than 20 years. (Some KDRT programmers are addressing the issue as well - see http://kdrt.org/node/115)