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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CABLE-2004-10-21Access Oversight Committee Held at the PEGASYS studio, 519 West State Street October 21, 2004 - Minutes [approved] Present: Wayles Browne, Will Burbank, Dan Cogan, Wies van Leuken; Ellen Morris - Knower; Lauren Stefanelli, PEGASYS director; Karl Madeo, Video Instructor, Alternative Community School. Called to order approx. 4:35 pm Notetaker - Lauren Stefanelli 2. Approve Minutes Minutes from 9/23/04 meeting approved 4 -0. [Ellen hadn't arrived yet] 3. Public Comment No members of the public in attendance. Some pr items were discussed: b Lauren emailed 6/29 & 8/24 minutes to City, Town, Cayuga Hts. Lauren emailed an introductory letter to I.H.S., ACS, Boynton and Dryden H.S. video teachers, telling them about the AOC and inviting them to attend an upcoming meeting. [item #1 appended to minutes] I.H.S., ACS and Dryden all responded. Wies will forward next meeting notice to the papers. Wayles drafted a letter to the editor and requested input from other members. It was agreed that he would submit it under his name, listing all AOC members in the letter. b Dan said that the Journal reporter with whom he was going to try to promote a feature article has resigned and he will need to seek a new contact. 4. Discussion with Karl Madeo, video instructor at the Alternative Community School. Karl presented a report of the accomplishments of the ACS video program [item #2 appended to the minutes] He also described his program and answered questions. Karl explained that ACS currently has the following equipment provided by Time Warner: 4 Digital camcorders, 4 iMac computers and 2 complete SVHS analog editing systems. ACS has purchased 2 additional iMacs, plus created an eMac computer lab with 20 workstations. All of these Macs are capable of digital editing. Therefore, ACS has excellent post - production capability. Its future equipment needs are for periodic replacement of digital camcorders. Ellen asked Karl whether he feels the ICSD is supporting video production in the schools. Karl said he does feel there is a long -term commitment by the ICSD to ACS'S video project, and certainly there has been an even greater commitment of resources to Ithaca HS's video project [natural as there are 10x as many students]. Wayles asked how many students are in Karl's video class. Karl said this varies each year - 10 to 18 is the range. However, many more students use the equipment beyond those in the video course. Students who complete the course are free to use the equipment to do school projects. Independent projects are central to ACS, and many students are now choosing to do video for their independent work. Middle School level students also use it to make short projects - clay animation is a current favorite. In addition, a number of teachers have integrated video into their curriculum. Karl himself teaches a combined English /Social Studies class in which students produce videos to satisfy course requirements. Lauren asked Karl to describe Project Look Sharp and the Central NY Media Conference, and their relevance to ACS's video program. Both are great resources for school video efforts in Tompkins County. The former is a media literacy project run by Cyndy Scheibe of IC, which supports video courses and teaches media literacy throughout the ICSD. Both Karl and Chris Sperry of ACS are involved with it. The latter is a media conference held at IC each March, attended by ACS students, in which high school students from around the region meet to screen their video programs. There is a video competition, technical seminars and a great chance for networking among young people. 5. Report from Studio Manager Lauren reported that the capital budget, submitted at the end of August, has been returned from the accounting department with requests that it be resubmitted according to current accounting rules. Lauren will do that ASAP. All equipment is functioning reasonably well. No equipment systems are down. The studio is completely booked for the season. Other facilities are about 50 -70% booked. The current level of training courses seems to be about right - all courses have been fully enrolled but no one has been denied training or made to wait more than a month for a course. Several people have received individual training as well, particularly in digital editing. PEGASYS cablecast a live, 2 -day conference via the PEGASYS satellite for the local Church of Latter -Day Saints on 10/2 -3. We've received about 3 dozen thank -you notes so far. There has been a good deal of political programming recently, as it is election season. Ellen asked about non - profit organizations using PEGASYS. The Ithaca Chapter of Amnesty Int'l, the Democratic Socialists of America, the Starlight Club and 4 local churches have weekly shows. Other non- profits appear as guests or use PEGASYS Presents, the talk show produced by the studio class. Non - profits' use of access depends greatly on having a rep who values this type of promotion. 6. Continued Discussion of User Fees Dan Asked whether any other AOC members had additional proposals to set alongside his proposal of last month for user fees. No one had. b Lauren was asked to evaluate Dan's fee proposal and come up with a proposal she thought would be acceptable to Time Warner, be affordable to users and accommodate those with financial hardships. 