Mass media determine public consciousness. But in the US, where mass media are owned and operated almost entirely by and in the interest of a greedy and irresponsible corporate elite, who keep the issues of control and governance of the internet, cable, broadcast and other media off the table. Potential growth of the media justice movement into an arm of a broad and popular social movement is a clear and imminent threat to the nation's bipartisan elite. And it's the only hope for many millions of Americans currently unable to speak with or hear their own voices, or to realize their own power.

Whose Media? Our Media!
Strategic Communications Tools to Reform,
Reclaim and Revolutionize the Media

A toolkit to help media activists develop and successfully execute their own communications campaigns from the ground up.

From campaigns to limit media consolidation to efforts to preserve net neutrality and expand community radio, grassroots activists around the country are winning victories in support of media reform and media justice. Yet media activists can still struggle to make their concerns understood by the average media consumer.

Now the SPIN Project presents Whose Media? Our Media! Strategic Communications Tools to Reform, Reclaim and Revolutionize the Media.

Packed with tips, analyses and best practices, Whose Media? Our Media! shows activists how to employ the tools of strategic communications – planning, framing, messaging, and creative campaign tactics -- to shape public opinion in favor of a democratic media system. Download the toolkit below and start planning how to use the media to reform the media.

Whose Media? Our Media! is funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation's Knowledge, Creativity & Freedom Program. If you are a member of an organization that works for media reform or media justice, you are eligible to receive a free copy of this kit. If you would like a copy of this kit but do not fit the above criteria, you may order the kit for $15.00 (includes shipping and handling). Please contact the SPIN Project to order.

What exactly is the Internet and what role does it play in our movement for social change?

In this collection of essays, May First/People Link techie-organizers explore this remarkable social movement:

• analyzing its growth and character as an expression of humanity's resistance and resilience;
• offering an analysis of how it impacts the progressive movement and how we should impact it;
• taking up Internet issues like access, race and gender, threats to the Internet's independence and freedom, free and open source software, spam, email, security and privacy, dns and other Internet protocols;
• and suggesting strategies for the use, protection and expansion of the Internet's technology.

It's a must-read for every progressive activist who participates in the Internet and a good starting point for the movement-wide discussion that has become essential.

The book features:

• The Organic Internet by Alfredo López
• The Political Techie by Jamie McClelland
• Domain Names by Alfredo López
• The Internet Protocol by Eric Goldhagen
• Technical Architecture Shapes Social Structure by Daniel Kahn Gillmor
• The Email Crisis by Jamie McClelland
• FOSS and Proprietary Software by Amanda B. Hickman

You can download a copy of the Organic Internet on line as a pdf file or purchase printed paperback copies for $7.00

"There are many ways of engaging underserved communities to define their needs in relation to municipal broadband and to advocate for them. This Do It Yourself (DIY) Guide explains why and how you could involve the public through a consensus conference. It is based on the experience of organizing the "Broadband for All?" conensus conference at Santa Clara University (see [link:broadbandforall.org::http://broadbandforall.org] for more background, reports, follow-up and other materials) Other ideas for activating your community follow at the end of this guide."

A
New Weave of Power, People & Politics:

The
Action Guide for Advocacy and Citizen Participation

by
Lisa VeneKlasen with Valerie Miller

A New Weave of Power,
People & Politics provides
a well-tested approach for building people’s participation and
collective power that goes beyond influencing policy and politics to
transforming public decision-making altogether. Based on 25 years of
participatory research, community development, neighborhood organizing,
legal rights education, and large-scale campaign advocacy experiences
worldwide, A New Weave combines concrete and practical action
“steps” with a sound theoretical foundation to help users understand
the process of people-centered politics from  planning to action.
Published in 2002 and reprinted in 2007, the guide is unique in its
emphasis on power and constituency-building discussed through the lens
of gender/race/class and based on the concrete experiences of social
change in dozens of countries worldwide.

Read reviews of the book in Popular Education News, by John Ruthrauff, for InterAction, and other praise.

Translations of A New Weave are available in Spanish, Russian, Bahasa Indonesia, and (soon) French. (more)

This pdf excerpt from, "A New Weave of Power, People and Politics: The Action Guide for Advocacy and Citizen Participation," outlines arenas of activity (government, private sector, civil society, political space and culture and changes as individuals), and provides an approach for evaluating advocacy action and impact.

Civic Life Online

Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth

Edited by W. Lance Bennett

Young people today have grown up living
substantial portions of their lives online, seeking entertainment,
social relationships, and a place to express themselves. It is clear
that participation in online communities is important for many young
people, but less clear how this translates into civic or political
engagement. This volume examines the relationship of online action and
real-world politics.

The contributors discuss not only how online networks might inspire
conventional political participation but also how creative uses of
digital technologies are expanding the boundaries of politics and
public issues. Do protests in gaming communities, music file sharing,
or fan petitioning of music companies constitute political behavior? Do
the communication skills and patterns of action developed in these
online activities transfer to such offline realms as voting and public
protests? Civic Life Online describes the many forms of civic life online that could predict a generation's political behavior.

Contributors:
Marina Umaschi Bers, Stephen Coleman, Jennifer Earl, Kirsten Foot,
Peter Levine, Kathryn C. Montgomery, Kate Raynes-Goldie, Howard
Rheingold, Alan Schussman, Luke Walker, Michael Xenos.

About the Editor

W. Lance Bennett is Ruddick C. Lawrence Professor of Communication and
Professor of Political Science at the University of Washington.

A rising wave of grassroots media activism is linking up with social
movements fighting racism, sexism, economic oppression, environmental
plunder and war - and organizing to re-center media reform efforts on
human rights and social justice. Introducing the Media Action Grassroots Network

(MAG-Net).

Several prominent grassroots organizations, hoping to increase the
diversity of voices within the overall media democracy movement,
recently launched a new coalition. The Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net) will seek to strengthen the leadership, strategy and coordination of the grassroots sector of the media reform movement.

Another world is possible. But we won’t get there without another
media - a free and diverse media that embodies and sustains
democratic values of justice, respect, and community.

Organizing for media justice means confronting and
transforming the structural racism and corporate control in our media
system. Through regional action and national alliance building, the Media Action Grassroots Network
(MAG-Net) is working to create
a vibrant, independent, and publicly accountable media system that
serves our communities' needs and protects our communications and
cultural rights.