NCMR 2011 - Pop Culture Warriors
Channel: Free Press
Date: 2011-06-20

Pop Culture Warriors: How Online Fan Communities Are Organizing to Save the World

In recent years, dozens of online communities built on shared affinities (fan communities, gamers, etc.) have realized that they have the power to make change offline. The participants in this panel, held at the National Conference for Media Reform in Boston on April 9,  will discuss how online communities built around common interests like Harry Potter, online games, social bookmarking and general nerdiness have realized their strength, and focused their energies on charities and social and political causes. In addition, they will discuss why the open Internet and networked culture are uniquely suited to such group actions, and what lessons we have learned about how to organize future efforts. 

Panelists: Eddie Geller, Open Source Democracy Foundation; Erik Martin, Reddit.com; Andrew Slack, Harry Potter Alliance; Crissy Spivey, Breakthough.tv. Elana Levin, Writers Guild of America East, moderated the panel.

Thanks to Northampton Community Television for the footage.

To see more of the conference, go to www.conference.freepress.net. For more information about media issues, go to www.freepress.net.