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February 24, 2007
At Beyond Broadcast
It's something like 17 degrees outside, so I am mighty relieved to be inside with about 400 other warm bodies at the Beyond Broadcast conference. Henry Jenkins of MIT gave an amazing keynote about participatory democracy and participatory culture. He talked a bit about DOPA Jr, noting as I have in the past that placing restrictive access to the Net at schools and libraries does more harm to disenfranchised populations than mainstream ones, since they often lack Internet access at home and have to rely on public access. As more and more people embrace social media tools to participate in civic life, those who get blocked because they're forced to use public access end up getting left out of public discourse yet again. Henry also used a great line referring to DOPA and its ilk as part of the mass de-skilling of America's youth, forcing them to unlearn the participatory culture skills they use outside of school because policymakers fear the impact of giving them access at school.
Right now there's a panel featuring reps from Yahoo, MTV and one of the guys behind Four Eyed Monsters. Maybe it's the long week catching up with me, but I am so bored. Can't wait til the unconferency sessions this afternoon. I feel like I'm at a tag-team lecture. -andy
Tags: beyondbroadcast | digital divide | DOPA | DOPA Jr. | Henry Jenkins | media literacy
Posted by acarvin at February 24, 2007 11:36 AM
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