The following is an excerpt from an excellent overview piece by Jessica Clark of American University’s Future of Public Media Project. I selected this section because the video is especially worth sharing.

Change the Conversation

It’s time to change the conversation about public media from one of scarcity to one of abundance. We still have incredible, unprecedented access to low-cost tools for production, distribution, and connection. How can nearly half a century of public investment in media content and infrastructure be retooled to direct such rich resources to address pressing public concerns?

At the Center for Social Media, we’ve been exploring such questions for several years, and with support from the Ford Foundation, have worked with Ellen Goodman of the Rutgers Institute for Information Policy and Law to create a video imagining how different members of an imaginary family might better use public media:

Other proposals for reforming the system have been making the rounds. For example, see Stephen Hill’s paper, Funding the Future of Public Media. “The goal is a comprehensive, tiered public media service that serves the end user the way they like best, on any screen or digital platform, wherever they are,” he writes. “In practice this means a range of interactivity, from passive listening on fully programmed channels, to customized on-demand service, to intensive interaction for high level user requirements.”

But building such next-generation networks will require not just money, or innovators, but full public participation and buy-in to a new vision. What do you wish public media could do for you, your family, and your community? Join the dialogue with your own comments, below, or on Twitter at #pubmedia.

via www.pbs.org

Share this video with friends and family. It’s the best overview I’ve seen of the changing public media ecosystem.