Session; West Oakland break out (butterfly? bumblebee? butterbee!)

Convener: Martin Reynolds, scribe: Cecily Burt
Participants: Martin, Cecily, Azalea Blaylock, Christine Saed, Brian Beveridge. Floating in and out: Peggy Kuhr, Peggy Holman, Matlho Kjosi

Discussion: Martin is looking for clarification on the West Oakland project; in other words, what the heck do we tell the editors back at the paper?

Well, we’ve learned a lot that will shape our next steps, among them:

Journalism is a conversation, no fences anymore. Paper is shifting from gatekeeper to navigator, facilitator for residents to create and share news and information without the Tribune as a go between or gatekeeper.

The original idea of a West Oakland website needs to be clarified and expanded to include other forms of media because many residents ( even those who are community activists) will never be hooked up to computers or the internet. They don’t have email, they don’t have computer skills.

Have to put yourself in the mind of a 90-year-old who says they will never use a computer. You have to put yourself in the young person’s mind – those who are hanging on the corner – and find a way to make them want to go to the library or want to share information with their community.

Journalism is a conversation, no fences anymore. Paper is shifting from gatekeeper to navigator, facilitator for residents to create and share news and information without the Tribune as a go between..

One thing missing in West Oakland is a unifying space, or document or tool. Need a local place and a website (using Village Soup as model?) to disseminate information. Need a place to post items, about community organizations, master calendars. Can provide link to newsletters of different organizations.

An eco village could unite everyone in the community. If you start with an eco village from the ground up… could be a meeting place… could be a news bureau, could be a place for community joining and healing, one space to merge with difference spaces.
But eco village doesn’t solve the core issue. People are disconnected.

West Oakland is in a state of emergency from the toxics in the environment…There are two societies in West Oakland: one upward, one crumbling and beset by violence, murders. There is a profound lack of respect for oneself and others.

When UC Berkeley students worked with McClymonds High School students on the Y-PLAN (Youth, Plan, Learn, Action, Now) to come up with proposals for a McClymonds mini park and community reuse of the historic Southern Pacific Train Depot, the younger students said it was the first time they every felt good about their neighborhood, because they learned about the history of West Oakland. The new news ecology should provide many more opportunities for such an exchange.

What do we want to be? The real challenge is building unity., a base, a community is unified to understand what their needs and problems and how to address them.

Who is it we want to empower? Once we decide that, we can establish the tools.

Can’t push content on the community. Have to have forum for people to create content that will work on the website. How else can residents create and share information and stories with their neighbors?

What we can do:

Building an eco village is good, building a bureau in the library is good, but not the complete answer. Have to go door to door (to reach people), some older residents will not go outside at night. There is no penetration from person to person, group to group, organization to organization. Have to connect people. Have to talk about how to reach people who have never been empowered.

Important to establish a baseline, ask people: Are you connected? Do you get information and how do you get it? Tribune does have way to disseminate information, could include fliers in newspapers.

Ideas and stories have to come from people. We could post bulletin boards around town with stories. Show video and audio played to help people who can’t read. People wait for hours at the West Oakland Health Center. Have a video replayed, information kiosks, story tellers.

Possible community locations for computers, news bureaus, kiosks, etc (not a complete list: West Oakland Library, Eco Village/yurt, Acorn, Poplar Rec Center, de Fremery Park, McClymonds High School, Prescott Joseph Center.

West Oakland Library has a corner that would be perfect for a satellite news bureau. Have grad students on-site to help people dictate their stories. Grad students and high school students could gain public service credits or maybe stipend if they work as on-site techs.

Have to remind people of their history, get them invested in their community. People mobilize around issues, ie, environmental issues, asthma etc. Maybe we could put out a negative challenge, ie, “Is your community making you sick?’’

Tribune could sponsor festivals, etc. teen talent show, poetry slam, dance. What about mobile news vans in the community? Use the bookmobile or something similar. Would be a fat mobile, with spinners (spinning wheel rims) to grab people’s attention, rap music playing. Oak Trib logo. Side would come up and inside would be a mobile news gathering operation.