BBC's Action Network execs come to SF

I spent this afternoon at an interesting meeting at the offices of Public Access Media Center in San Francisco, meeting with a half-dozen folks involved with grassroots media.

The guests of honor were Martin Vogel, director of British Broadcasting Corp.'s Action Network (formerly iCan), and his colleague Anno Mitchell, who heads up Action Network's strategy and development. (They're pictured above.)

Ellison Horne of Celebrating Solutions hosted the event, which was attended by Zane Blaney, executive director of Access SF, Elizabeth Lee, co-founder and editor-in-chief of iTalkNews.com, Brian Shields of KRON4-TV and a few others.

Action Network falls under the BBC umbrella, but it's a relatively independent effort — a community site to "get things done in civic life," as Vogel put it. It's not a discussion forum, it's a community space where people share experiences and advice. About 170,000 people have registered, with about 10 percent of them active members. The site offers tips on, say, how to give a press conference, or how to write to your MP (legislator).

In the debate over whether news organizations ought to edit citizens media submissions or let them speak freely, Action Network comes down squarely on the side I've staked out.

Vogel recounted that early in the venture, the nanny-like guardians of the status quo inside the BBC worried, "What is people posted things that were untrue or biased?" But Action Network took a hands-off policy, letting the users sort it out. "You have to rely on the wisdom of the community," Vogel told us. Added Mitchell: No one is banned from the site based on who you are -- a neo-Nazi is free to post. "We don't care who you are. We care about what you're doing."

Action Network is an important, praiseworthy effort to engage people in public life, and they hope to export it to other countries. Please check it out.