In all honesty if I found the perfect community media center I’d be there in an instant. There are centers that are getting something things right and I agree that most centers (although I’ve worked at centers that don’t) have the major pillars of cable access close to their hearts.

I started a blog entry that I plan on updating for the next month or so on what would exist in a perfect world: http://petepo.com/node/7

Doubt that I’d ever be able to get something like this off the ground but it’s good to dream…

You wrote: I’ve never known two people in the Community Media world to have the same idea of what a successful center is.

Really? Maybe you could elaborate on that. I’ve been in the community media world (as a producer/staffer/board member/enthusiast) for 18+ years and I’ve found that CMCs have much more in common, philosophically, than not. There are differences in policy and a diversity of where emphasis is placed, but the broad strokes are pretty much consistent in my experience — free (“content neutral”) speech, non-commercial, partnerships with non-profits, media literacy emphasis and a strong educational/training piece.

I think PEG has been slow to get ahead of the tech curve w/r/t web 2.0 and “new media” (when we really ought to be leaders in that space) but it depends of the specific center and I think that’s changing now.

Now I really want to know what defines a successful center in your mind. I take as read all of the above plus an active and diverse user base. What else makes a center successful in your mind? Can you point to examples of centers that are getting it right?

I’m shilling for a panel at SXSW next year that’s about building community through media & media centers so your thoughts would really be helpful.

I want centers to make informed decisions about what direction they’re taking when it comes to resource allocation and to look at the return on their investments. It’s nice to hear that you are making informed and targeted decisions to go with paid software.

Thanks for commenting!

While it was Saturday’s panel I was referring to, I had this feeling throughout the whole conference — and my describing it as old vs. new was admittedly simplistic. I don’t mean to pigeon hole anyone — I know we’re all on the same side.

And to be fair, the questions coming at DOM folks from the “old guard” at the session on Saturday were perfectly fine questions — much of the tension I sensed resulted from the reactions to those questions from the open source evangelists, which were sometimes impolitic (one poor questioner had his question actually mocked).

I think if someone sits down and spends some hours creating some marketing materials for the Open Media Project, a lot of the concern and frustration will ebb away. Like anything new, comfort will come with use and familiarity.