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