NPR’s social media confab

David Johnson February 20th, 2007

Last week, Rob Paterson and Andy Carvin pulled an A-List of social media gurus into the hallowed halls of NPR to brainstorm and discuss how community engagement will play out in public radio’s overall strategy. Not surprisingly, the discussion has dribbled onto the blogs of those in attendance, including all-around-smart-guy Doc Searls, Euan Semple, rising star and TV disruptor Zadi Diaz, and our old pal Jeff Jarvis. Of course, Andy blogged just about everything on his Waste of Bandwidth, with video and more of Jay Rosen and David Weinberger (wonder where J.D. Lasica and Dan Gillmor were?). It is an interesting look not only at how an organization like NPR is dealing with social media, community and citizen journalism, but also at the challenges at play in weighing these critical concepts. I’ve infamously ranted in the past about the need for public broadcasting to embrace community; it says a lot about NPR for assembling a group like this, knowing they would be as transparent as they are.