transmedia: sally kane, keynote speaker for oregon rural action

on october 19, oregon rural action had their benefit dinner, elections, games and prizes, silent auction, beer, wine and did i mention the dinner was all locally sourced?

the dinner part of the evening concluded with sally kane from paonia, colorado (near grand junction) and her work with community media as used to cover issues relevant to and by the community.  sally has grown up with KVNF, a radio station her mother founded in 1979, where sally began as a dj when she was 16-years-old.  the station started as 10 watts in a shed, to now having two transmitters and a signal that can stretch across entire states.  they have a very active role in representing a community that the mainstream media bypasses.  sally and her daughter both having been djs made it no foreign concept for KVNF to use kids as the next-in-line broadcasters in their video on climate change.

KVNF put together a video on transforming media, an incubator project for the association of independents in radio (AIR) producing transmedia storytelling.  KVNF’s project called iseechange (on climate change) is featured on “localore,” a ten member nationwide circuit of radio and tv stations hosted by AIR working with interactive media producers zeega to “sink new taproots into local communities … laying the ground for more inclusive 21^st century public media.” 

kane also screened the AIR localore video, available on the localore website as well, which featured looks at all of the ten member projects:

iseechange ::  90.9 KVNF, paonia, colorado

black gold boom :: on the oil rush of north dakota, in collaboration with zeega

curious city :: crowd sourced questions and issues :: 91.5 KBEZ, chicago

sonic trace :: latin american immigrant roots :: 89.9 KCRW, los angeles

hear here :: alternative to “bleed and lead” mainstream news :: 91.7 KALW, san francisco

austin music map :: 90.5 KUT, austin

planet takeout :: community through the lens of chinese food :: 89.7 WGBH, boston

the making of… :: northern california interactive artworks :: 88.5 KQED, san francisco in collaboration with kitchen sisters and zeega

reinvention stories :: rebuilding america’s fastest dying city :: 91.3 WYSO, yellow springs, oh

ed zed omega :: “what does school accomplish?” :: twin cities

we live in a high tech world.  technology has shown to be very valuable in telling of grass roots stories – think twitter in the middle east and northern africa.  combine this technology with the fact that everyone needs their opinion represented in some way.  as the dayton project reinvention stories revealed, the story becomes more that of the teller than the reporter.  ultimately, a trustworthy news source makes people more willing to speak.  for example, KVNF found that even conservatives not wanting to support environmental efforts, still had work habits that depended on changing weather patterns.  to be sure, changes in colorado have been extreme enough to cause katrina-level catastrophe flooding last month.  the progressive thinking of KVNF has drawn the ire of the tea party, which only reinforced the mission of KNVF as a community station.  why not have an honest station that deals with life and death issues, even at the risk of life and death?

that is to say, there are many risks that go beyond the financial support of a community media outlet or the mastery of modern technology.  there are risks in trying new ways of reporting that some don’t want exposed.  there are also risks in not trying new ways of reporting.  there are risks of being an unknown person and whether people can trust the reporter.  that’s where the work directed toward real community issues helps create bridges to people that may not trust corporate-owned media.  the solid point remained that if there are issues that affect people’s lives, those issues need to be reported at any cost.  if the community is going to fund a project, then that project has a responsibility to represent the community.

as sally says “technology is not the medium, it’s a tool.  the medium is love.”  there is a link between love and listening.  they complement each other.  a person who loves, listens.  a person who listens, loves.