Graduation Term

2018

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

School of Communication

Committee Chair

Brent K. Simonds

Abstract

With the experience of 30+ years in community media, I envision providing a resource for scholars as well as community media practitioners and stakeholders. I am investigating the processes of training at community media centers (CMC) to determine potential impacts and effects. Functioning as a participant observer, I will prepare a documentary film focusing on the practices and processes utilized by CMCs to serve their communities.

Concentrating on Columbia Access Television (CAT TV), Columbia, Missouri and the Sun Prairie Media Center (SPMC), Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, I plan to visit each location to interview station staff, volunteers, and community members. These are two very different CMCs and viewing their successes and concerns will give contrasting perspectives on community media. Supplementing site interviews, I will include an expertise angle by conducting interviews of community media specialists and communication theory scholars.

With awareness that sense of place is critical for the quality of life in a community, I will explore potential influences on civic engagement and on the development of relationships among encounters and experiences of participants in community media. The video documentary will address implications for media literacy and civic engagement together with identification of benefits for CMC constituents, including the station participants, area civic leaders, and communities in which CMCs locate.

Access Type

Thesis-Open Access

DOI

http://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2018.Knightwright.J

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