Karen A. Frenkel

In the late 1980s through my reporting on the computer industry, I saw that we would be communicating more and more through multimedia (as we called it back then), so I decided to move into video production.

My first documentary is the award-winning Minerva’s Machine: Women and Computing. I created, wrote, and executive produced the one-hour film, which aired on Public Television during the 1995 - 1996 and fall 1998 seasons. Minerva’s Machine received the 1997 Exceptional Media Merit Award (EMMA) for Best Television Documentary (Small Market), which is co-sponsored by the National Women’s Political Caucus and Radcliffe College. Minerva’s Machine also was awarded First Place, Documentary by BACA, the Brooklyn Arts Council, for its 30th Annual Film and Video Festival. It was also Runner Up, Best Television Series for 1995 by The Computer Press Association. Minerva’s Machine premiered in fall 1995 on San Jose’s PBS station, KTEH - Channel 54 and on over 60 other local PBS stations nationwide. It was rebroadcast in fall 1998, fall 2007, and fall 2009.

Awards
• Best Documentary in a Small Market, 1997 EMMA (Exceptional Merit Media Award), given by National Women’s Political Caucus and Radcliffe College
• Best Documentary, Brooklyn Arts Council’s 30th Annual International Film and Video Festival
• Best Television Series, Runner Up, Eleventh Annual Computer Press Award

I directed, co-wrote, and co-produced net.LEARNING, winner of the 1998 National Education Reporting Award, Best Television Documentary and Feature. This two-hour documentary explores the trade-offs students and faculty are willing to make in online classrooms. It profiles a student of library science in Alaska, for example, who collaborates in cyberspace with cohorts in Chicago and Urbana-Champaign. Also portrays is a professor of literature in San Luis Obisbo and many others pioneering this medium. I was also co-executive producer and originated the project with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Net.LEARNING aired on Public Television stations nationwide during the 1998 - 1999 season. It was rebroadcast during the 1999-2000 season.

Award
• 1998 National Education Reporting First Prize, Television Documentary and Feature