Bob Weber and I were on a panel together a month or so ago at the MIT Enterprise Forum and Bob subsequently interviewed me for his ManagingRights.com podcast. It’s a good short snapshot of the who/what/why of PRX with a focus on the rights and licensing aspects of PRX.
You can stream or download the MP3 here.
The news is finally official about the CPB-funded Public Media Election Collaboration. PRX is one of the partners and we have two main projects to contribute, one about aggregating campaign audio and the other is helping surface social media and “user-generated” content to collaboration partner websites.
Here’s the full press release.
Most importantly for us right now, we’re hiring two contract positions to help lead the curating projects starting immediately, so please spread the word and send us some outstanding individuals. We’ve started to talking to some candidates already but want to make sure we cast a wide net.
Campaign Audio Curator.
Full description and link to online application
The Campaign Audio Curator will work with PRX to find, select, annotate, and promote public radio and other audio material on Campaign ‘08 and related issues. Selected works can include produced pieces, interviews, raw audio from campaign appearances, issue-based and local or regional stories that can be edited or excerpted for re-use by stations and other project partners. The initial collection is underway and located here: http://www.prx.org/articles/905
Social Media Curator.
Full description and link to online application
The Social Media Curator will work with PRX to find, select, annotate, and promote citizen media and “user-generated content” from blogs, YouTube, podcasts and other sources. Selected content will be showcased on local and national public media websites.
What’s the point?
Public media has a unique opportunity to cover Campaign 2008 and elevate public engagement around critical issues at stake nationally and locally.
The democratization of the tools for creating and distributing media has resulted in an explosion of conversation, connection and content. This in turn creates a critical need for ways to sift, filter and find value amidst irrelevant or even harmful expression.
One important role is to use public media’s presence and journalistic values to showcase and highlight examples of the diverse range of content and conversation already taking place online.
While the CNN/YouTube debates are the highest profile attempt so far to incorporate participatory media into coverage of Campaign 2008, there are few focused efforts to help audiences navigate the growing ocean of “user-generated content” to find relevant, important and revealing voices and perspectives.
This social media curating project is an experiment to explore approaches to this task, in the context of a critical national moment of a presidential election.
For the election audio project, we will help bubble up stories that otherwise might get lost in the shuffle, create an collection for timely use during the campaign season as well as a helpful archive for further evergreen and “long tail” opportunities in the future.
With the proliferation of audio on-air and online there’s a critical role to play in sifting, sorting, curating and promoting the best of what’s available. The PRX campaign collection will be a vital resource for public broadcasting stations, partners and the public.
The Boston Globe profiles Rebecca Watson, one of the three winners of the PRX Public Radio Talent Quest.
Just making it this far “is quite an achievement,” says Jake Shapiro, the executive director of the Cambridge-based Public Radio Exchange, which ran the contest. “We had over 1,400 entries.”
Watson, Shapiro explains, was a long shot, particularly in the contest’s early rounds, which combined open voting with judging by public-radio professionals. “She was the one that made it all the way through most improbably,” Shapiro says. “She was a popular pick. She wasn’t one of the judges’ picks. What I think is part of [Watson's] success is that she earned the judges’ respect.”
I was one of the judges whose respect Rebecca definitely earned, particularly after getting to meet her in person at not one but two rocking PRX parties. She’s a star in the making, no doubt.
You can hear all three pilots from Rebecca, Al and Glynn on the Public Radio Talent Question website, and they are also available on PRX for anyone to listen, rate and review and for public radio stations to license for broadcast.
PRX is a grantee in the Ford Foundation’s 5-year “Global Perspectives in a Digital Age: Strengthening Public Media” initiative, which has been a remarkable experience that has put us right in the thick of some important developments in the field.
The foundation just put out a report on “The Public Square in a Digital Age” that includes a section on public radio and PRX.
You listen to National Public Radio. You tune in to Public Broadcasting Service stations. But does Public Radio Exchange ring a bell? PRX, a clearinghouse for archived quality programming, is part of a new wave of public service media that has arisen in response to rapid technological change and segmenting audiences.
