Building in the Open:What Happens When YouBuild Stuff With YourAudience Melody Kramer / @mkramer

Who are ya, Mel?

Philly native

Former professional humor writer

Tried to go to med school...twice….

Current Gig: I write, edit, code in a bunch of languages, and design/build/make stuffwith audiences.

I love what I do. I like teaching. I like helping explain things. Ilike sharing what I learn.

What do you like to think about, Mel?

Metadata.

Users. People. The Audience. Different audiences.

Accessibility.

Transparency.

Culture Change.

Building Cool Stuff.

Why is it important to involve an audience in your work whileyou’re working?

They feel more invested in the outcomeThey have expertise you may not haveCan point out errors / new ideasTrust. Trust. Trust. Trust. Trust.Cheaper for large networks.

Examples

http://www.krcl.org/connect/podcasts/

KRCL in Salt Lake City: Experimenting with CommunityPodcasting

64 Ways To Think About A Homepage

KPCC: Make Al Care

WWNO: Listening Posts

Washington Post Weather Watchers

NPR:Find Jennifer

Curious City

ProPublica: Ways To Get Involved

Praise ‘em loud, praise ‘em often.

WNYC: Bored and Brilliant

Smithsonian Transcription Center

News for Betty

tinyletter.com/melodykramer

Let’s Talk About Membership Community Mel Kramer@mkramer

THIS ISYELLOWSTONENATIONALPARK

THIS IS ME INFOURTH GRADE.

President Obama to 4th graders: And you get a National Park Pass. And you get a National Park Pass. Andyou! And you!

Let’s Talk About Those 4th Graders in 30 years…..

* Identify as supporters of the National Park Service * Feel a sense of satisfaction and loyalty when thinking about their relationship with the National ParkService * Value the experience they had in the National Parks and want to share it with their own children. * Advocate for the future existence of the National Park Service. * Recognize the National Park system for the indispensible public resource it is.

Let’s look at some examples.

How does this translate to community radio?How else can you ask the community to participate? How else can you ask them to become involvedand invested?

What if community members could:❏ donating code or participating in a hackathon❏ donating design skills❏ tagging an archive❏ digitizing an archive❏ designing a template or poster for a member station❏ helping out at an event❏ user testing❏ putting together a documentary with your classmates

What will this look like? Here’s a sample task a station could post.

Create opportunities for people to become ambassadors for a station.

Creating ways for people toexplore the physical space ofa station.

Create frameworks for communities tobe more deeply connected to eachother using the station as a hub orplatform.

Incentivize stations to collaborate andshare content and/or code.

Develop different communicationsstrategies for stations to contact remotecontributors or donors.

Develop more ways to facilitate bothcreation and distribution of information.

We must think about what it means tobe a member and be able to articulatethat to audiences who might neverlisten through a radio.

We must work in public.

Above all: We must think about andlearn from the user, the audience, thelistener, the person, and the public.

How To Contact Me, If You’d Like

• Best way: Twitter @mkramer• Second best way: personal email melodykramer@gmail.com• Github: https://github.com/melodykramer• Newsletter: www.tinyletter.com/melodykramer• Blog: melodykramer.github.io

WHAT I’M BUILDING: MEDIAPUBLIC.IO