Thanks to .ORG, the Public Interest Registry, I attended the Webby's June 9 and 10. They were a sponsor of this year's
Webby's and I am an Advisory Council Member for .ORG. It was, of course, very inspiring to see all the amazing videos and websites. The hosts were fabulous (Judah Friedlander and Seth Meyes). The June 9 After Party was
interactive. It included Rhoda Grossman drawing digitally (yep, that's my digital caricature on the left) and Adobe's Digital PhotoBooth (pic on the right). I got to get all dressed up two days in a row and hang out with people I like and admire. Not a bad gig.
There was a definite feel to the event of young, hip, creative, nontraditional. I wouldn't go so far as to say anti-corporate because some of the winners were coprorations. It was more a vibe of "we do things our way". No shortage of creativity as evidenced by the pix that came out of the Digital PhotoBooth. What struck me as a bit disturbing was the apparant need to be "elite". On one hand the attendees want to show t
hat anyone with a computer, creativity and some luck can make a huge splash online. At the same time, there appeared to be a 'cool kids only hang out with cool kids' kind of syndrome being developed.
Considering common ideals of the internet culture include utilizing the internet for dialogue and positive social change, I was surprised to see the Webby's not being used to pull others into the elite creative culture of the internet. Even the nonprofits who were highlighted tended to be nonprofits with sizable budgets. I assume this is because the Webby application fee is a deterrent for some orgs and individuals such as those creating community media. If the Webby's needs the fees to support themselves, I would suggest they also include a number of waived fees for those working with small budget nonprofits. And if they really wanted to show their dedication to a diverse group of applicants they would round up some scholarship funds to cover travel cost for winners who would otherwise stay home and watch bits of the award ceremony online.
The promotion to get community media applications would be simple. Partner with existing national orgs. To keep the waived fee applications from beeing too numerous, they could limit the number of appplications allowed per nonprofit and only waive fees if an application came through an eligible nonprofit.
A superb partner would be the Allied Media Conference. They teach folks how to use media as an activist tool. Their promotional video for the 2008 Conference gives you a good idea of what they are all about.
We like to think the internet levels the playing field. But if those on the playing field do not recognize the need to be inclusive, it will become exclusive.
