Session 3

2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Community Media: Personal or Political? From Limited Access to Transformative Communication

Mario A. Murillo, Wake Up Call; Brian Drolet, Deep Dish TV; Bernard White, WBAI; DeeDee Halleck, Denisse Andrade, Facilitator

An open, self-critical discussion about what we're accomplishing through community media in a large urban setting. Given the new technologies that exist and the increasingly reduced spaces that community organizations have to use media, this workshop will address in a comprehensive fashion where we have gone with community media and how we can make it more effective. Is community media simply a space for diverse voices, or should there be a more movement-oriented focus designed to transform communities and society as a whole?

Get Your Questions Answered: Interviewing 101

[limited space, youth-prioritized]

Kyra Joseph, Tamara Malciu, Billy Rivera, and Mihai Malciu, Radio Rootz

Interested in news reporting or improving your interviewing skills? Well, this is the workshop you don't want to miss! In this workshop, we will teach you the theories and practice of basic audio recording and reporting. This workshop will also help improve your interviewing skills. The workshop is divided into three sections. We'll begin by going over basic interviewing skills such as pre-interview preparation, interviewing tips, and who to interview. The second part consists of learning how to use minidisc recorders. We'll learn about microphone placement, taking levels, and important recoding tips. The final part consists of putting your skills to practice. We'll have lots of fun.

Grassroots Media in an Election Year: Creating Community Voter Guides

Adrienne Maree Brown, League of Pissed Off Voters

In this workshop, participants will learn to create voter guides that reflect a community’s values. Learn how to empower your community through information.

How to Build Your Own Website

Alfredo Lopez and Josue Guillen, May First/People Link

Building a website involves making choices about who you want to talk to, what you want to say and why. Implementing those choices used to require considerable site design skill or hiring expensive and not always accessible site managers. Today's website technology allows people with no knowledge of html or php to manage every aspect of a website, empowering activists, organizers and grassroots communicators to get their messages out more quickly, efficiently and effectively the moment they need to. In this workshop two veteran Internet activists, who use CMS systems every day, will offer some insight into what you can do and how you can do it.

NYC Feminist Independent Media

Lala Endara; Abby Scher; Ka-Man Tse; Emily North; Eleanor Whitney

This panel will feature presentations by diverse, New York City-based feminist independent media makers who are also involved in or report on community and cultural organizing. Panelists will discuss their backgrounds in media making and community work and address such questions as: what do they view as the "state" of independent, feminist media? How does this relate to the history of independent, feminist media? What is or can be the role of independent, feminist media in the current political and social climate? How are feminist media and feminist media makers treated in the larger independent and/or corporate media context? What role can independent, feminist media makers play in building movements for racial, economic and social justice?

The Portable Printing Press: A Hands-On Guide to Stencil-Making

Visual Resistance; Josh MacPhee

The stencil is one of the cheapest and easiest ways of reproducing an image. The Visual Resistance collective will conduct a hands-on skill-share that will cover the basics of making a stencil. We encourage participants to bring ideas and/or designs to share with the group. It is not necessary to bring supplies, but if you have your own x-acto knife please bring it. Everyone will leave the room having created something!

The Role of Ethnic Press in Times of War and Natural Disaster

Nayaba Arinde, Amsterdam News; Wenjie Dong, Ming Pao Daily (New York); Tomasz Deptula, Nowy Dziennik (Polish Daily News); Lisa Vives, Global Network; Carolina Gonzalez; Anthony D. Advincula, moderator,

Independent Press Association-New York
When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, nothing in the mainstream press covered the how this natural disaster impacted thousands of ethnic minorities. The plight of these communities was neither seen nor heard, and even government agencies failed to address their needs. Likewise, since the war in Iraq broke out, stories have focused on the Bush administration and his policies but not what this means for minority communities whose young people are being recruited to fight abroad. Only the ethnic press has been tackling the issues overlooked by major newspapers. Bringing together editors of ethnic press outlets and representatives from the mainstream, this panel will discuss why the voices of ethnic minorities are so often left out of the discourse, how this impacts our communities and how ethnic press serves to bridge the gap.

Say What You Mean: How to Tailor Your Video and Your Message

Karima Mouhoubi, AWAAM

AWAAM youth video producers share with us the process of producing their work-in-progress entitled “Terrorism.” The workshop will take you through the first two drafts of the documentary, activities to help you learn how to get your point across via video, and how to learn about your topic while working on your video.

Talking to Mainstream Media: Indy media Isn't Always Enough

Nan Rubin

Sometimes we want to look for mainstream press, and sometimes they come looking for us. Be prepared!! This workshop will help you get ready for dealing with mainstream news media, telling your story, and managing your message.