Public Media 2.0: Dynamic, Engaged Publics

Jessica Clark and Pat Aufderheide of the Center for Social Media at American University have just published a report with this name.  I'll read it on my flight to Atlanta tomorrow, but I've touched every page at least and think it looks like a terrific piece of work.  The following is from the press release:

... On Tuesday, February 17, the report, Public Media 2.0: Dynamic, Engaged Publics, will be available online at http://www.futureofpublicmedia.net. The report, based on four years of research, argues that multi-platform, participatory media will be central to democratic life in the years ahead. It also suggests that public broadcasting could play a central role if the medium is properly restructured and supported.

"The people formerly known as the audience have reorganized themselves into networks," said Jessica Clark, director of the center's Future of Public Media Project. "That throws open the doors for what public media can be."

Clark coauthored the report with Pat Aufderheide, director of the Center for Social Media and professor at AU's School of Communication, which houses the Center. The report offers a glimpse of tomorrow by showing how experiments in public media 2.0 are emerging across sites and sectors-from political debates on Wikipedia, to environmental discussions in Second Life, to community-based media shared via mobile phones.

"Tomorrow's public media will be media made by, for, and with the public, but it won't happen by accident," said Aufderheide. "This report provides a map of opportunities and ways to make the most of them."

--Dennis