CITATION AND COPYRIGHT INFORMATION:
Cite as: Higgins, J. W. (1994). Tracing the vision: A study of community volunteer producers, public access cable television, and empowerment. Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University. Advisor, Brenda Dervin.
© John William Higgins (1994).
You may be able to order a full copy of this dissertation through the author, or through ProQuest Dissertation Express.

ADVISOR:
Brenda Dervin

ABSTRACT:
This study investigates long-standing claims from the public access cable television arena that video production skills learned in community television facilities lead to a media literacy and media demystification, which can result in empowerment. As defined, empowerment is an awareness of self, others, and society, with action taken to change power relationships within these spheres. Empowerment within a video production context is defined from the literatures of public access, critical pedagogy, media education, and critical media pedagogy. Aspects of freedom of speech are delineated from traditional and critical interpretations of the First Amendment. The study is an interpretive, qualitative investigation of volunteer community producers at a public access cable television facility; Dervin’s Sense-Making informs the study methodology.

Data collection uses in-depth, open-ended, structured focus group and individual interviews; informants were selected through purposive maximum variation sampling techniques. Data analysis involves both deductive and inductive approaches. Major findings include: media literacy is an outcome for all respondents, and has value in promoting analytic and critical thinking skills; media demystification is a consequence for most participants. Other findings include: new awarenesses of self and of others are outcomes for many respondents; producers develop specific tactics to overcome deep ideological and personal divisions within the access facility; producers construct freedom of speech more as an individual right rather than a social good; producers construct a notion of audience that is personal and active; societal change within the public access experience is best understood as a process involving a dialectic between the individual and the collectivity.

The findings argue against critical pedagogist Paulo Freire’s overemphasis on action in the societal realm as the highest level of empowerment. Rather, empowerment builds from the personal and extends outward to include others and society. The essence of social change includes a dialectical relationship between the individual and the collective. While its impact is not as direct as some proponents argue, public access provides a foundation which encourages individuals and groups to believe they can make a difference on the broader society, and to take actions to address structural inequities within the society.

OTHER MATERIALS BY THIS AUTHOR ON THIS WEBSITE:
See: http://communication.sbs.ohio-state.edu/sense-making/AAauthors/authorlisthiggins.html