I don't mean taking other people's coverage and blogging it. That's worked in the past, but perhaps we need to go even further.
It's time we hit the streets ourselves. Many have begun to do this, particularly with the proliferation of cell phones and wireless technology, in areas generally accessible under good conditions. However, in scenarios like the devastation spawned by Katrina and the post-disaster FEMA mismanagement, we've been left dependent upon mainstream media coverage, or drips and drabs of information brought out by survivors.
We on the Progressive Left have been hampered in the past by not having the toys that Big Media has, namely elaborate rapid-response vans equipped with production studios and satellite uplink. Satellite is truly the only current technology (other than old fashioned ham radio) which can provide immediate communication in areas where the communications and electrical infrastructure has been eradicated. But we haven't as a group figured how to pool our resources, either by tapping those who possess such technology, or by acquiring it ourselves.
We have a mobile satellite dish through which we have downstream close to DSL speed, and uplink about four times dial-up. As long as I have even a small window to the southern sky (my satellite is AMC9), I can set up, point and get a signal within 15 minutes. As we're currently on the road full-time, often travelling in places outside of cell phone range (yes, even in the US), we chose this form of internet access as reliable connectivity was important to us.
About a month into our journey, my partner and I started discussing the mobile satellite's applications in political campaigns, particularly in statewide races with large rural populations. With new voice-over-IP technology (VoIP), satellite internet systems could double as phone systems. This would have been extremely useful last year in Maine, as we had a very difficult (and expensive) time getting phone service for our inner city headquarters, let alone our regional field offices.
But it was the devastation along the Gulf Coast, and subsequent screw up by the feds (and media) which shifted our thinking to more radical uses of the technology in our hands (and at $1500, within our means.) I decided late last week that we won't be changing our plans to head to the Gulf Coast this fall. But rather than site seeing, we'll be setting up our mobile satellite in a refugee center, opening up our wireless connection, and providing whatever help we can as a mini-ISP. We're self-contained electrically, so can do this whether or not power lines are back up. In addition, we hope to provide on the ground coverage of the relief efforts, keeping up the pressure when the mainstream media discovers more missing white women demand their full-time coverage. But the dual use in this case is important to us, particularly as disability advocates, as it's clear suffering will be very hard on those already stressed, physically, mentally and financially.
But the fact is, we in the Liberal Blogosphere and/or Progressive grassroots communities should be establishing a small fleet of these mobile systems, and a co-operative to organize their dispersal as needed, whether it be for Katrina, covering Camp Casey, reporting otherwise neglected but important stories (hopefully the hundreds of spontaneous anti-Bush demonstrations which will begin to be an everyday occurrence.) As for ourselves, we hope to have a second system funded and volunteers (for one to two week stints, if necessary) coordinated by the time we head south in a few weeks time. If other groups were able to get systems and volunteers together and set them up anywhere from the Carolinas to Texas, we could commit to training them as well. Over on our home blog, Wampum, we have provided a laundry list of what is needed to set up such a system.
It truly feels more and more like we need to take responsibility for our democracy, and the basic guarantees which come with it, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness and all that, into our own hands. Control of information is key to that goal, and, with current relatively inexpensive technology and good organization, is within our means.