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I'm interested in trying to apply the principles of open source development to the process of producing The Echo Chamber documentary. So far, I've been using EchoChamberProject.com and its blog as the primary mediums to facilitate this integration.

I'd like share my thoughts for how the integration of the Internet and Filmmaking mediums could leverage the power of open source to find new methods to:

* Recruit volunteer help for post-production tasks
* Develop film content throughout the post-production process
* Recruit post-production expertise
* Market independent documentary films
* Create new economic competitive advantages through meaning creation
* Handle complexity and defy media logic
* Integrate objectivity and subjective judgments
* Reach new audiences

The Echo Chamber Project has secured its first advisor from the Academic world.

Dr. Andrew R. Cline is an assistant professor of journalism at Southwest Missouri State University and a specialist in rhetorical analysis and web-based journalism.

Cline has agreed to provide his journalistic and rhetorical insights throughout the post-production process of The Echo Chamber documentary. Specifically, he will provide comments on The Echo Chamber interview transcripts and give feedback throughout the treatment, scripting, and editing phases of this independent film.

The concept of Integral Filmmaking combined with the principles of Open Source could introduce new methods for how meaning is created.

Traditionally, the Mainstream Media or documentary filmmakers had the most power in determining what meaning was created through their editing judgments.

But combining the Internet, Blogging and documentary filmmaking mediums could allow the audience to create their own meaning from information instead of relying upon the "objective" mainstream media, partisan press or closed-source documentary films.

The Open Source tactics of the The Echo Chamber documentary and website could create up to four distinct phases of meaning creation that could provide a unique economic competitive advantage.

EXISTING PROCESS OF MEANING CREATION
INFLUENCE OF CONFIRMATION BIAS
INTEGRAL PROCESS OF MEANING CREATION
FOUR PHASES OF MEANING CREATION

There are flaws with a purely "objective" press as well as a purely partisan press.

Objective mainstream journalism relies upon the government institutions and other official government sources -- but the two-party system has a virtually monopoly on the spectrum of debate.

Partisan journalists allows their political biases to disproportionately present a set of facts so that their position will win the argument every time.

Integral Journalism is a new paradigm that could potentially provide the framework to integrate objective facts with a set of possible subjective interpretations of those facts (i.e. competing partisan, non-partisan and transpartisan hypotheses).

There have been acknowledged failures of the mainstream media leading up to the war in Iraq.

My Echo Chamber Hypothesis proposes that the "He Said/She Said" objectivity constraints of journalistic production broke down after there was a consensus within the political leadership in Congress to authorize military intervention in Iraq.

After October 2002, the media served as an uncritical Echo Chamber to the Executive Branch's countdown towards war.

* How can this dichotomous objectivity constraint be overcome without resorting to a partisan press?
* Is there a new paradigm of journalistic production that can more comprehensively cover the complex issues of the day?

The problems with the pre-election 2004 CBS Bush-National Guard story will probably become the most convincing circumstantial evidence for the liberal media bias hypothesis.

Producer Mary Mapes' sloppy journalistic practices are already proof enough of liberal bias within conservative circles. This is based upon the assumption that her actions were explicitly or implicitly motivated by a liberal political bias against George W. Bush.

As I reflect on how this documentary started and where it has ended up, I notice how much it has evolved. I have been writing up synopses and talking to a number of people about the project, and I realize that there is some confusion about the motivations and intentions of The Echo Chamber.

Is the film is going to criticize the politics of the selling the war to the American people and serve as a thinly-veiled attack on President Bush? Or is this a serious academic investigation of the downfalls of objective mainstream journalism?

ORIGINAL MOTIVATIONS

I have returned from my three-week holiday hiatus and travel to Indianapolis (family) and San Francisco (friends). I'm starting to reply to e-mails and get back into full gear.

I had a number of meetings of the break to receive feedback on my business plan, and one of the items on the To Do List is to try to integrate all of the feedback into the next version of the business plan.

Another priority on the list is to continue searching for a producer and other advisors for the project.

I had a chance to read through some of the 25 completed transcripts that I have received, and I've started brainstorming how to piece everything together. Another upcoming challenge is to condense the essence of the project into a four to five-minute trailer.

Addressing the market demand in the previous post, here is what I tentatively see as what The Echo Chamber can provide to the market:

* The Echo Chamber explores the sociology of the media and brings a deeper understanding to the media's role of creating meaning and shaping the cultural consciousness.
* Provides an opportunity to investigate the media bias culture wars in the context of the build-up to the war in Iraq.
* Can be used as an outreach tool for individuals to bridge the polarized culture gap -- Grievances with the mainstream media provides a common ground for conservatives and liberals to come together and have further political discussions that bring a deeper understanding to each other's perspectives.

As I continue to focus the goals of this project, I have drafted up some ideas as to how to characterize the needs of the current market:

* The mainstream media shapes political discourse in ways that are often unseen, and is therefore accused of having either a political or economic bias.
* Claims of liberal media bias have created a deep distrust of objective mainstream news and increased the demand for a more alternative and partisan press.
* The political discourse is becoming increasingly politically polarized and partisan, and the two parties are talking at each other and not to each other.