From Bettina Grey

“The New Media Revolution and Political Expression” workshop was very interesting and made all the more so because of a mix up in room assignments.  For the first 45 minutes only Steve Katz, the panel facilitator,  was there from Mother Jones.  He wisely plunged right into audience questions — asking the audience what he would have asked the panelists and getting some quite interesting answers.  Ironically this was a metaphor for the topic itself.  The media revolution is an intensely international level, democratic, leveling process which is full of exciting opportunities and considerable pitfalls as well.

Among the exciting opportunities were the obvious — the ability to exchange direct information person to person, group to group leaping over the earlier boundaries and gate-keepers.  One example Steve Katz gave was that Twitter has revolutionized the way journalists do stories.   They start with twitter feeds in collecting the stories and information.  Then develop the story in greater detail when and as needed.  He commented that this was just the inverse of the way journalism had been done when he started in the 1970′s.  He strongly recommended that everyone in the audience get and use Twitter for information updates.  Twitter is “where other journalists hang out.

 “Retweeting is a very efficient way to move a story through social media.”

Another example (which Greg Harder, the Editor of the Bay Area PNC,  also commented on to me in the break) is the use of Google Earth to collect data and verify clear cutting of forests and be able to prove the extent of damages which were being denied.  In the past access to that information was controlled and very difficult to confirm.  It is now available to anyone with a computer and the will to investigate.  Mining data has become the major challenge.

The flip side, and second major challenge of the digital media revolution is the reliability of sources, and the impact of digital surveillance for either commercial or political ends.  Before the panelists arrived Steve asked the audience how they saw the known digital snooping –  tracing of online activity.  The new “siri” on iPhone — phones home to Apple keeping a record of what is being asked, both Google and Facebook track the user’s online viewing.  Google’s algorithm creates a feedback loop that prevents viewers from seeing new material since it delivers information based on past viewing habits.  Suggestions to correct these ranged from making use of “private browsing” available in several web browsers, using a web browser dedicated to only viewing facebook and a second web browser for all other online browsing or making use of “https everywhere” software from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (“defending your rights in the digital world.”)  Panelist Nora Barrows-Friedman, journalist-photographer, commented that, “of the various ways of exchanging information, mobile phones are the least secure.”

“The Choir and Beyond: The Dual Role of Environmental Media“  was moderated by Steve Katz of Mother Jones. The four panelists all had video/audio/music production expertise. One was  Kim Spencer, Chief Content Officer for Link TV.  Unfortunately the direction of the conversation did not veer toward the technical “how to” of new media much so I didn’t hear from them the kind of content I would have liked but in all fairness, very few in the audience would have wanted that kind of technical discussion.

The description of the session states: “The U.S. environmental and social justice movements lack a choir — and need one. At the same time, it’s imperative to reach beyond the choir.”  

This session explored how communication and media can reach a larger segment of viewers.  Unfortunately too much of it was the same old rhetoric of us vs them polarization — a political polarization fixation!  Had I the opportunity to comment I would have said that drawing a larger circle by finding common goals and motivations might help.

 A perfect example of this “larger circle theory” is the story of how a representative of the Land Institute in Salina Kansas found that while talking about global warming did not motivate a local conservative Kansas community to make changes in their energy conservation habits, talking about caring for the earth and becoming energy independent as a nation was much better received and accomplished the same end goals.  The community’s energy conservation went up measurably after the focus of the discussion shifted to goals the participants shared.  She found that her target audience cared about the environment as a part of their Christian commitment to “God’s creation.” And politically they agreed with the concept of becoming energy independent.  This kind of re-work which allows for a broader buy-in from many different parties was not, unfortunately, part of the session discussion.

Bettina Grey for PNC Bay Area

Bettina Grey, Chair of the North American Interfaith Network and film maker, is no neophyte to media production.  She has produced films and interviews with many of the World’s foremost religious leaders including the Dali Lama.  Most recently we worked together in Australia’s Parliament of the World’s Religions producing live feed coverage of that event in cutting edge technology

Both Bettina and I had hoped that more emphasis and exploration would have been spent on the newer technologies that would have allowed such a conference to have occurred virtually without the heavy carbon costs of bringing 5000 people together in one place.   All of the plenary sessions were recorded and are available to any interested party at a cost, and many are absolutely fascinating.  However that doesn’t reduce the initial cost.

The Bioneers also has a “Beaming Bioneers” program which allows groups to watch a live feed of the plenary presentations from a distant location.  No workshops were given on offering this technology, nor was there a discussion of its relative merits, or how to presentations of whether this might be a viable means of holding such conferences in the future.   We were somewhat disappointed and can only hope that the Bioneers continue to explore this technology and decide to share the environmental benifits at some future date.

R. Watcher