Filmmaker Richard Linklater, who helped cultivate Austin's growing film scene, kicked off the day today by talking about "the importance of being connected to your local community." Distribution was a common theme again, with Linklater calling it "the key of the future" and expressing his excitement about the web as a tool for video distribution.

But he doesn't want it to be the only tool so that people are sitting around watching videos on their laptops...alone...instead of getting together for screenings with in-person feedback and discussion.

A lot of us were inspired by that comment, and myself in particular because it helped me gain some perspective for NeighborMedia. CCTV's channels and website are great ways to reach a larger audience, but as far as getting media back into the neighborhoods where they were produced, there's no better way than actually convening activists and community members in their own physical space.

In a panel this afternoon called "Creating Access, Creating Opportunity," I learned about some really awesome projects, one dealing with citizen media that seems to be facing the same challenges as our project. More details to come...