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Integrating New Media: How Greensburg will improve communication and empower citizens to get involved in the process
K-State Engagement E-News, Special Edition, May 2008 (PDF)
The windows were lined with little yellow slips of paper. Little yellow sheets that outlined the happenings for an entire community. Little yellow slips that were THE go-to resource. Let’s hope it didn’t get too humid, or the entire community calendar system would be completely ruined.
Bert Biles, the associate director of the National Institute for Land Management and Training, is working to remedy this problem for Greensburg, Kan., residents.
"Before the tornado, post-its on the Quick Mart were the only forms of communication, along with a weekly newspaper," Biles said. "But in order to put information in the paper, you had to plan so far in advance; and that just didn't work."
Biles explained that active community discussion and deliberation is an essential part of small-town growth. He stressed that citizens need access to news and information — information that is relevant to their specific communities.
So Biles and his team are working to create a series of new resources for Greensburg residents. These resources will be available for residents to learn, use and apply to their daily lives. The Community Media Project hopes to empower residents to create their own media, create their own news, become part of the conversation.
One component is, as Biles coins it, "the small-town radio station of yesteryear." The Main Street studio will discuss "Main Street" issues in a talk-radio format. But this golden radio station will have a modern twist — Internet broadcasting.
Community members will be equipped with a new Internet radio. The radio will feature a Ethernet cable in the back, but the "old fashioned" design will keep older residents at ease.
"We're trying to capture all the audiences, even those that aren't in touch with 21st century technology," said Brandon Utech, computer systems analyst in the K-State College of Engineering.
Other essential components of the Community Media Center include video and audio editing software, free Internet hook-ups, and an online Web portal where community members can link information about upcoming events, meetings, and other community communication.
According to the Community Media Center proposal, these new technologies will not only engage citizens in the local political process, but also allow people to "directly participate in designing community journalism, educational programs, and projects, making a direct contribution to their community...and learning valuable, job-building media production skills."
The Center for Engagement and Community Development also shares this important goal — to link community members with valuable resources where they can help their communities, and themselves, through a mutually beneficial process.
"The combination of these new technologies is transformative," Biles said. "Now we can reach areas that were previously untouched and help communities create systems using the latest technology to allow local citizens to produce their own information."