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Backgrounders and Toolkits



Need a Press List?
Purchase a press list here! The 2012-2013 Northern California press list has 1,110 media contacts at print, broadcast, ethnic, hyperlocal news sites and alternative outlets.

Navigate the Media Maze With Media Alliance's How-To Guide!
Media Alliance's "Media How-To Guidebook" is designed to provide community organizations and activists with the nuts-and-bolts information they need to get their message out to the media.

Growing Online Support - A Free E-book from Salsalabs
by Salsalabs, Salsalabs
A handy and free publication from Salsalabs (formerly Democracy in Action) on cultivating online support for nonprofit organization, causes and communities.

Broadband 101: An Infographic To Talk Tech
The biggest obstacle to advocating for Internet access. All that jargon. A very handy infographic from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance so you can speak broadband babble with the best of them.

Put Your Hands on the Radio: How To Start a Community Low-Power FM Station
A webinar from Prometheus Radio Project on how to start a community low-power radio station. By October!

BAVC: Impact Playbook: Best Practices for Understanding the Impact of Media
Some of you that make movies and videos might be interested in this new toolkit on metrics for evaluating the impact of media pieces put out by the Bay Area Video Coalition.

Social Media Tips for Content Producers
by Clay Leander, KPFA Unpaid Staff Organization
Some helpful info put together by radio producer Clay Leander for a training sponsored by KPFA's Unpaid Staff Organization

Echoing Justice: Communication Strategies for Social Justice in the 21st Century
by Echo Communications Collaborative, Echo Communications Collaborative
A publication on communication strategies with useful case studies. Free!

J-Lab Pilot on Networked Journalism: Report on Successes and Failures
J-Lab
Ah. The new journalism. Will it work? This is a pilot study released by J-Lab on a 3-year pilot program and what happened.

Low-Power FM: Getting to the Point
by Michael Couzens, Law Office of Michael Couzens
This handy guide was created by attorney and low-power radio expert Michael Couzens.

Families Unlocking Futures: A Report on the Juvenile Justice System
by Research for Justice , Data Center
Justice for Families and the Data Center put out this report on the status on the juvenile justice system.

Free Guide to Social Media for Nonprofits
A free guide from Network for Good about social media for nonprofits and community organizations.

Report: On-Line Engagement for News Sites
Another J-Lab report that surveys midwestern online news sites about viewer engagement strategies.

Rules of the Road: Ethics and Local On-Line Journalism
Report that collates experiences from several online local journalism sites around the country.

ARC Report: Milennials Activism and Race
Millennials, Activism and Race continues ARC’s ongoing work on the perspectives and experiences of the most racially and ethnically diverse generation in our nation’s history.

Censored 2013
In this volume are 500 pages of real news you can use plus analysis that eradicates civil paralysis and antidotes to truth emergencies to strengthen media literacy. Buy your copy today!

Criminal Charges: Fighting For Your Right to Call Home
Download this toolkit supporting the national campaign challenging prison phone kickbacks and the U.S. Prison Telephone Industry. From our friends at Thousand Kites.

Digital Inclusion and Data Profiling
A timely paper from former MA board member Seeta Pena Ganghadjaran focuses on specific examples of commercial data profiling against the history of low–tech data profiling of chronically underserved communities.

Connected: Poverty Stretches the Digital Divide
A series of studies by John Dunbar and Jacob Fenton at the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University on the links between poverty, rural life and lack of broadband access.

University of Minnesota Study on Online Piracy
by Danaher, Brett and Waldfogel, Joel, Reel Piracy: The Effect of Online Film Piracy on International Box Office Sales
Univ of Minnesota study on the impact of online piracy on international box office sales. News flash: there isn't much of one.

Trends in Latino Mobile Phone Usage
This report by the National Hispanic Media Coalition is a comprehensive compilation of up-to-date data on how the Latino community is using mobile phones.

American Hate Radio Report
National Hispanic Media Coalition
The National Hispanic Media Coalition releases thus report on American Hate Rdio: How a Powerful Outlet for Democratic Discourse Has Deteriorated Into Hate Racism and Extremism.

Designing for Impact: The Rise of High-Impact Social Justice Documentaries
This report, from the Center for Social Media at American University, provides 6 in-depth case studies of the documentary film process and how to evaluate impact.

Pew Study: Word of Mouth Frequent Source of News
While local TV news remains the most popular source for local information in America, adults rely on it primarily for just three subjects -- weather, breaking news and to a lesser extent traffic. These are some of the findings of a new study produced by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Pew Internet & American Life Project in partnership with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

E-Waste: What to do with that old TV or Computer
Recycling resources in the East Bay that are responsible and community-oriented. For analog TV's, old computers ... and more.

Copyright and Fair Use
This on-line guide from the Stanford University Library and Nolo Books covers most of the important information on copyrights, fair use and permissions. http://fairuse.stanford.edu/index.html

The Local Network Cookbook: A Recipe for Launching a Local Broadband Wireless Network
by Wally Bowen, http://main.nc.us/lan-recipe/
The Local Network Cookbook, A recipe for Launching a Local Broadband Wireless Network is aimed at helping nonprofit organizations - especially those already using digital technologies - move quickly to plan and submit a broadband stimulus funding proposal for one the three ARRA (Obama stimulus) application windows.

Fair Use Practices for Online Video
The Center for Social Media at American University and and the AU College of Law have teamed up with Stanford Law School to produce this video explaining how online video creators can make remixes and mashups while staying within copyright regulations.

National Broadband Policy for the Twenty-First Century: Thoughts from the Grassroots
This Media Alliance report is a compilation of several events held in the state of California in 2008 where grassroots groups and members of the community gathered to discuss the the Internet.

Commercial Broadcaster Public Interest Obligations
What public interest obligations, you say? But they do exist and recently the FCC has gone as far as to suggest that they may be a bit more stringently enforced.

Be The Media
Robert McChesney: "If BE THE MEDIA didn't exist, like Voltaire's God, it would have to be invented".

New Toolkit Makes Digital Inclusion Advocacy Easier
The movement for affordable broadband access is growing. Media Alliance's "Digital Inclusion Advocacy Toolkit: Bridging the Digital Divide by Winning Community Benefits in Municipal Broadband Projects" provides useful information for community members who want to advance digital inclusion in their neighborhoods. A resource directory and a comprehensive glossary of terms makes this a must-read for everyone.

Oakland Digital Inclusion Summit (ODIS) Reader
The Oakland Digital Inclusion Summit on February 15th, 2008 was a vital event for community sharing, networking, access to information and a framework for moving forward.

Better than Anything on TV
We knew the day was coming when we'd watch TV on our computers. And here we are. Three terrific documentaries available free and online. Enjoy!


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