Initial notes: Belinda Acosta, TVEye Columnist for the Austin Chronicle, starts the discussion with questioning of the term "community." Groups represented include KAZI, KVRX, KOOP, We the People News in Corpus Christi, Channel Austin, Community Impact, Houston Media Source, Dallas iMedia, Southwest Alternative Media Project, Ariba, Texas Observer, KAOS.

Identifying common ground will lead to opportunities for collaboration. Another session member proposes a website dedicated to helping groups collaborate. The digital divide is still alive and well, points out another person. "All of our platforms are in jeopardy," says a woman. Nonprofit groups came together in a very helpful Congress a few years ago, according to one woman. How do we make the case for media justice activism, asks Tomas. Belinda feels like we need to be more open . Mike from Minnesota wants media to be about buildling network and building power, instead of the technology of the work itself. "Communities are built, they don't just drop from the sky or Rupert Murdoch," he says. A volunteer with Houston Media Source feels like there are too many rules and impediments to attracting new volunteers and sustaining a community of media-makers. A PACT worker feels like Obama's fundraising effort. A KAZI DJ flips the question of collaboration a little bit away from media-makers and to the public at large - how to we collborate with our audiences? How do we collaborate with the community? Another session member feels that journalism is opening up... Philip Goetz from KVRX wraps up the session with a request: post on the Summit website's forum what you as a media-maker need and what you can offer to others.

Thoughts: I can't say that the session was all that helpful. The group consisted of media-makers from every medium and all over the state, and the discussion reflected that breadth - everybody recognized the need for collaboration and inclusion but there wasn't much progress towards making that happen. We were also rudely interrupted by a dude claiming he was unfairly ousted from Channel Austin. Sorry, but that's another issue. I think Goetz' proposal at the end of the session was the first real step towards actual collaboration.