Authentic Storytelling on the Net

The following is an excerpt from testimony delivered by Garlin Gilchrist II to the FCC during a hearing this week on Net Neutrality:

Networks whose openness is proactively protected also protect the legitimacy of the ideas exchanged. When the same network is available to anyone, people can contribute without fear of being shut out. For marginalized people (people of color, immigrants, lower- and working-class people), the chance to directly share one’s own authentic story or point-of-view is invaluable. The Internet is a medium where this is possible. All other forms of media have barriers to entry that exceed those on the Internet by orders of magnitude.

Presenting stories in authentic voices is the gift that open networks give to all who have access. Amplifying authentic voices is the role of the community organizer working for positive change. Listening to authentic voices is the role of the policy maker wanting to create responsible regulation & legislation. Open networks make this all possible.

When harm is done to the openness of networks, democracy is endangered. How can openness be harmed? By erecting walls. By locking gates. By segregating participants.

The Web is uniquely suited for the spread of stories. The Web’s openness has changed the defining political issue of this year. During the summer of 2009, America was engaged in a nationwide dialogue about our nation’s health care system (a dialogue that continues today). My organization, the Center for Community Change, wanted to make sure that the breadth of the American health care experience was included in the discussion. So we traveled to state and county fairs in Missouri, Maine, Tennessee, Nebraska and Kentucky to interview people about their health care stories. Our “State Fair Stories” videos were posted online and viewed thousands of times, sharpened the focus of our advocacy and gave a voice to people who felt left out of the national discourse.

We compiled the stories to create a documentary that we shared with members of Congress and their staffs to showcase how many in rural America feel about the status quo in health care. We held a Congressional briefing on rural health care issues on the Hill featuring the people who told their authentic stories online. Thanks in part to this video and these people’s authentic stories, the concerns of all Americans are being considered in the current debate.

To read all of Gilchrist's testimony, click here.

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