Todd Mundt

Tom Gerace (Gather.com), Thomas Kriese (Omidyar Network), Brendan Greeley (Radio Open Source), Rhea Mokund (Listenup.org) Moderator: Ethan Zuckerman (Global Voices, Berkman Center)

Brendan Greeley explained Radio Open Source’s approach to community media. The goal was to have the blog be the center, with the show as the outgrowth. Blogs are the new talk radio. Blogs make decisions - you decide what you want to talk about. A blog has motion - quick pace of topic to topic. The webpage is structured with comments posted under articles - so the listeners who want to comment aren’t pushed into a comment ghetto. We need to act like blogs - use permalinks; use Technorati; actually read blogs; act like you mean it; write fewer, more personal emails; don’t ask for links, ask for opinions; link out.

Tom Gerace of Gather: users create content, tag it, comment on it, etc. How to create value in this? You can transform your audience into a broad source network; apply editorial oversight: content selection and fact chekcing; guide the community engaged discussion around diverse and contemporary topics.

Rhea Mokund of Listenup.org: Listen Up is a network of youth media organizations, also funds them to produce content. This is designed to be a real world space for youth media. Site is largely curated by the young people who use the site.

Thomas Kriese of Omidyar talked about managing the community they’ve built.

Asked for the one piece of advice he would give to broadcasters, Gerace said, “Understand that you have to throw out what you know about your audience, and rebuild your understanding based on your audience interacting with each other rather than just with you.” Mokund’s advice was one word: “Intentionality.”