In the context of the current budget discussions and the closing of the Ann Arbor News, Paul Bancel went to the podium and asked city council to think about ways to make CTN relevant. One concrete suggestion he had was to make sure some public bodies who do not currently meet in front of CTN cameras have their meetings recorded: Downtown Development Authority board (they’re working on it), the library board, and the public art commission. The board of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority could be added to the list.

But part of making community television relevant entails an understanding by the community of what it offers. If council has a role to play in making CTN relevant, then so does the community.

For readers who’d like an analysis, a CTN case study by University of Michigan student – and occasional Chronicle commenter – Matt Hampel is compelling reading. For readers who haven’t watched anything on CTN in a while, or who’ve never watched an episode of an Ann Arbor City Council meeting, we’d suggest that tonight’s a good night for viewing.

On Channel 16, May 11, at 7 p.m. CTN will broadcast the city council’s work session on the city budget. Their vote on the budget will take place the following week, May 18.

Last week, live broadcast of public meetings was interrupted due to a cable cut related to the new municipal building construction.  However, Greg McDonald, assistant manager for the city government productions at CTN, spoke to The Chronicle early this afternoon (Monday, May 11), and reported that the connection had been restored. Though there is no signal to the monitor inside the council chambers, the feed out to CTN studios on South Industrial is again working.

After watching the meeting live or later online using CTN’s video on demand feature, perhaps Chronicle readers will be in a better position to think of ways to make CTN more relevant.

Here at The Chronicle, we’re contemplating a slightly different way to approach our meeting coverage to make it somewhat more timely. Tonight at the work session, instead of taking notes on a local laptop hard drive, we’ll try Twittering them live on A2ChronicleMeet. One possible result is that the meeting’s Twitter feed, when cleaned up – but with time-stamp entries left intact – could provide useful time codes for finding content in CTN’s recorded broadcast. It could be a way for viewers of the online stream to orient themselves and find specific places in the video when action at council occurred  – that feature is not currently provided with CTN’s video on demand feature, which allows viewing of the meetings over the web.

That feature might be provided soon by CTN itself. According to McDonald, efforts are underway to integrate the meeting minutes information into the video stream. The technician in charge of the meeting already inserts the subtitles of agenda item numbers into the stream. Making it easier for users to navigate the online video would be a good step forward.

In his second Tweet: “I will not yet reveal my identity nor my alleged crime. I will say that I was 42 years old when I served my time and had never been in jail.”

The author agreed to answer some questions for us.

But first, a sample from the Twitter feed. Note that the entries read in chronological order, most recent first.

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A nurse comes with medication. I tell her how many hours I have been
in jail without my phone call. She does not look very interested.
Wed, May 6, 2009 9:51 AM
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It is the loudest flush I have ever heard, filling the cell with
sound, halting all conversation for about 30 seconds.
Wed, May 6, 2009 9:21 AM
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"Flush on 2!" Fred yells. "Can you give us a flush on 2?" We do
not operate our own toilets.
Wed, May 6, 2009 9:14 AM
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Fred pounds a few times until he has a guard's attention.
Then makes a twisty motion with his fingers.
Wed, May 6, 2009 8:57 AM
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By now the stench is approaching unbearable. Fred gets
up and pounds on the cell window.
Wed, May 6, 2009 8:33 AM
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Q & A

We confirmed that the author was jailed at Washtenaw County jail at 2201 Hogback Road during 2008. The Chronicle acknowledges that this is one side of a multi-faceted tale, some of which predates the author’s incarceration. However, the narrative provides a literate insight into a tax-funded facility that most readers of The Chronicle will not experience first hand in the same way as the author. And we were curious to know a bit more about this writing project than was reflected in the Twitter bio.

1. Describe the writing process. Do you ever have to shave down sentences to fit 140 characters? Did you write out the whole thing in advance? Given the level of detail, you must have taken notes, right? Do you try to leave the last Tweet for the day as a “cliffhanger”?

There are a few parts that I took notes on during my stay in jail and I’ve referred to them as reminders, but the writing, itself, is all as I remember it – 140 characters at a time. Not as difficult as I thought it would be and it’s forcing me to tighten up my usually wordy writing, anyway.

As for “cliffhangers,” when it’s your first time in jail, every moment is a cliffhanger. I had no idea what to expect. Also, in the first couple of months, before I knew what my final sentence would be, every day seemed to be a cliffhanger to me.

2. Do you keep in touch with anybody you met in jail?

Yes, I have corresponded with, and called, a few people I met in jail. There are so many stories in each individual person I met, and some of them wanted me to help them write their personal stories. I am following up with them as time permits. I am also still in touch with one corrections officer – one good one who really does care about the people she is placed in charge of. I will get to her in my story much later.

3. Do you have a favorite euphemism for the time gap on the resume – like “independent projects?”

This was a very sad time in my life. It froze my career and, more importantly, separated me from my young children. They think I was away on a long “work trip,” and the psychological impact of me being away is still being noticed. I don’t have a favorite euphemism. They are all bad.

