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Steve Wright: Community Technology Is Rarely about the Technology by anonymous
Steve Wright was a high school teacher and administrator for ten years, and has been at salesforce.com/foundation as the Program and Technical Director for a little over two years. “And I did a couple other things in between,” he says.
Current Work My work with salesforce.com/foundation centers on community media. As I see it, there are two trends that make this work particularly important and immediate. First, the conglomeration of American media in the hands of a very few corporations has substantively locked individuals and communities out. The information that we get through the major corporate channels is run through an economic filter. Human stories and diverse opinions do not get heard. The second trend is the growth of technology and technology users to the point where it is now possible to produce quality media within a community for a local or a broader audience. Specifically, salesforce.com/foundation has provided small community media grants to youth and community development organizations and then followed those grants with training and in person assistance to create quality, relevant media. To date, most of the work that has been produced falls in the youth media category. But, this is the easy part. The real goal of this work is to find audiences for the media. To do this we have built a web portal (www.youthspace.net) where much of this media is being streamed. It is our intention for this portal to become increasingly dynamic where content can be self-published and commented on by a broad audience. Additionally, we are working with a group of community organizations in San Francisco to encourage our municipal leaders to hold Comcast accountable to the residents of San Francisco. This work has taken the form of community information meetings, testimony before the board of supervisors and convening of community media organizations to plan festivals and to trade resources. Challenges Political will: CTC role in Community Development: I think both of these challenges can be summed up in the idea that community technology is very rarely about the technology. The Rewards The opportunity to work directly with a broad range of people to help facilitate their vision for their communities is extremely rewarding. Some Words of Advice I guess I have different advice depending on who is asking. For intermediaries or funders, the most valuable lesson I have learned is to get out of the way. The mistakes that I have made have been around pushing too hard on my agenda and not listening well enough to the people who provide the direct services to the community. Due diligence is critical, but once you have found an organization that you trust and you believe to be effective, let them do the work. For Community Technology or Community Development folks, my advice is to seek out partners that that have complimentary competencies. The technological expertise that exists in CTCs is, in my opinion, under-utilized by other social change organizations. In a world where technology is more prevalent and more powerful, CTCs can position themselves to provide a whole new level of access—access to the ability to publish, the ability to be heard. This is also a very interesting social entrepreneurship opportunity. CTCs can provide training, web hosting, technical assistance, even connectivity to other community non-profits. If not for income, these services can be provided as a way to offset the costs of broadband (T1) connectivity, high-end technology or professional development. Looking Ahead What the future holds is more of the same. The ability to create media will continue to be easier and the corporate media outlets will continue to work to have their content seen above all other. I see a movement within the CTC community to provide access to the ability to publish, via cable TV and the Internet. This will be achieved through civic partnership with community and city leaders, with public access cable providers and with other social change non-profits who need increased exposure. Comments
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