Community Media Forum a Success

The Austin Community Media Forum happened recently. It was a great success. About 46 people showed up to discuss the future of public access television. The Austin Chronicle wrote about the event. There is a report of the event posted to the PACT Blog.

The morning sessions were panels with invited speakers on topics ranging from the history of access television in Austin, to current legislative and regulatory issues. The afternoon was filled with breakout sessions selected and operated by the attendees. There was a good mix of topics: ranging from accessibility to flagship programming to expanding access.

I was most excited to see the broad interest in expanding access television into new media and new communities. I was most concerned to see the lack of youth involvement. Web sites such as YouTube and MySpace show that folks under 30 do want to produce video. So, how to we get them to do community-focused work on access? That question may be critical to the future of access television.