I had been thinking more about the role of the artist ever since I was invited by the Filmmakers Collaborative to participate in their conference  Making Media Now:  Filmmaking in Transition.  That was the first time I had been asked to translate the ideas of NML and CMS into concrete implications for artists.  Although it has been a while since I've made my own experimental video work (too busy making videos for NML perhaps!), I do consider myself a video artist, and enjoy shifting my perspective back to those creative concerns.  After much research, writing, and thinking, I created a presentation for Making Media Now that ventured some theories about an emerging aesthetic for online video.

To prepare for my two talks in Rotterdam, I spent some time talking to Henry, and we settled on a strategy for applying NML theory to the world of filmmaking.  For my informal panel talk, we decided I'd step through our four forms of participatory culture (internal meeting shorthand: 4C's) - creation, circulation, connection, and collaboration - and look for the opportunities these offer todays' filmmaker.  I shared the practices of filmmakers like Lance Weiler, Tiffany Shlain, and Douglas Gayeton who are taking advantage of new tools (social networking, machinema) to create innovative models for the creation and distribution of their work.  In my keynote talk, I looked at places of convergence and divergence between the American and European approaches to media education.  I referred to the European Commission's report on media literacy and its call for more involvement from more "actors" - including media professionals - in the process of media education.

The Rotterdam conference acknowledged that "Media education is a hot topic within national governments and educational institutions alike. Big words like new citizenship, empowerment and media literacy are used to convince us of its necessity."  and posed the key question "But what do filmmakers have to say?"  I'm not sure if it's common in Europe, but this was the first conference I've attended that actually answered its own question.  By the end, a manifest had been written.  An excerpt:  This day has shown that filmmakers and film professionals have strong opinions about media and film education. There is a need to involve them in the policy making process. There is a need for dialogue, for exchange of knowledge and recognition of the fact that filmmakers are the hands on experts that can feed a deep-rooted media education.