mediageek

Category: the grassroots

  • Come All Ye Independent Media Makers – AMC 2006 Is Set for June 23-25

    I haven’t yet set my plans for June, though I haven’t missed an Allied Media Conference since I started attending some four years ago. As I’ve said before, this is one of the most useful media conferences I’ve been to, and it always has a very cool, friendly and enthusiastic vibe. This year’s theme is…

  • One the US’s Greatest Publishers Going Out of Business

    I’ve always been a fan of Loompanics Unlimited, the publisher of such great titles as The Outlaw’s Bible and Understanding U.S. Identity Documents. Before there was a public internet, Loompanics made good on the notion that information wants to be free, publishing information and ideas that no other book publisher would touch. Loompanics is perhaps…

  • Stream Anything with VLC

    Engadget has a how-to for streaming anything with the free VLC player, which is obviously more than a player, since it also includes a streaming server. What’s nice about VLC is that you don’t have to be tied to a patent-protected format like MP3 or some varietal of MPEG video. Streaming makes a great way…

  • DAT RIP? So long, and thanks for all the MP3s.

    According to Engadget and this Japanese press release Sony has finally killed Digital Audio Tape, ending production of the final model, introduced in 1997. DAT is really the grandfather of MP3. It was the first digital recording medium offered to the public, and it scared the bejeezus out of the recording industry, just like file-trading…

  • The One Noncommercial Station That Gets the Web, and Thrives

    Not only is New Jersey’s WFMU the best freeform radio station in the country, the station also has a great blog with posts on strange arcane music, culture and radio industry dirt, all from a smart, cynical, independent perspective. FMU’s The Professor has posted an interesting analysis of Air America radio, focused on the apparent…

  • Buying a Shortwave Radio on Ebay

    I go through phases of listening to my shortwave radio. It can be fun and it’s the only way to hear broadcasts from some countries or clandestine broadcasters. No, not all audio or all broadcasts are available on the internet yet. Really nice shortwave radios can be pretty expensive, and probably aren’t available in a…

  • The Imminent Demise of a Grassroots Radio Resource

    Wired News reports on the imminent demise of the most authoritative scanner frequency guides, Police Call. Apparently the author/publisher is getting old and tired, and sees waning interest in the hobby of listenting to police, fire, emergency and other radio communications. Also putting a dent in things is the fact that many police departments are…

  • Paticipatory Media Reading Group

    Any Champaign-Urbana local folks might be interested in participating in a reading group on Participatory Media I’m helping to organize along with Andrew. We’ve set our first meeting for Thursday Oct. 13, 7 PM at Cafe Giuliani (formerly the Green St. Coffee House) on Green St. in Campustown, Champaign. There’s a private meeting room in…

  • On Friday’s Radioshow: Aaron Glantz on How America Lost Iraq

    A couple of hours ago I finished an interview with Free Speech Radio News reporter Aaron Glantz who spent time in Baghdad after Saddam fell, reporting for FSRN and Pacifica. He’s written a book about his experiences, How America Lost Iraq, and Champaign, IL is kind of his last stop on his DIY book tour.…

  • Don’t Be Cowed By Romanticized History

    I’ve often heard activists and independent media makers express a sense of inadequacy or longing for a time or place other than now and here, stemming from the belief that it was better then or is better elsewhere. I addressed that sense of geographical inadequacy in a piece called “The Sense of Place” in mediageek…