Think NPR and PBS are just broadcasters? Think again. Public media is no longer just a one-way street. In many towns, NPR and PBS stations are the only locally-owned broadcasters, and their mission to serve the public demands that they develop new ways of engaging and strengthening those communities. They're convening Barcamp-like unconferences called PubCamps all over the country, allowing local techies and citizen journalists to forge collaborative projects with NPR and PBS stations, both online and offline. Public media staff work with volunteer coders, creating software for public media organizations that otherwise lack the capacity to develop it on their own. Public media engages communities in new ways that go beyond those annual pledge drives, challenging them to work together for the common good. They're putting the public back in public media - right where it should be. This ain't your father's public broadcasting. Come learn how people are plugging into public media - and how you can get involved.
Andy Carvin is Senior Strategist for NPR’s Social Media Desk. As coordinator of NPR’s social media strategy, he has helped NPR programs learn how to engage the public with NPR’s editorial activities in order to further the quality and diversity of NPR’s journalism. He has led NPR’s efforts in social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, where NPR recently became the first news organization to reach one million fans.
Andy’s community engagement work isn’t limited to the Internet. As co-founder of PublicMediaCamp, he’s helped NPR and PBS stations around the country convene the local tech community and public media fans to strengthen their ties and develop collaborative projects together. He has also appeared on numerous NPR shows, including Morning Edition, Talk of the Nation, All Things Considered, Tell Me More and the Diane Rehm Show, discussing a variety of subjects related to Internet policy and culture.
Prior to coming to NPR in 2006, Andy was the director and editor of the Digital Divide Network, an online community of more than 10,000 educators, community activists, policymakers and business leaders in over 140 countries working to find solutions to the digital divide. Andy was also author of the PBS blog learning.now, which focused on the impact of Internet culture on education.
For many years, Andy has helped mobilize online volunteers during natural disasters and other crises. On September 11, 2001, he created SEPT11INFO, a news forum for the public to share information and help refute rumors in the wake of the 9|11 attacks. Following the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, he served as a contributing editor to TsunamiHelp, one of the leading sources of tsunami-related citizen journalism. More recently, he has worked with CrisisCommons, a network of tech volunteers that has developed software and other tools in response to the Haiti earthquake, as well as online services that can help communities prepare for future disasters.
In 2005, MIT Technology Review magazine named Andy to their TR35 list, an annual list of 35 of the world's leading high-tech innovators under the age of 35. In December 2001, Andy was named by District Administration magazineas one of America's top 25 education technology advocates. Andy received similar honors from eSchoolNews in 1999 when they named him a member of itsImpact 30 list of education technology leaders. He was named by Washingtonian magazine as part of its 2009 list of the 100 leading technology innovators in Washington DC.
Annie Shreffler works in the WGBH Lab, challenging audiences to contribute their voices and content to public media for possible broadcast and distribution. Annie is a CUNY Graduate School of Journalism alumnae. Before moving to Boston, she worked for WNYC Radio as a new media producer. Her tasks there included crowdsource reporting for The Brian Lehrer Show. Annie also worked for WNYC on CPB’s The Economy Story collaboration, and authored Crowdsourcing: A Field Guide from WNYC. She is on Twitter as @annieshreff and writes about new media and other matters on her blog, Just the Facts.
Jessica Clark is the research director at American University's Center for Social Media, a Knight Media Policy Fellow at the New America Foundation, and the co-author of Beyond the Echo Chamber: Reshaping Politics Through Networked Progressive Media.
I've been a member of the MPB Public Relations and Communications department for 5+ years. I'm currently working on my Masters of Arts in Mass Communications at the University of Southern Mississippi where I will graduate in August 2011. I am also regular guest on Mississippi Edition & travel around the State for speaking engagements discussing MPB's online products.
