Last year, I published a piece co-authored with Jessica Clark from the Center for Social Media at American University. It has been downloaded by more than 2000 individuals and has some generated controversy for the  recommendations we propose.  Since then, I’ve written more about the concept of zing, a term I originally coined at public media gathering (New Realities) several years ago.

Zing speaks to the primacy of the individual maker in media.  We’ve know that the unique potential of traditional broadcast or digital media is realized when a gifted producer with an inspired idea and the level of craft to execute that idea moves a listener or viewer.   Zing describes the moment when this inspired, well-crafted idea — transmitted via the airwaves or across digital media pathways – “hits” the listener/viewer.  It describes the feeling one has when “moved” intellectually or emotionally, or in some cases, moved to action.

When we talk about the impact of media, this understanding is central.  Zing is impact at its most human, fundamental, level.  Loyalty, time spent listening, etc… these other behaviors by which we typically measure the impact of media follow the zing.

Here is an excerpt, and you’ll also find a link to the full downloadable PDF of the  article. Do our ideas hit a nerve in you?

There is an opportunity to move beyond established standards of success that have defined public broadcasting      productions of the past. These standards, such as listener loyalty, were defined by the limitations of the broadcast  technology. The profound evolution of media forms and approaches to craft as demonstrated by projects like MQ2 call for a new vision of who public media users are, what effect multiplatform work has on them, and whether they are being encouraged to learn, debate, and act as informed members of a democracy.

The new vision of public media 2.0 impact moves beyond loyalty or “holding” an individual in place and instead brings into focus individuals who are in motion: responding to the work of producers calling for participation, for example, by inviting them to leave their cars after listening to a broadcast feature in order to go out on their streets to take pictures; to then go online to Flickr and upload those pictures; to take the Flickr link and post it to Facebook or send it out via e-mail…. Read more here.

I’ve neglected you, dear blog. Here’s a few thoughts I circulated in an email awhile back, and decided to put it up here.

I’ve been noticing over the last year or so what seems to be movement afoot of people who are bringing music to storytelling in new ways. I tend to find it as I’m perusing WMBR‘s stacks prepping for my radio show, and maybe you’re on to it, too.  I’m loving these new approaches and thought I’d share/attach the latest, Charles Spearin’s “Happiness Project,” which is a collection of some of his Toronto neighbors who frequent his front porch in the summertime.  He says, “I wanted to see if I could blur the line between speaking and singing and write music based on these “accidental melodies.”

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Others in this vein include Phillip Bimstein (esp his homage to baseball, “Bushy Wushy Rag“) and the Matthew Herbert Big Band whose new CD “There’s Me and There’s You” includes “the sounds contributed by Palestinians of their favorite of their most hated sound…”

good, all, for the ears.

I just had a look at Dale Hobson/NCPR’s listening post, one of the few, truly worthwhile e-newsletters. He distills in a wonderful way the real-life implications from a station POV the most recent news coming out of NPR…the acquisition of Public Interactive, and its decision to adopt Application Protocol Interface (API). The latter is revolutionary, not only because of the new gateways to listeners this decision will open up, but also from the standpoint that NPR is one of the first major news organization in the U.S. to make this move. Here’s what Hobson has to say: Read more »

I was commissioned to write an article by GrantMakers in Film and Video.

What do we need to “forget” then, in public radio? There are two sacred concepts that make a good starting point: the supremacy of content, and public service.

The year ahead will have its ups and downs, just like 2007. Ella, sweet harbinger, is my gift to you, with wishes for a prosperous, healthy New Year. Praise the good.

I’ve got a new assignment. On Sept 1, I’ll add AIR, Association of Independents in Radio, to my roster….I’ve been named Executive Director. AIR is the largest professional membership organization in pubradio — 600 strong — representing a broad cross-section of the “makers,” from station-based reporters to the networks — NPR, PRI, and APM/MPR — to independent production shops to the freelancer-independents who gave birth to the organization nearly 20 years ago in NYC. A recent survey shows that AIR members are a multiplicitas group — teachers, writers, reporter-journalists, curators, poets, archivists — working almost equally in the commercial and non-commercial sectors. AIR members produce or contribute to more than 400 radio programs and podcasts, receiving financial support from 183 corporations or foundations. It is, indeed, a formidable group distinguished by its passion for and mastery of the media and craft of sound. I’m honored to take this position, and excited at what lies ahead.