The New Media Collective

New Year, New Start

It's been almost a year—eight months to be exact—since I last posted to The New Media Collective. This extended hiatus can be attributed to a few things—though mostly a gross lack of time management skills. :-)

When The NMC was first conceived, the primary goal was to feature people of color from different areas of the blogosphere, letting the world know who we were, and that what we were doing was relevant and consistent. I also wanted to help educate those who were new to the worlds of blogging, videoblogging, podcasting, and photoblogging, facilitating in the smallest way, the closing of the digital divide. Little did I know, the person to be educated most would be me. With each person I interviewed for the OUR VOICES or MEDIA MINDS segments, and every HOW-TO entry I posted, I realized just how little I knew about the tech world, and how intimidating it can be for a wannabe geek like me. However daunting, this learning process became the beauty of the project. Not only did I get to create a site that was informative and educational, I got to learn from the people I interviewed and from the research I did. I guess the saying is correct that "he who teaches, learns."

In addition to the site being a teaching vehicle, the goal was also to create a community where people would connect with and learn from each other. Initially, the response was good. The word was slowly getting out about what The NMC was doing and people were supportive. I even had the opportunity to present at the 2006 BlogHer Conference in July on a panel about starting a community-based site. It was great meeting new people, some of whom I'd only known (or known about) through their work online.

Initially, I had a lot of ideas and plans for The NMC, but life took a slightly different turn and I was unable to follow through with them. This year, I'm looking forward to starting over with a renewed vision and a resolve to fulfill my original dream, and to recruit as many people as I can to help, because as my mother never failed to remind me growing up, "no man is an island."

Thanks to everyone who gave any kind of support to me and this project while it was on hiatus, even if it was just a kind word of encouragement.

Peace & love for 2007,

Posted by Melanie Morgan at 11:18 PM to NEWS | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Death of The Internet

This video was posted yesterday (May 10, 2006) by COAnews to further illustrate the whole net neutrality issue.

Here's a brief summary:

Major telecommunications companies are spending millions lobbing the U.S. congress to make the Internet into a private network. In political lingo this means abandoning what is called “Net Neutrality”. In common sense terms it’s about the government withdrawing our right to Internet Freedom, it’s about the Death of The Internet. This V-Doc. (viral documentary) is about the current threat to Internet Freedom and how we can hold on to the open Internet and our right to communicate.

The only way the telecommunications companies will be successful is if we fail to raise awareness about this situation. If people find out that we are about to lose our Internet Freedom there is no way they will allow congress to do this.

This congressional decision will set a monumental precedent, and thus, impact not just U.S. citizens, but citizens all over world.

How To Find BLOGS

Blogging 101

As a blogger, you may have come across blogs that you like and may want to come back to. You may have even created a blogroll on your site of blogs that you read regularly, or at the very least, bookmarked a few to check out later.

To make things easier, there are many sites that are set up just to help you find blogs. If you're new to the blogosphere and are not familiar with them, this HOW-TO segment lists 12 blog search engines and directories to get you started. You can also list your blog on them so more people can find your blog site and learn more about you. Who knows? You may even make a few friends.

Continue reading "How To Find BLOGS" »

Posted by Melanie Morgan at 07:46 PM to BLOGGING | HOW-TO | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Vlogging in the "Boogie Down"

There's a project that's been going on for awhile that I've been meaning to talk about. It's called BX21, and was started by videoblogger, Jonny Goldstein, in the Bronx, NY back in January. The unique program, short for "Bronx 21st Century," teaches inner-city high school kids how to videoblog. According to Jonny, "in the 21st Century, everyone in the Bronx will be able to make their own TV shows and put them on the web. In the 21st Century, youth in the Bronx are taking the lead in the personal media revolution, creating videos and soundscapes and, soon, posting them online."

An initiative of the South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation (SoBRO), and Vision Education and Media, of which Jonny is affiliated, BX21 is doing its part to close the digital divide by bringing technology directly to those that most need it. The students, close to 150 of them, from Evander Childs High School and Morris High School, have learned how to create, edit and upload digital videos to a group blog.

Continue reading "Vlogging in the "Boogie Down"" »

Posted by Melanie Morgan at 11:25 PM to PEOPLE | VLOGGING | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

ANIL de MELLO, MobuzzTV

[ Click on image to view ]

This MEDIA MINDS segment features Anil de Mello, creator of the European-based videoblog, MobuzzTV, being interviewed by Jay Dedman at the Santa Barbara Forum on Digital Transitions Conference that took place April 9-10 in California. This interview is part of a series of videos produced for the conference's videoblog by contributors Dedman, Chris Ritke, Ryanne Hodson, Markus Sandy, Dave Toole, Josh Paul and JD Lasica. To learn more about the conference, check out their wiki.

MobuzzTV is a daily 3-minute videocast produced specifically for mobile phones and small screens. It presents an informative, lighthearted, and irreverent take on technology and current events, presenting "stories of interest to a globally-minded generation."

NET NEUTRALITY: Watch & Learn

In our continuing coverage of the Network Neutrality issue (see previous post), we present a video giving the why's and how's of it, and why we, as citizens of the blogosphere, should do our part to stop any threats to our online freedoms.

Provided by the SavetheInternet.com Coalition, this video is the latest effort in their campaign to garner support to protect the internet's First Amendment, Network Neutrality. Comprised of organizations from across the political spectrum, bloggers and concerned citizens, the Coalition's goal is to get folk to take action by contacting their local representatives in Congress, urging them to take steps to preserve Net Neutrality. This will ensure that the internet remains free and open to the thousands of people who use it as a voice to express and as a vehicle for innovation and progress.

Click below to support the SavetheInternet.com Coalition and save Net Neutrality.

Zadi in Stereo

As a cool follow-up to the OUR VOICES interview we did with Zadi Diaz back in February, here's an audio interview with her for the Slave Spotlight segment of the new podcast, Media Slaves.

Media Slaves is a roundtable podcast produced by Debi "Mobile" Jones, Marianne Richmond, Nicole Simon, and Zadi Diaz. The Slave Spotlight segments will feature interviews with each one of the Media Slaves producers, allowing you to get to know them individually through their own words.