eRadio: empowerment through community web radio

project

 

project
purpose
approach
users
electronic tools
methodology

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

purpose

 

 

the purpose of the project is to explore if participatory and interactive web radio-production might benefit a community that is dispersed due to considerable migration of its members.

   

approach

 

 

the project combines logistics, community participation, and electronic tools to help the Tulcingo community, which is a dispersed community, initiate a process of self-discovery, integration, and empowerment through interactive radio production, webcasting and, when local conditions permit it, broadcasting.

 

 
users

 

two groups of users will be using the technology provided. One of the groups lives in their hometown in Tulcingo, Puebla, Mexico and the other is a group of people migrated to the United States. The migrants live in The Bronx and in Queens, New York. At present there is little interaction between both groups.

   

electronic tools

 

basically the electronic tools are two. One is a special computer that facilitates the production and transmission of radio programs. Users who have had no experience in computing or audio production will be able to do so using a small set of simple visual symbols. The other tool is a portable, digital audio-recorder.

   
methodology

 

this collaborative project encourages members of the community to participate in the production of radio programs that they record, edit, mix and transmit. A selected group of volunteers will first learn to handle the electronic tools and to carry out production, creation, and elocution tasks and to elicit from members of the community relevant content, such as anecdotes, interviews with one another, music, news, and fun talk. Both groups will listen to each other's programs, initiating an interactive process that may lead to integration of their material and community empowerment in spite of geographic and cultural separation.

 

     
project