THE PUBLIC ACCESS CHANNEL
ASSOCIATION AUSTRIA
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THE PUBLIC ACCESS CHANNEL ASSOCIATION AUSTRIA |
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The Public Access Channel Association Austria (AOKÖ - Arbeitskreis Offene Kanäle Österreich) was officially founded in January 2000 by a group of theatre-, film- and media-academics as a centre for media competence. |
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The members of this organization have various practical experiences and qualifications in the academic and cultural fields of: media-projects, film, photography, work with children and teenagers, Animazione (creative therapy), information-broking, librarianship, journalism, research in cultural studies and humanities, dramatic work, practical work in the theatre, acting, webdesign and translation. Every member is trained to work with a camera and to cut digital video material. In our work we are permanently reacting to the dynamic development in this special field and our members always keep up to date with the latest developments. The group is following the tradition of the “Wiener Schule der Animazione” ( = The viennese school of creative therapy) which was also furthered in the 70-ies by the unfortunately much too early deceased Ilse Hanl with research, teaching and practical experience. We are continuing to work in her tradition, but using modern media rather than the dramatic means she used .
The central purpose of the The
Public Access Channel Association Austria is the securing of a nexus
between Austria and the international development in the field of media
and cultural participation. The progress in the new technologies of
the media since the mid-80-ies has triggered off
tremendous changes in our culture. It is necessary to react to
this challenge and to limit the negative effects on the individual,
family and society and to optimize the advantages of this medium. A
comparison with other European countries shows that since the beginning
of the new millennium no adequate steps were taken in Austria to deal
with this problem. In particular it is necessary to take appropriate
steps to help the population become media competent and to further media
educational work. The Public Access Channels
have proved an appropriate instrument for this in various countries.
Therefore the aim of the AOKÖ is the establishment, promotion and running of Public Access
Channels in Austria. In addition special project work should be carried
out by the means of Public Access
Channels, participatory video work and animated cultural processes.
These serve for the communicative, social and cultural qualification
of the population, for a raising of the competence in the media, for
the promotion of media emancipation by means of media educational approaches,
for the improvement of the local communicative structures, for social
integration of fringe groups and minorities as well as the realization
of general educational and democratic effects through the active and
creative media and cultural work of the users. Projects with children
and young people are taken into special account. The new media technologies
will lead to an increasing widening of the digital gap in the population,
if no effective countermeasures are taken relating to this problem.
This is the reason why the Public
Access Channel Association Austria has decided especially to look
after groups which are at a social disadvantage.
Another fundamental matter of concern for the AOKÖ is intercultural work which should be mutual and cross-border and not only within Austria. A guarantee for the success of the project lies in the fact that the Public Access Channel Association Austria consists of an international group of people. To the core team, which is responsible for the preparation work, do not only belong collaborators from Austria, but also from Poland, Rumania, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Croatia, who are all living in Vienna. In the face of this fact it is only natural that international co-operation be a part of the project. The project is also intended to transfer knowledge to other countries and should support the establishment of Public Access Channels there, especially in Eastern Europe.
Other fields of activity of the AOKÖ are the training of communication
assistants, scientific research, documentation of media and cultural
participation and the transfer of information. This is also the main
purpose of the homepage which will be permanently extended and brought
up to date. Furthermore a second step is planned, the establishing of
forum discussions which should further the principle of participation
in this field. The multi-lingualism of the homepage should serve as
a basis for an international forum. The collaborators of the AOKÖ
are not only responsible for translations, but are also available as
contact persons and consultants for the answering of urgent questions.
The homepage should increasingly offer all important information about
media participation in the form of a hypertext and should also have
the character of an encyclopedia. The references and comments are going
to be systematized later and will provide archives which will be retrievable
by the means of a search engine. Furthermore we are permanently working
on our annotated link collection and hope that it will be an attractive
nodal point of information, able to offer cartographical orientation
to various questions relating to themes from the media.
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