7. Member Items Will Burbank and Lauren reviewed their research into equipment needed to allow the PEGASYS satellite dish to pick up Democracy Now. A digital receiver would be required. TWC's engineer found a suitable unit for approximately $1500. He advised that such a receiver would be useful for more than just Democracy Now, as more and more programs are being transmitted digitally. Some discussion about adding this for consideration to the 2005 capital budget. Meeting adjourned at about 5:50pm. Next meeting - Thursday, November 18, 4:30pm, at PEGASYS. Appended documents: Appended Item #1. Letter to Schools, emailed 9/30/04 To: Jeff Spence, Video Instructor, Ithaca High School Karl Madeo, Video Instructor, Alternative Community School Margaret Grace, Video Instructor, Dryden HS Kelli Hazard, Video Instructor, Boynton Middle School Dear Educational Access Teachers, The Access Oversight Committee is a body recently created under the new Franchise between Time Warner Cable and three local municipalities: the City and Town of Ithaca and Cayuga Heights. The AOC's mandate includes oversight and approval of access policies and capital spending. Access policies have included placing PEGASYS equipment in long -term loan at schools to support the creation of educational access programming at the K -12 level. The AOC is very interested in gaining an understanding of your plans for educational access television programming, as well as your current and future equipment needs. They would like you to present a brief written summary of your accomplishments for the last school year and your plans for this one. Please include a list of programs cablecast during the past year, your programming plans for this year, a list of PEGASYS equipment currently in your possession, and any outstanding equipment needs you may have to support your programs. In addition, the AOC wants to develop a process for considering future requests for capital support for educational groups. They would appreciate your input as they develop this process. Finally, the AOC would like to invite each of you to meet with them at a future meeting to discuss your programs in person. There are 2 meetings currently scheduled. These are: Thursday, Ocober 21, at 4:30 pm, at the PEGASYS TV Center Thursday, November 18, at 4:30 pm, at the PEGASYS TV Center If these dates are not convenient, you might arrange to attend another future meeting. Dan Cogan is the chair of the AOC. If you are able to attend an AOC meeting in person, it would be helpful if you can let him know in advance so he can add you to the meeting agenda. Dan's email is: dcogan @cityofithaca.org B Lauren Stefanelli Access Manager Time Warner Cable Appended Item #2. Report to AOC by Karl Madeo of the Alternative Community School To: Cable Access Committee From: Karl Madeo, Alternative Community School RE: Summary of ACS Video Accomplishments and Plans Since the 1999 -2000 school year, when we began airing our regular program Tails of the Ox on cable access, we have cablecast 82 original programs. Our season, which typically includes first -run and re -run programs, generally starts at the end of October (giving us time to produce programming once the school year has started) and continues through the end of May. Over the five year span we have averaged around 16 original shows each season, with last years season coming in a little below average at 11 new programs. Tails of the Ox has won PEGASYS Awards for Best Youth Programming in 2001, 2002 and 2003, with the additional distinction of Best of Educational Access Awards in 2001 and 2003. (There was no Youth category for the 2004 Awards.) Our Tails of the Ox schedule last year included a variety of programs: a debate between Ithaca's Mayoral candidates held at ACS shortly before the election, a presentation to a class by a Holocaust survivor, a student produced documentary about the art of glass - blowing, a "Mideast Debate" with students taking on roles of major political figures, a public performance of one act plays put on by our drama class and recorded live -to -tape by a student video crew. We also aired programs on Iraq and the use of military force, and an annual "State of the School" presentation by our school principal. This year we plan to continue our weekly Tails of the Ox shows (every Friday at 9:00 starting at the end of October), and we hope to add video work from our middle school students into the current mix. Over the years our video production work has been focused primarily on our high school students. Recently we have begun to include our middle school more and more, and expect to see more broadcast quality productions from that branch of ACS. Though I expect the Access Committee's primary concern is the quality and quantity of programming we are producing with the PEGASYS equipment in our possession, I also would like to stress the significant educational impact that equipment (and the support from Lauren and the PEGASYS center) contributes to at the Alternative Community School. At any given time, easily 25% of our total student population of 260 have been exposed to training with digital video camcorders and computer based editing either through my high school Video Production class, middle school Video Projects, or in -class academic projects led by classroom teachers. Though ACS has a diverse student population, it is often those at the greatest risk academically who benefit the most from the kind of hands -on technical and creative experience that video production work offers. The opportunity for these students to see their work broadcast on cable tv provides the kind of incentive and positive reinforcement that they may not find anywhere else.