|
Help make public
access television your own Editorial 04/17/2001 Interactive television. Two-way communication. Internet access and online services. Movies and video games on demand. Distance learning. Advertisement They are all part of the future of cable communications. They may also be part of your future. What used to be a cut-and-dried proposition - the leasing of city-owned property to a company to run the wires that conduct television programming - is now a complex endeavor. Localities are just learning how to leverage these valuable right-of-ways to persuade cable companies to help build a network that will help community organizations communicate with each other and the public using a cable company's resources. Troy Mayor Mark Pattison sees the opportunities that such a network can bring to this city. He has appointed a Cable Advisory Committee to evaluate what the public wants from the cable company, what is feasible, and what the cable company is willing to give up. Perhaps the most important part of this process is assessing what cable television communication services residents will need in the future. To ease this process, the committee is holding a series of six workshops, April 24 to 27, to get input from all segments of the community that have an interest in, or are users of, cable communication services. Each session will focus on a different aspect of community life be it arts, cultural and heritage or small business, community and general. Other workshop topics to be covered are: Local government departments and agencies; Non-profit, community service, human and social service organizations and agencies; Education and libraries; Community residents, neighborhoods and ethnic groups; and Businesses and business organizations. For a complete workshop schedule, call 273-0552, e-mail info@theartscenter.cc, or check out www.troynet.net on the Internet. The workshops will give local residents a look at the technological changes that are happening as well as a look at how schools, community groups, businesses and government agencies are using cable systems throughout the country. Troy residents might do well to look to the example of Lowell, Mass. where public-access television has evolved into a new form called "community media" - a mix of traditional broadcasting and high tech, Internet-related components. Residents there pay an annual fee to a nonprofit organization and get unrestricted access to a fully equipped television studio and Internet work stations. The nonprofit also operates an "institutional network," which connects computers at municipal offices throughout Lowell. The possibilities are endless, according to Steve Pierce, a doctoral student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy and public-access advocate. Opportunities range from a church broadcasting sermons for shut-ins to a local government giving live updates on road repairs and recommending alternate routes, to school board meetings and public safety presentations. Perhaps Pierce said it best when he was interviewed last year in Metroland: "Access is a revolutionary idea - it's people who make their own television." Help make public-access TV your own by attending one of the workshops and voicing your ideas on what the future of cable communications should be in Troy. |
to join our list announcing breaking news, meetings and events.
