The Future of Environmental Communication: For Dot Earth

What is your vision of how the public will track environmental issues and developments in the next five years?

I’m biased. I think public broadcasting and better government regulation can save the world.

OK, maybe not save it. But in terms of a mission driven information distributor, public media, in particular public radio, has the best shot. NPR is innovating by leaps and bounds, poaching talent from USA Today and the New York Times to ramp up their online distribution and across mobile devices. (Although I’ll be honest, I am fearful about bringing in so many commercial folks into public broadcasting – to me, it just shows how bad the System has been about cultivating talent – but that is for another blog post.)

Newspaper readers have been in decline since the 90′s…public radio listenership has only been going up. After Rush Limbaugh, most Americans listen to Morning Edition. Is this a great country, or what?

Public media has the ability to partner, and has historically done so. Collaborating with the Smithsonian, National Geographic, foundations, the BBC (who’s future is also on the line – again, another blog post).

Tied in with public media’s role in distributing information about environmental issues is our public library system. Public libraries were dying 15 years ago. Now they are vital information access points in bridging the gap between the information rich and the information poor. I’d love to see public libraries as part of a revitalized public sphere, where we come together to talk about these issues. Using mobile technology to connect people digitally, the public library is the physical space where words become action, action becomes policy, policy becomes change. What I love about the public library model is that it mimics the Internet as well. Each library as a hub with its community network spreading out, connecting with other hubs.

I really believe librarians are going to serve a much more significant role as information midwives as newspapers decline and the role of journalism shifts away from gatekeeping. Can you tell I love libraries?

Of course, we cannot forget Google. But even before getting to Google, I want to start with communications policymaking. The system is desperate need of reconfiguration, and the Internet needs to be at the heart of it. It’s pretty much the Wild West right now in terms of regulation, and the lobbyists and the activists are in the trenches fighting over access and affordability issues. But I’d like to see some provision for not just access. Just because you have access to the Internet, doesn’t mean you are media competent or literate. You don’t know what you don’t know – which is why we still need a distribution system to expose people to information they wouldn’t dream of seeking out themselves. The commercial broadcasters have to pay into an education fund that support Internet access in public school – call me a social welfare drone, but let’s tax Google and Microsoft to pump some money into aforementioned public media and public libraries.

Enter Google! They are working on this as we speak. There are other companies as well like Stumblethat “learns” from the content you are searching for, plus connects with a social network of people who are using the same site. Kind of like how Amazon recommends books – you bought this book, other people who bought this book, also bought…you get the picture. EPIC 2015 was right…Googlezon is coming!

~ by aalquist on April 30, 2009.