Virtual Media

As the new millennium approaches, Asian Media Access is re-examining our mission and various constituencies to plan a better strategy in responding to the rapidly changing world. One of the areas that Asian Media Access plans to launch is the Web, the Virtual Media.

The Internet has changed the way people think, live, socialize, and specifically, how people connect with one and another. Because Asian Media Access' mission emphasizes Connecting the Disconnected , this newly emerging form of communication is a top priority for us. We are experiencing tremendous demands from the internet: throughout the world, people want to get involved, get more information, get faster access. This experience pushes Asian Media Access to redefine Communication and even further--the concept of Community.

Redefine Communication and Media: New Technologies, New Outlets, New Opportunities

The future impact of information technology on the media community is vast and uncharted. However, it is clear that the new ways of communication have totally changed the way communication is conducted. When the Clinton Administration took office in 1992, it demonstrated the significance of e-mail communication. Breaking with the past, it made electronic mail communication a standard part of its communication protocol. For the first time, if an ordinary person wishes to communicate with the White House, he/she may do so directly via e-mail. Since then, we have seen a proliferation of this form of communication spread to all segments of society.

Current information technologies have many attributes that contribute to communication. It not only provides "multi-party" communication--making community, national, and even global "conversations" possible, but also makes communication a fast and inexpensive commodity. These qualities contribute to a system that holds tremendous promise as we move into the next millennium.

With current technology, computer networks can be designed inexpensively and ordinary citizens can use them to participate in various civic discussions and receive critical information to participate in important decision-making-- a truly public media. In other areas, media artists are exploring information technologies to find new ways of processing images and sound and incorporating them into their artistic presentations. The application elements of this technology at this moment in time are limitless. The information superhighway is a social network whose characteristics and applications are still evolving and growing at a rapid rate.

Asian Media Access will start to look beyond all the communication channels that we have utilized before--the open exhibitions, TV, radio, and newspapers--and consider the internet as the next most effective communication channel to connect our fragmented Asian Pacific American communities together. We must make it our responsibility to create access. By making the internet accessible to all, this multi-dimensional system can be part of an overall democratic renaissance and civic revitalization.

Re-define Community: A New Way of Building up Community

In the future, we envision Asian Media Access going beyond the community of Minnesota to serve the greater communities of the United States, and even the world. We can build unity through the internet and explore the possibility of forming creative new partnerships to promote civic engagement and enrich cultural life. Such a computer network will bring about positive qualitative change to community relations and reduce information technology illiteracy.

In Douglas Schuler's new book New Community Networks, Wired for Change, he defined Community and Technology as "A Marriage of Necessity": "..... For that reason, a "new community" is needed...More than ever before, a community will need a high degree of awareness, both of itself (notably its capacities and needs) and of the milieu in which it exists (including physical, political, economic, social intellectual and other influences)." He further explains, "The intelligence of a new community comes from its store of information, ideas, and hypotheses; its facility with negotiation, deliberation, and discussion; its knowledge of opportunities and circumstances; as well as its application of technology and other useful tools. The creativity of a new community comes from its ability to reassess situations and devise new, elegant, and sometimes unexpected methods for meeting community challenges."

The Asian Pacific Americans communities must merge and keep up with the rapid currents of the information superhighway. In cyberspace, issues like race, sex, age, social status and physical appearance disappear, making it more likely that ideas will rise or fall on their own merit. Consequently, this will make it easier for Asian Pacific Americans to openly participate and voice our perspectives ­­ perspectives that have been traditionally missing in mainstream society.

It will be a great challenge for Asian Media Access to encourage and assist the Asian Pacific American communities' successful emergence as a strong virtual community.