LBC II

The Localized Broadcasting Cooperative

Manufacture and the LBC

By John Taylor; 2010 June 22, Nur 17, 167 BE

Neighbourhood Manufacture

The hillside community strives as a matter of principle to see to it that everything that can possibly be made nearby is manufactured with local facilities by local talent. We have seen how this was applied to agriculture and food preparation, but this is only the beginning.

There is no limit to what can come out of small, local workshops.

The recent development of the three-dimensional printer makes it possible already to replace any manufactured part by downloading the specifications into a small "printer" that uses dot matrix technology to spray plastic into an object of any shape or texture. At the same time, tiny factories can now design and rapidly assemble entirely new automobiles using a fraction of the tooling up expenses and other resources that earlier, centralized industrial processes demanded. Thanks to the Internet, a product can be designed rapidly by distributed, open source designers from around the world, who may never see one another's face. This empowers the local workshop in ways hardly understood as yet.

As the World Belt was being built and occupied, the trend away from large assembly lines back to a pre-industrial cottage industry accelerated. Soon a very diverse hillside labour market was redesigning just about everything that came out of large factories. Specifications of open designs were kept in databases that could be downloaded as needed by a local workshop. A small fee was paid to insure that the original designer, and her household and community, profited from every use of the innovation.

Local Intellectual Production, the LBC

These localized initiatives are not restricted to making physical objects. Early on a not-for-profit corporation known as the Localized Broadcasting Cooperative, or LBC, was formed to assure that similar distributed support from around the world was extended to local artists, writers and journalists.

The LBC is a combined arts council and media outlet that, as the name states, is a cooperative, locally owned institution founded and operated by residents in the neighbourhood. Affiliates have close obligations to and depend intimately upon their relationships with other LBC affiliates, both locally and around the world.

The LBC's chief mandate is to promote locally-produced art and literature, and to host visiting artistic productions. Its mission is to publicize any and all local initiatives and activities, and to offer a forum and market for all local artists, playwrights, actors and other performers in the neighbourhood. Each neighbourhood in the World Belt started its own affiliate of the LBC broadcasting network, spanning all media, including radio, television, art galleries, museums, cinema and theatres. The best local productions earn the right to broader exposure in the LBC multimedia network, either by taking the production on the road or by re-broadcast.

The home base of most LBC affiliates is in the Worker's Palace, a specialized market and mall for local products located on every street corner. Others, dedicated to more theoretical pursuits, may locate themselves in the consultorium or a local laboratory. There are many specialities in the corner worker's palaces, but a Palace with a theatre will broadcast plays, both locally made amateur productions and visiting productions, live to the community. A Palace with a sports facility will broadcast local matches, games and other activities to the entire neighbourhood. All announcers and broadcasters come from the area served by that palace, which may be several blocks or an entire sector of the city, depending upon how specialized it is.

Each venture or event in a neighbourhood is covered by the LBC. Most are partly sponsored and regulated by the trades unions of those whose talents make the production possible. Some events are sponsored by the consultorium, with the goal of edifying local citizens and informing them about their civic duties. These are covered by a local television or movie production company. Other events may be put on by a local religious or cultural group to publicize their values and commemorations.

 Usually a journalist or broadcaster's professional association cooperates with local schools to select and sponsor young apprentice anchorpersons for local television and Internet broadcasts. The best of these young people gain a qualification in that area of expertise. However, many if not most productions are put on entirely by amateurs. Others are semi-professional enterprises, with the best plays and shows traveling from neighbourhood to neighbourhood earning both prestige and an income for themselves, their households and community.

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