4. At home, with family, or at work, you find yourself citing your jail time as evidence that you’ve seen and experienced more than the average bear can even imagine? Or is it something that’s just taboo?

No. It is an experience I do not wish on anybody and I hope most find out only second-hand through people like me. It is not a taboo subject at home, but it brings up a great deal of pain that my wife and I still need to sort through.

5. Any idea how much it cost to house you at the jail for five months?

I have no idea, but probably not as much as it might look on the books. I will bring this up later in my narrative – how the system not only takes away your rights and freedoms, but robs you blind by giving you food portions that are not enough to feed a grown man and then making you pay for anything “extra.”

A recent Tweet by the Nonprofit Enterprise at Work (NEW), commenting on Wednesday's Cultural Alliance meeting.

The newly renovated and expanded University of Michigan Museum of Art is a social place: Tuesday night, several hundred people attended a kick-off fête for the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, while Wednesday brought members of the Cultural Alliance of Southeastern Michigan together for their annual meeting. The focus of Wednesday’s day-long event was also social, as in social networking – specifically, how nonprofits can use social media like blogs, Twitter and Facebook to fundraise, market and strengthen their organization.

Being social animals ourselves, The Chronicle dropped by both events, but was able to spend a bit more time at the Cultural Alliance forum, which was well represented by Ann Arbor groups, including the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre, University Musical Society and Arts Alliance, among others.

Linh Song of the NEW Center in Ann Arbor was one of the event’s organizers. She presented a session on fundraising with Twitter, Facebook, Tipjoy and other online tools. She started by defining social media – it’s about conversations, not monologues, with an ethos of honesty and transparency. Participants are people, not organizations –  institutional control is being ceded to consumer control.

Linh Song, an organizer and presenter at Wednesday's Cultural Alliance annual meeting. She is director of npServe, a program of the Ann Arbor-based Nonprofit Enterprise at Work.

Though it’s an effective, low-cost way to reach out, she said, most nonprofits aren’t taking advantage of social media. “We need to catch up.”

Song described Twitter as perfect for communicating with a nonprofit’s constituency and raising money. “It’s like a stream of consciousness coming from your organization.” NEW uses Twitter to promote workshops and other events, but also to pass along links that other nonprofits might find interesting, and to talk about what staff members are doing. (One recent Tweet: “Quality Coffee Friday at the NEW Center today. Tenants are loving @Sweetwaters House Blend and House Decaf!”)

Related to Twitter, TipJoy is an application that allows you to raise money via your Twitter network. It’s an alternative to the more well-known PayPal e-commerce system, Song said, and is preferable for nonprofits because it charges lower administrative fees for the transactions.  Song reported that a nonprofit called charity: water raised $250,000 in a week-long TipJoy campaign.

Facebook is another way to communicate with current or potential supporters of your nonprofit, Song said. She described an application called lil Green Patch, a game that’s free to play – Facebook users create and tend a virtual garden – but that’s also used to raise money for the Nature Conservancy. (The creator of lil Green Patch, David King, will be coming to the area in May for the Michigan Nonprofit Association SuperConference.)

The Meet the Bloggers panel at the Cultural Alliance annual meeting, from left: Mariah Cherem of Yelp, Jessica Rauch of The Generation Project, and Jim Griffioen of Sweet Juniper.

Following Song’s presentation, three panelists talked about how they use blogs and social media. Mariah Cherem, a graduate of Eastern Michigan University, works with Yelp, a site for reviews of restaurants, realtors and a range of other businesses and organizations. Cherem stressed that though Yelp has a nationwide reach, its power lies in allowing you to find reviews or make your own comments about businesses in your local community.

Jim Griffioen, a former attorney and stay-at-home dad, runs the blog Sweet Juniper, which he started after the birth of his daughter, Juniper. He now has about 50,000 visitors to his site each week, and has an agency selling ads for him: “I just get the checks – it’s incredible.” Engaging with readers is crucial, he said. When organizations do a blog, they often don’t do much with it. “If you do it half-ass, no one’s going to read it.” He suggested finding someone who’s passionate about the organization, and letting them blog without fencing them in.

The third panelist was Jessica Rauch, founder of The Generation Project. Her site allows donors to craft their own way of giving, then links them with low-income K-12 students who’ll benefit from their gift. The UM Law School’s Business Law Association, for example, recently held a fundraiser to provide interview clothes for Detroit students seeking after-school or summer jobs.

Now, back to the Ann Arbor Summer Festival kickoff party the previous day.  Who have they booked for this year? Their website is counting down the days to the official public announcement  – currently with three days left.  Based on the brochure they were handing around at the party, though, there’ll be something similar to but not exactly Beyonce, plenty for folks who mind their steps, a martini that you can’t drink, some people who are just making stuff up, plus eleven more acts to choose from.