Greetings to the Our Media network,

Though I’ve not been able to attend the last few conferences, I met some
of you in Barranquilla at OM3.

I am now writing to ask for your help in sourcing both research and
researchers on community radio.

I am helping coordinate the section on community radio for the Media
Research Hub, part of the Necessary Knowledge for a Democratic Public
Sphere program of the Social Science Research Council. The program seeks
to ensure that debates about crucial infrastructures of public life—media
ownership, broadband access, digital broadcasting, community media and
many other issues—are shaped by high-quality research and a rich
understanding of the public interest.  The goal of the project is also to
make it easier for researchers and advocacy groups to work more closely
when the need arises to support legislative issues around the right to
communicate, community media, spectrum allocation, etc.  It seems this
could be of real interest to the goals of OurMedia in seeking to build
greater bridges between academics and activists.

Specifically, the Resource Database is intended to leverage the expertise
of diverse media research and advocacy communities to collect and share
information about the field. When this initial phase is completed, it will
permit easy searches for individuals, institutions, research materials,
networks, and projects on topics of interest to media research.

My part in this is to collect as much relevant research in the field of
community media (specifically community broadcasting) and spectrum
allocation issues.  In particular, I am looking for quantitative studies
around community radio, though all research in the field is of interest.
I am especially keen to include case studies and research from countries
outside of the U.S. or any comparative studies.

I’d be happy to provide you with any further information on the project.
In the meantime, if you would be willing to pass along any of the
following so that these resources might be available to other researchers:

1) Bibliographies
2) Leads to research / places I might source research and/or studies
3) Organisations or entities conducting such research
4) Individuals conducting such research
5) Permission to include yourself as a researcher in your field of interest


Thank you in advance for your input on this.  I hope this can be a real
resource we can all benefit from.

Best,

Kate


--
Kate Coyer
Department of Media and Communications
Goldsmiths College
University of London

www.radiostudiesnetwork.org.uk