Primary Investigator:  

Dorothy Kidd, University of San Francisco

Partnering Organization:

Media Alliance, San Francisco

Media activism and media reform efforts have grown rapidly in recent years., but the resulting efforts are not very unified.   Disconnects between grassroots organizing and policy efforts are common--and not just in the gap between local and national settings.  Even local efforts are marked by disconnects between groups focused primarily on policy and infrastructure--as in the context of municipal wifi --and groups using media to organize in marginalized communities.   Very few of these groups have found the recipe for working effectively at the intersection between the two--between the promise of universal access and the concrete media practices that ensure that access serves the interests of marginalized communities.
 
This collaborative research project addresses divides between policy advocates and actvists working with underserved communities: how can the two key sectors, working in the ongoing effort to democratize the digital communications platform, be synergized?  More specifically, how can we reinforce the initiatives of advocates focused on technical and policy change with activists working to build an alternative media system that will genuinely serve the needs of underrepresented citizens within counter and mainstream public spheres? 
 
Building on Media Alliance’s long history of work with both sectors, this project aims to systematically implement and evaluate just such a collaboration. The outcome envisioned will not only benefit the community of Oakland, but also provide a case study with lessons that can be used in other communities across the U.S.  DI-WBSE will bring together four different parts of the digital communications puzzle: the local Oakland community networks, including Oakland Technology Exchange–West and Eastmont Computing Center, who put computers into the hands of young people in poor neighborhoods, Media Alliance’s campaign to open the municipal wi-fi movement to grassroots participation (Internet4Everyone),l community organizers such as Narika, Asian Immigrant Women’s Advocates, Mujeres Unida Y Activa and the Women of Color Resource Center, and Media Alliance’s training wing (Raising Our Voices).  As importantly, the project will support the content production of one of the most underserved groups, young immigrant women.