Durango Community Access Television

The Open Media Globe
Submitted by dcat22 on Wed, 08/05/2009 - 11:48
Contact Information
Individual Applicant Name: 
Christopher Hall
About the Center
1. Does your organization currently have a public computer center?: 
No
2. What is the goal of your public computer center? If it currently is not set up do you have organizational capacity for one?: 
Our goal is to teach affordable classes in media and communication technology including video production and the Internet. As the only Public Access station within several hundred miles our service area includes members from Southwest Colorado and Northern New Mexico.
3. What percentage of content submitted to your station is posted online?: 
5
4. Will your organization's public computer center be available to all members of the general public or a specific population?: 
The general public. DCAT has members from the Southern Ute, Ute Mountain Ute, and Navajo Indian tribes who travel 30-75 miles to access our classes, services and equipment.
5. Do you charge membership dues or other fees to the population you are proposing to serve?: 
Yes
6. What is the disabilities status for members in your area? Check all that apply.: 
A condition that substantially limits one or more basic physical activities such as walking, climbing stairs, reaching, lifting or carrying.
Center Capacity
7. For the following questions regarding your center's capacity, are the values current or proposed?: 
Proposed
Public computer center name and type.: 
4COM. Four Corners Open Media. Nonprofit facility.
How many broadband-related equipment units (e.g. computers, wireless devices) have you/do you intend to purchase overall?: 
10
Center's Broadband Connection Speed (MBps): 
8
Number of Persons served per 120-hour business week?: 
15
Number of Persons served per 48-hour weekend?: 
5
Center Demographic Information
8. What is the estimated population size of your service area?: 
50000
9. What is your service area identifier?: 
Third District of Colorado, La Plata County
10. What age distribution(s) will your center serve?: 
5 to 19 years
20 to 29 years
29 to 39 years
40 to 49 years
50 to 59 years
60 to 69 years
70 and above
11. What ethnicity(s) will your center serve?: 
Hispanic
Non-Hispanic White
Non-Hispanic Black
Non-Hispanic American Indian
Non-Hispanic Asian
Non-Hispanic Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
Non-Hispanic Other
12. What gender(s) will your center serve?: 
Male
Female
13. What is the median household income for the population your center will serve?: 
$35,000 - $44,999
14. What education levels will your center serve?: 
None
Elementary - Kindergarten to Grade 5
Middle - Grade 6 to Grade 8
Secondary - Grade 8 to Grade 12
College
Masters
15. What is the unemployment rate for your service area?: 
6
16. What describes the language preference of your service area?: 
English - Primary
17. Please describe your center's outreach strategy and how can you reach communities lacking broadband access. : 
The majority of La Plata County outside the City of Durango has access to only dial up or satellite internet access. Our Board of Directors includes the City Manager and members from Fort Lewis College and School District 9R who participate in outreach in their institutions. We outreach through local media including our public access television cable channel, community radio stations KDUR and KSUT, and local newspapers. We also speak at community events and at local civic and faith based organizations. We offer video production and editing classes on location with Macbooks regardless of internet access availability.
18. If you provide a computer checkout or giveaway program, how many users do you expect to provide equipment or computers?: 
We currently provide 5 Macbooks for on location classes for checkout. We also provide access to 2 Mac-pro and 2 iMac workstations at our location. In our new facility we will provide 4 Mac-pro edit stations, 4 iMacs, and 8 Macbooks for on location classes and overnight checkout. Currently we have over 100 individual members, 80 non-profit members, and 18 Business members. Fort Lewis College, Pueblo Community College, and School District 9R, the City of Durango, La Plata County, and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe are also DCAT members and utilize our facilities. DCAT, cable channel 22 reaches over 6,500 households in La Plata County.
19. How will you measure the program's impact in reaching disconnected communities and increase broadband adoption?: 
DCAT membership applications will track cable and broadband access for each user. We will measure traffic on our website, member use, and how many locally produced videos are watched.
20. Please describe your primary training and educational programs, including curricula, student certification programs, etc.: 
We teach Basic Video and Television Field Production, Studio Production, Digital Editing with Final Cut Pro, Digital Storytelling, and Digital Storytelling for nonprofits. These classes range from 3 hours to 3 days. We would like to offer Motion, Flash, webvideo, and Podcasting classes in the future.
20a. How many hours of training do you/expect to provide per person on average through training programs(s)?: 
6
20b. How many full-time instructors/facilitators do you/will you employ for broadband and digital literacy training purposes?: 
1
Other Information
21. Is there evidence that less than 40% of your service population has broadband web access?: 
Yes
22. How will your center provide a $10,000 match of funds?: 
This will come out of our annual budget. $5,000 from our PEG capital equipment budget and $5,000 from general operating funds.
23. Does your center currently have an online component or plans for an online component?: 
Yes
24. How do you plan to maintain a public computer center?: 
Current staff, student interns, and volunteers. Future funding would be raised through class and use fees, donations, fund-raising campaigns, and grants from the City of Durango and La Plata County.
25. How do you plan maintain a website for your station or for the public computer center?: 
It is currently maintained by staff and this will continue. A small web development company located in our building provides free services or is hired as needed.
26. Are you interested in enabling your community to directly schedule any portion of your programming schedule?: 
Yes
27. Are you interested in sharing content with other public access TV stations?: 
Yes