What: PublicMediaCamp '09 is the national kickoff event for a series of local user-generated conferences (aka “unconferences”) focusing on strengthening the relationship between public broadcasters and their communities through new forms of collaboration.

PublicMediaCamp seeks to bring together community technology activists, citizen journalists and other members of the public eager to support public media in tangible ways, bringing them together with public broadcasters in an engaging collaborative environment.

Where: American University's Mary Gradon Hall (see venue page).

Future PublicMediaCamps will be hosted by stations around the country.

Who: The inaugural national event will be co-hosted by NPR, PBS  and AU’s Center for Social Media, in conjunction with iStrategyLabs. Participants will be composed of public broadcasters, as well individuals who are passionate about public broadcasting and who have a personal interest in volunteering time and effort to further its mission.

Format: Inspired by unconferences such as BarCamp, PodCamp and unconferences hosted by Minnesota Public Radio and KUSP Santa Cruz, PublicMediaCamp will give all participants an opportunity to plan and run the event.

Participants will be invited to formulate conference tracks and sessions as part of pre-conference engagement process. Significant portions of event will also be left open and reserved for attendees to create their own sessions on the weekend of the event itself.

All presentations and sessions at PublicMediaCamp are on the record; blogging, podcasting, tweeting, etc are all strongly encouraged, in conjunction with the tag#PubCamp. Any presentation materials shared at the event must be released under a Creative Commons Attribution, Noncommercial Sharealike license so they can be used at other camps.

Attending: PublicMediaCamp is free to attendees.The cost of the event will be covered by the event organizers and our sponsors. This is NOT an opportunity to focus on selling your product or service, but to participate as a valved member of the community.

Sponsors: