What is Community Media Lab

Community media labs (CMLs) are becoming significant catalysts in driving knowledge, innovation, cultural awareness and talent development. Structurally, these are cooperative efforts engaging academic institutions, media and tech companies and venture capitalists for the purpose of collaboration, innovation, education and monetization. Increasingly, higher education institutions are participating in and designing curricula around these enterprises to offer students more cutting-edge information and media literacy training. Thus, this chapter recommends a preliminary framework for establishing a CML partnership between Historically Black Colleges/Universities (HBCUs) and a local media outlet. HBCUs have a long-standing record of activism, as well as civic and community engagement and, although CMLs are culturally enlightening and worthwhile activities for any institution of higher education to create a footprint beyond campus, there is significant opportunity for further development and innovative creation from within to aid in the future generational sustainability of HBCUs.