Antoine Haywood Authors a Review of the Digital Community Media Archive

Antoine Haywood, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Journalism assistant professor, has authored a digital media review of “Community Media Archive, Access Humboldt and the Internet Archive” published in American Journalism on April 24.

Haywood reviews the Community Media Archive (CMA), a digital home for diverse local programming produced for and shown on public, educational and governmental cable channels across the U.S. It is the result of a collaboration by digital media archivist John Hauser, the California-based community media organization Access Humboldt and the Internet Archive.

The CMA draws from thousands of community media digital streams to populate the collection, which has grown to occupy two petabytes of disk space. The diversity of preserved programs ranges from informative gavel-to-gavel coverage of town government meetings to lighthearted sock puppet-making shows hosted by Mr. Grumpy.

According to Haywood, “Outstanding features of the CMA include its highly sophisticated search filters which enable users to search by media type, publication date, subject, collection type, creator, and multiple languages, ranging from English to Hmong to Haitian French Creole.”

He adds, “In contrast to these positive practical attributes, there is a need for more context to explain the collection’s significance. It offers accessible digital portals that allow users to instantly explore what shapes the authentic identity of towns, cities, and regions, primarily in the US. This perspective is also beneficial for academics, journalists, and public-interest researchers who wish to understand how, in a digital age, self-determined residents continue to use community channels to enhance civic participation and address their immediate local news and informational needs.”

Category: College News
Tagged: Antoine Haywood Community Media Archive Journalism
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