[Rfu-barnraising] Re: {leti} Re: the automation question

[Sascha Meinrath]

Hi all,

Clearly there's been some miscommunication here.  CUWiN has been explicit from 
the very beginning that we're interested in the multimedia integration aspects 
of the Barnraising -- this is one of the main reasons why we got involved in the 
first place.  We've always been extremely up-front about it and am a little 
confused as to why this is coming up now, if there's a widely held concern about 
streaming, etc.  I'd like to hear from other WRFU-ers.

I also think Andrew is quite mistaken in his analysis that setting up a 
streaming server somehow infringes on WRFU's autonomy.  The streaming server is 
being set up by Acorn as part of a multimedia system that'll be housed at the 
IMC, as a part of a project that dates back to last Fall and is a collaboration 
among the IMC, Acorn, and CUWiN.  WRFU is free to use the service or not; 
meanwhile, the streaming will also be available to the shows group (think live 
feeds from the IMC), video and audio groups (for media dissemination), 
interested organizations, and the local community as a whole.  This server is an 
extension of the Chambana.net project and has been planned for quite some time.

Clearly, WRFU should decide for itself whether it wants to stream; likewise, the 
Barnraising ad-hoc committee should decide what's happening at the Barnraising 
(this is what we created the group to do and the Barnraising is a collaborative 
effort among multiple different groups and organizations).  So I'll reiterate 
what I stated previously, we plan to stream during the Barnraising and WRFU can 
decide what it wants to do down the road.  Are there other folks with concerns 
about this?  Cause I'd like to get them addressed before we're in the midst of 
the chaos and stress of the barnraising itself.

Let me know,

--Sascha

P.S.  Meanwhile, we're still looking for volunteers to help with 1st floor 
construction.  I'm in the space _every_ day (often several times a day) and 
haven't seen too many WRFU-ers there -- we really need all the help we can get, 
so please volunteer.

Andrew Ó Baoill wrote:
> As I mentioned to Sascha off-list, I hadn't realized that the  streaming 
> issue would be raised again at last night's meeting. We had  decided, a 
> few weeks ago, to leave the issue of streaming to one side  until after 
> the barnraising - reflecting also my understanding of  WRFU's current 
> position - so I didn't realize it would be back on the  agenda. [My 
> apologies, by the way, for my absence - my students  wanted their 
> grades, and they wanted them NOW!] I've dropped leti  from the extensive 
> cc: list, as this is more of an non-techie  internal discussion.
> 
> The WEFT case I quoted was an analysis of WEFT's decision to increase  
> power, serving a larger area, so as I said it is not completely  
> analogous, but some of the same arguments can be raised. The Bekken  
> article, which I recommend to anyone interested in community media,  is 
> available online at:
> http://www.infoshop.org/texts/seizing/bekken.html
> 
> My concerns with streaming are multiple, though not necessarily  
> absolute, and go to the issue of what the role of a community station  
> is, something on which reasonable people can differ, and how  structures 
> will impact content, a possible topic for many  dissertations ;-).
> 
> Further, however, there's the question of who should decide whether  
> WRFU will be a streaming operation - Prometheus staff, the  Barnraising 
> ad hoc group, CUWiN, or WRFU itself. To say that we'll  set up streaming 
> at the Barnraising and "see what happens down the  road" seems a rather 
> strong impingement on WRFU's autonomy and self- determination, though I 
> fully realize it is not intended as such.
> 
> I'm open to persuasion on the issue of streaming, but want to make  sure 
> the decision is made 'right way around.' Purely on a practical  basis, 
> given our current funding situation, I don't think it's  something we 
> should embark on now.
> 
> Oh, and I'll definitely take Sascha up on that offer of grabbing a  beer 
> to talk these things over! :-)
> 
> Andrew
> 
> On 27 DFómh 2005, at 16:44, Sascha Meinrath wrote:
> 
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Andrew and I should go grab a beer so I can get a better feel for  his 
>> concerns; but I and other folks are definitely interested in  setting 
>> up streaming.  I'm not sure I buy that streaming would  necessarily 
>> negatively impact the quality and/or community  grounding of the 
>> station -- at WEFT, we streamed for quite some  time and only stopped 
>> because the price increased.  I haven't heard  of any negative 
>> repercussions from streaming, and unless someone  can make the case 
>> the WRFU would be differentially impacted, I  think WEFT provides us 
>> with a fairly good (local) precedent.  Also,  just so it's noted 
>> somewhere, we decided at last night's  Barnraising meeting to do 
>> streaming during the Barnraising, that  part of things is a go.
>>
>> Either way, I think there's a core group of folks who would be very  
>> interested in learning about streaming and how to set this sort of  
>> system up -- so we should definitely do that.  Long-term, it could  be 
>> that WRFU decides not to stream their signal; however, other  stations 
>> (such as WEFT) may be interested and this is an  opportunity to 
>> demonstrate how this works.  Since we already have a  server 
>> infrastructure available through the IMC, I think it makes  all the 
>> sense in the world for us to set this up for the  Barnraising and see 
>> what happens down the road.
>>
>> --Sascha

-- 
Sascha Meinrath
Policy Analyst    *  Project Coordinator  *  President
Free Press       *** CU Wireless Network *** Acorn Active Media
www.freepress.net *  www.cuwireless.net   *  www.acornactivemedia.com