The Ethos Group: Thoughtful Infrastructure as a Platform for Media Reform
There are two panels today with moderators from The Ethos Group:
- “Owning Our Own Media Infrastructure,” moderated by yours truly at 9:00 am in the Chicasaw/Mississippi room; [listen]
- “The Growth of Wireless Internet,” moderated by Dharma Dailey, with Sascha Meinrath and others at 11:00 am in L-14. [listen]
Dharma, Sascha, and I are the principals of The Ethos Group, which we launched back in June.
To clarify the strategic underpinnings of our work and to make the case for building new, more democratic, community-defined infrastructure, we’ve composed a statement.
In short, digital convergence (the consolidation of multiple media into the single, digital medium of the Internet) and wireless technology (affordable networks that use open, unlicensed spectrum) make this a critical juncture in telecommunications history; now is the time to examine and invest in broadband infrastructure.
The Ethos Group is also very fortunate to have been awarded a grant from the nascent Media Democracy Fund to conduct and compile research in this field. We are seeing an explosion in research on and experimentation in wireless, but there is no one-stop-shop for information and there are many gaps in the knowledge.
More importantly, corporate wireless ISPs and their allies are learning at a faster rate than the community advocates who have to face off with them over the future of their local communications infrastructure. With this new support from the Media Democracy Fund, we aim to level that playing field.
Come to the panels to learn more or contact us.
