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Upstream: A New Column on Public Media and Social Action Online

Published on June 14, 2007

By Katy Chevigny, Executive Director of Arts Engine

Welcome to Upstream! This is the first of what will be a monthly column on MediaRights.org. In response to the rapid changes occurring in online media distribution, we at Arts Engine decided it was both timely and vital to provide our take on the field with an eye toward social impact. Upstream will not only keep abreast of what’s new in online video, it will discuss how online video is shaping dialogue and triggering action.

We feel that Upstream is a natural extension of our role in the field over the last several years. In 2001, long before “google” became a verb and MySpace was barely a twinkle in Rupert Murdoch’s wallet, Arts Engine launched the first annual Media That Matters Film Festival, a cutting edge online showcase of independent shorts that explored issues like anorexia and the environmental impact of Silicon Valley in eight minutes or less. While the dotcom boom of the nineties had come and gone, in its place had emerged a shared feeling, especially in the nonprofit and public media sectors, that the web had the power to connect people, to invigorate social justice movements, to provide a platform for voices of dissent and to distribute independent media.

It was in this spirit that Arts Engine launched MediaRights.org in 2000 and, a year later, the Media That Matters Film Festival. Our goal was then and remains today to reduce the gap between content creators and audiences and to harness the potential of the web to present independent media in the context of education and action. In the past six years our little online festival has grown into a yearlong program of screenings and DVD distribution, but the website remains its core. The instant gratification of streaming video and the ability to connect a visitor to a myriad of resources has made Media That Matters, and projects like it, such compelling online destinations.

But in the years since the festival launch, we have all witnessed the web become a much more crowded media landscape, offering boundless content and sometimes widespread confusion. From the gradual integration of streaming video into broadcast television websites like ABC.com to the advent of YouTube, where an impressive 100 million clips were viewed daily last year, online video has become the rule rather than the exception for any website that wants to engage its users. The result has been an explosion of creative expression and rapid growth in audiences for independent media. This means it’s easier than ever to watch films online, but, as with broadcast and cable television, harder than ever to find the good stuff, especially when you’re looking for videos that explore the many pressing social justice issues of the day.

And that’s not the only hurdle. Some filmmakers, especially those of us who have been around long enough to remember the Avid 5.1 (or some of us real old schoolers-the flatbed), are predicting that these new web platforms are likely to undermine our ability to make a living as independent artists. The public has come to expect free video content at their fingertips. And it’s quickly becoming apparent that we filmmakers are expected to post new films and videos on the web, in their entirety, for free. While revenue streams such as pay-per-click advertising and the promise of potential DVD sales are encouraging, it remains to be seen if filmmakers will be able to make media and make ends meet.

These are just some of the mysteries, riddles and conundrums that perplex those of us who love to make, watch or use independent media. Here at Arts Engine we find ourselves asking a number of questions about what the future may hold. To help us, and you, our almost 16,000 members, take advantage of these new tools to the fullest, we are launching Upstream, through which we will travel with you as your guide through the quickly shifting world of online video.

In Upstream, we will examine many aspects of the new developments in online distribution from the perspective of how independent media can exploit new opportunities for exhibition and impact. While the business page covers the multi-billion dollar website purchase, Upstream will look at what platforms the new service might offer for public media. And we will analyze the new opportunities from the position of cautious optimists: we are both realistic about some of pitfalls that face independent media online as well as idealistic about the possibilities of devising new techniques for showcasing meaningful work.

On a regular basis you will hear from our staff and other knowledgeable experts in the fields of public media, activism and internet technologies discuss the latest developments in public media and social action online.

This is what you can expect from Upstream:

•Reviews of the latest web video distribution platforms. Regardless of economic concerns, if you do want to post your work online, the choices of distribution platforms seem endless. A new web video site launches just about everyday, and they all offer promises of new audiences, fresh content and unique features. Assuming you don’t have the time to post your film everywhere, it can be difficult to determine which sites are most worthwhile and fulfilling to the filmmaker and to the viewer.

•Case studies of public media successes online. The constant flood of new video content online has made the need for curation more important than ever. Sites and tools to sort and choose specific media that might otherwise be lost in the deluge are developing to meet this demand. Upstream will advocate for - and support - a safe space for public media online for the users who want to go beyond the latest YouTube hit.

•Insight on how to use online media to increase organizing capacity and create social change. As we have since MediaRights.org’s inception, we will continue to highlight work that ties independent media distribution to innovative social justice efforts, particularly using social networking tools that lend themselves to organizing campaigns.

•Information about copyright and fair use as they apply to web video. In the last two years, Arts Engine has incorporated education and action around copyright, access and fair use law into all of its programmatic work. Upstream will discuss the latest on common practices regarding online use of intellectual property while at the same time offering bold recommendations on ways to uphold the First Amendment in independent mediamaking.

•Interviews with providers of new online services, with web innovators, with mediamakers in the field, as well as coverage of conferences and events surrounding online media news.

It is our hope that Upstream will help cut through the noise and offer a useful compass with which to navigate the world of online video. We invite you to email us suggestions for column topics and to share your own stories and opinions about what awaits those of us who care about the future of independent media online. Stay tuned for the next installation of Upstream.

This article is available for noncommercial use under a Creative Commons license. It was originally published on MediaRights.org, a project of Arts Engine, Inc. This notice must accompany the article at all times.

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