For Media, 2010 is the year of 'Open'

Find this article in The Tyee, rabble.ca, VUE Weekly, and Common Ground.


Meet the many innovators advancing the open media movement.

Some of us have made New Year resolutions to exercise more, eat healthier, or spend more time with friends and family. While these are important personal goals, it may be the right time to also have a loftier collective resolution -- to drastically open up our media system in 2010.

I've previously written about how the combination of big corporate media's self-mutilation and the increasing proliferation of the open Internet has created a historic opportunity to transform Canada's media system and our concept of citizenship, government and institutions in general. What I have been somewhat remiss in discussing to date is the third and most important factor leading to transformative change in media -- the open media movement.

The declining power of Big Media and the rise of open, unfettered communication does not guarantee a permanent transformation of our media system. Indeed, Big Media and Big Telecom could seize this moment of flux to re-establish themselves as the gatekeepers of digital communication.

For an example of how the old Big Phone and Cable gatekeepers are trying to regain control, just look at the struggle for open Internet (or "Net Neutrality") in Canada and elsewhere.

Luckily, the open media movement has become increasingly vibrant over the past year, and is well positioned to take advantage of this moment.


Open media emerges

The burgeoning open media movement is really a constellation of interconnected yet distinct communities who are advancing open communication and defending our communication rights and values. These communities include those that have come together around open-source software, open data, open Internet, open web, open content, open education, open government and many more.

What brings all these thriving communities together is, of course, the value of "openness."

These communities are also bound by their dedication to the people's right to have open and accessible connections to each other -- the freedom to share. That's why when we drill down to the foundation of Big Telecom's push to control the open Internet, or Big Media's efforts to put digital locks on media technology, what we are really talking about is a war on sharing.


Read the rest of this article on The Tyee's website.

Steve Anderson is the national coordinator for the Campaign for Democratic Media. He is a contributing author of Censored 2008 and Battleground: The Media and has written for The Tyee, Toronto Star, Epoch Times, Common Ground, Rabble.ca and Adbusters.

Reach me at:
steve@democraticmedia.ca
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Media Links is a syndicated column supported by CommonGround, TheTyee, Rabble.ca, VUE Weekly

Media Links by Steve Anderson, CommonGround, TheTyee, Rabble.ca, , VUE Weekly is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License. You must attribute this work to Steve Anderson, CommonGround, TheTyee, Rabble.ca, VUE Weekly