Mode of Program Participation
Academic Scholarship
Participation Type
Panel
Session Title
Making Transitions: Strategies for Multimedia Impact in Central Appalachia
Session Abstract or Summary
Central Appalachia is in transition from an economy based on coal mining. Throughout the region, politicians and policymakers, businesspeople and community leaders, educators and activists are searching for solutions to the current economic crisis. However, as transition efforts are proposed and developed, it is important to think of the region as making transitions, not undergoing them. Community media efforts have incredible potential for guiding this work and bringing a diversity of Appalachian voices into deliberations about the region’s future. But how do we design for impact and how do we know it works? This panel explores these issues through showcasing the media impact strategies of Appalshop’s WMMT and Making Connections News, and the Hollow interactive documentary. Haywood will discuss WMMT stories around the opioid epidemic; Pickering will discuss Making Connections News’ attempts to use multimedia storytelling to change the public narrative about what is possible; Bradshaw will discuss circulation strategies and assessment models for community media initiatives at Appalshop; and Adams will present on research about the impact of the Hollow documentary on community storytellers’ identity and agency.
Presentation #1 Title
Shedding the Shame: Community Radio Documents, De-Stigmatizes, and Initiates Meaningful Conversations about Opioid Addiction
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Opioid addiction has become an epidemic in central Appalachia. The seven Appalachian states account for more than a fifth of the of the country’s opiate-related deaths since 1999. Community radio offers a unique opportunity to address such stigmatized issues as addiction by providing a safe space in which to share personal stories and information in a way that is easily accessible by the community and humanizes the statistics. This, in turn, allows an environment to be opened for meaningful discussion to take place, and hopefully, for solutions to be found. In this presentation, Kelli Hansel Haywood will share radio stories about opioid problems in the region and discuss strategies for creating radio that not only documents a person’s/community’s experience with the problem, but also drives meaningful conversations.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Kelli Hansel Haywood is the mother of three daughters living in the mountains of southeastern Kentucky. She is a writer, traditional foodways junkie, spiritual explorer, and avid yogini. Haywood is the Public Affairs Director for WMMT-Real People Radio in Whitesburg, Kentucky. Haywood’s written work has appeared in The Daily Yonder, Pathways to Family Wellness, and Still: The Journal among other places.
Presentation #2 Title
Appalshop’s Making Connections News: Multi-media Strategies for Changing Public Perceptions of Development Policies
Presentation #2 Abstract or Summary
Central Appalachia has experienced a dramatic decline in mining, yet the reasons for the decline and prospects for the future remain hotly contested. Will the coal industry bounce back with a change in politicians who promise to end the “War on Coal,” as a good number of residents claim, or do we need to move quickly and as a community to rethink what it will take to create a diversified and sustainable economy? Mimi Pickering will share approaches used by Making Connections News, a public education campaign that produces and disseminates culturally grounded multi-media stories that aim to change public perceptions of what is possible and build support for development policies and practices that accelerate a just transition to liveable communities.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Mimi Pickering is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and director of Appalshop’s Community Media Initiative. Since 2010, Pickering’s CMI work has focused on Making Connections News: Diversifying Appalachia’s Future, a collaboration with WMMT-FM that has produced over 150 multimedia stories exploring sustainable and just economic options for renewing Appalachia (www.makingconnectionsnews.org).
Presentation #3 Title
Rhetorics of Remaining: Strategies of Media Circulation in Central Appalachia
Presentation #3 Abstract or Summary
Economic transitions advocates in central Appalachia rely on successfully circulating media that showcase and argue for potential pathways forward. Advocates in such organizations strategize for gaining rhetorical persistence among entrenched discourses like “War on Coal “ rhetoric rather than relying on “viral” paradigms of media spread. Instead, advocates create a “rhetoric of remaining” among discursive, material, and economic pressures to do otherwise. This presentation draws on scholarship in rhetoric studies regarding the rhetorical circulation of media (DeVoss & Ridolfo; Sheridan, Ridolofo, & Michele, Gries) in order to critique available methodologies in nonprofit media impact discourses. Then, reporting on participatory research with Appalshop and interviews with other media producers in the region, this presentation shows how media strategies link up in advocacy networks to create persistent circulation of civic positions that can affect change. This presentation will offer the audience a useful heuristic for reflecting on community media initiatives making the case for remaining in a place as a positive move forward.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #3
Jonathan L. Bradshaw is Assistant Professor of English at Western Carolina University. His research explores the intersections of cultural rhetorics and rhetorical circulation studies in civic nonprofits and advocacy groups. He has conducted participatory research with Appalshop as well as served as Communications Team Leader for the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Presentation #4 Title
The Power of Story: The impact of participatory digital storytelling in Hollow
Presentation #4 Abstract or Summary
Scholars across disciplines have looked at the impact of digital storytelling on individuals and communities (Berry, Selfe, & Hawisher, 2012; Fisher & Smith, 2012; Lambert, 2013; Pleasants & Salter, 2014), noting their power to not just impact outside audiences, but also to transform and empower individuals. This presentation shares research on the impact access to digital tools and spaces had on the identities and sense of agency among a group of community storytellers in McDowell County, West Virginia as they participated in an interactive participatory documentary, Hollow. Although the opportunity to share their stories with national and international audiences invigorated the storytellers, little tangible change within the community has been reported since the launch of the documentary. However, the storytellers continue to drive digital storytelling efforts in less obvious, but still important and impactful ways. In sharing these stories, the presentation also offers strategies to support community storytellers in Appalachia.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #4
Megan Adams is an Assistant Professor of Communication at The University of Findlay. Her research explores the intersections of digital storytelling and rural literacies as a means to support community-building. She has conducted research with Hollow: An Interactive Documentary and is currently working with century farmers in rural Ohio to archive and share their stories in digital formats.
Shedding the Shame: Community Radio Documents, De-Stigmatizes, and Initiates Meaningful Conversations about Opioid Addiction
Opioid addiction has become an epidemic in central Appalachia. The seven Appalachian states account for more than a fifth of the of the country’s opiate-related deaths since 1999. Community radio offers a unique opportunity to address such stigmatized issues as addiction by providing a safe space in which to share personal stories and information in a way that is easily accessible by the community and humanizes the statistics. This, in turn, allows an environment to be opened for meaningful discussion to take place, and hopefully, for solutions to be found. In this presentation, Kelli Hansel Haywood will share radio stories about opioid problems in the region and discuss strategies for creating radio that not only documents a person’s/community’s experience with the problem, but also drives meaningful conversations.
