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NEWS: Columnist, free-press advocate to lead talk about new roles for libraries, journalists

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Famed columnist and free-press advocate John Nichols will lead a public discussion about new roles for libraries during a Thursday, April 7 evening symposium at the Cambridge Public Library, beginning at 7 p.m.

The free, public event will wrap up a two-day inquiry, "Beyond Books: News, Literacy and Democracy in America's libraries," involving more 130 librarians, journalists and scholars gathered at the MIT Center for Future Civic Media. (www.biblionews.org )

Besides speaking himself, Nichols will convene a discussion of the best ideas emerging from the MIT-hosted gathering. The evening will include a chance for the public to sit in breakouts with "Beyond Books" participants to add their thoughts.

"For three centuries, in American communities, two institutions have uniquely amrked a commitment to participatory democracy, knowledge and open inquiry -- our libraries and our free press," says Bill Densmore, co-convenor of the MIT event and director of the New England News Forum. "How can they work together?"

Nichols, who is based in Madison, Wis., but is also Washington correspondent for The Nation magazine, will put the role of libraries in the context of what's happening to the flow of information on the web, and how that affects citizen participation, whether in Egypt, Iran, Libya or the Wisconsin state capitol.

Nichols is in Boston to co-host the National Conference for Media Reform (NCMR), a project of FreePress.net, a non-profit he co-founded. The NCMR is expected to draw thousands of people to South Boston on April 8-10 for dozens of breakout sessions and plenaries. See: http://conference.freepress.net  for more.

"In cities and towns across the nation access to information is becoming more complicated, and more technical," says Densmore. "At the same time, local news coverage is often more limited, or at least more fractured. Librarians may be able to help the public, help journalists, and help citizens who want to assume a watchdog role abandoned by journalism."

Densmore said the evening will be intentionally interactive among Nichols, the "Beyond Books" MIT participants, and the public. He said the evening should end with additional ideas for journalist-librarian collaboration.

Some questions being asked at the MIT gathering: What does engagement mean to journalists and librarians, and when does engagement become partisanship? What might libraries do to facilitate community social news networks? Must free speech be absolute within a tax-payer supported institution? How can libraries advocate for a free, digital-information commons?

CALENDAR LISTING:

Public Discussion: "BEYOND BOOKS: News, literacy, democracy and America's Libraries -- Assessing the common mission of journalists and librarians." April 7, 2011, 7-9 p.m., Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge, Mass. Admission free. Info: http://www.biblionews.org

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Bill Densmore, director
The New England News Forum
108 Bartlett Hall / Univ. of Massachusetts
Amherst MA 01003
OFF: 413-577-4370 / CELL: 413-458-8001
http://www.newenglandnews.org
bdensmore@newenglandnews.org

Hot Off the Wire: Mass. Moves Primary to 2/5

The Massachusetts State legislature is ready to send Gov. Patrick a bill that will move the Commonwealth's primary date to February 5, Super-duper Tuesday. Does this make the Bay State more relevant to Presidential campaigns, or just one of the crowd bumping up their voting day for a little notoriety?

Is city Hall important to Boston news organizations?

The Phoenix' Adam Reilly ponders the state of political engagement in The Hub and whether the local media is to blame. The dismal turnout for the recent city council elections followed limited coverage by the major papers and stations. Maybe in a year not dominated by World Series coverage, we'll see an increase in campaign reporting.

Virtual vs. real -- "civic media" research at MIT kicks off with Sept. 20 panel

Brad Seawell of the MIT Communications Forum writes to note that a free public forum on Thurs., Sept. 20 launches a new center studying the relationship between emerging media and civic engagement. A key area of inquiry is how virtual worlds such as SecondLife affect civic engagement in the real world.

The "MIT Center for Future Civic Media," is funded with a $5-million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Its directors are Chris Csikszentmihalyi and Mitchel Resnick of the Media Lab and Henry Jenkins of MIT's comparative media studies department.

The event: "What Is Civic Media?" will run from 5-7 p.m. in the Bartos Theater at the MIT Media Lab, 20 Ames St., Cambridge, Mass. Speakers, besides Csikszentmihalyi and Henry Jenkins, will be Beth Noveck, New York Law School and Ethan Zuckerman, Berkman Center for Internet & Society (Harvard Law School)

Seawell writes: "In [the book] 'Bowling Alone' (2000), Robert Putnam wrote about a generation of Americans cut off from traditional forms of community life and civic engagement, passive consumers of mass media. But others have noted the expansion of participatory cultures and virtual communities on the web, the growth of blogs, podcasts, and other forms of citizen journalism, the rise of new kinds of social affiliations within virtual worlds. What lessons can we learn from these online worlds that will make an impact in the communities where we work, sleep, and vote? What new technologies and practices offer us the best chance of revitalizing civic engagement?"

Also in the series: Games and Cvic Engagement on Thursday, Nov. 8, 5-7 p.m. in Bartos Theater.

For more information, go to http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum -- or call
Seawell at (617) 253-3521 (seawell@mit.edu )

VIDEO: New England News Forum at Boston Public Library, May 17

Watch streaming video of the May 17 New England News Forum event at the Boston Public Library. For details see: http://www.newenglandnews.org/?q=library

To launch the video, click on the small carat at the beginning of the orange-and-green bar underneath the photo below.  The program ran 1 hour and 32 minutes.