Newsletter
Subscribe to our free mailing list for event announcements, CSM news and our latest reports.
Feeds
Subscribe to News RSS feed
Subscribe to iCalendarPlease login or register to post
Copyright & Fair Use Blog
The Center for Social Media and the Washington College of Law at American University worked with veteran documentary filmmakers to create the Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use in November 2005. Through their filmmaker professional associations, these practitioners drafted a clear and easy-to-understand statement of reasonable approaches to fair use. For more resources, click on Copyright & Fair Use.
Discuss your views on copyright and fair use for media that matters!
Posts
Ellen Goodman’s report on the FCC’s Broadband Plan
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Mar 19, 2010
We’re proud to bring you the first report from Center for Social Media Fellow Ellen Goodman, who is Professor at Rutgers School of Law and Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the FCC working part time on the FCC’s Future of Media Project: This week, the FCC released its epic National Broadband Plan. The Plan largely deals with telecommunications infrastructure issues – how can we get more ubiquitous and faster broadband. Although the Plan is very focused on the bottom line of how ubiquitous broadband can support social and democratic flourishing, it actually only addresses the content of broadband communications in a couple… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Fair Use at SXSW
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Mar 18, 2010
When The People vs. George Lucas’ Kerry Roy mentioned the Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use from the stage, I whooped. I couldn’t help it—it was the first time I’d heard the statement acknowledged in that setting. But Roy wasn’t the only filmmaker who told me that the Statement was an essential tool of production these days; it was a routine mention in my hallway conversations with filmmakers. And I participated in two panels where that fact was also boldly showcased. In Remix Goes Mainstream: Making Mashups Pay lawyer Michael Donaldson noted that his firm now works on… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Got Popcorn? Film Distribution Insights at SXSW
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Mar 18, 2010
Public media mavens closely watch general business trends, if they want to seize opportunities. So at SXSW I was scouting for shifts in distribution. How does the Internet change film distribution? Not all that much, yet, although it can really change marketing, was the upshot of what seemed like every other panel at SXSW—both on the film and interactive sides. Consensus was that old-fashioned mass media is still what pays the bills; in that environment, the big news is how much people will pay for Video on Demand (movie-ticket prices). In a well-staged slapdown, billionaire HDNet CEO (and Texan) Mark Cuban… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Documentaries at SXSW
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Mar 18, 2010
South by Southwest Film Festival, in Austin, TX, has become a rich environment for documentaries, under the aegis of Janet Pierson (and if you don’t know this extraordinary champion of indie film, check out her interview on the POV blog). Even selecting for social-issue, human rights and cultural criticism (my stock categories), there was way too much to see. What I saw, by and large, I was happy to have seen—and no, I’m not sharing with you what I didn’t like. Life is too short. The good news started with Steve James’ No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson. (Fair warning:… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Environmental Film Festival at AU
Posted by Micael Bogar on Mar 18, 2010
D.C.’s 2010 Environmental Film Festival is under way! Along with the Center for Environmental Filmmaking, we’re sponsoring a whole week of films at American University’s Wechsler Theater. You can view the schedule here. We’re particularly excited to see the premiere of AU Professor Larry Engel’s new film, Potato Heads. In Potato Heads, Engel visits with farmers and scientists in the Andes of South America, the homeland of the potato; and the heartland of the United States, where this lowly tuber thrives today. Along the way, Engel also takes a close hard look at the importance of biodiversity and food security in… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
New Muslim Cool Completes Future of Public Media Project’s Field Report Series
Posted by Katie Donnelly on Mar 15, 2010
We are pleased to release the final report in our field report series, New Muslim Cool: Engaging Stakeholders throughout the Filmmaking Process. Published as part of the Future of Public Media project, these field reports explore how publics form around participatory and multiplatform media projects. New Muslim Cool is the last field report in a series of six conducted between 2007 and 2009. In it, CSM Research Fellow Nina Keim analyzes how the feature-length documentary film New Muslim Cool engaged stakeholders in the filmmaking process, resulting in a film that inspires young American Muslims, promotes an interfaith dialogue and helps users… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
UCLA Does the Right Thing by Fair Use
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Mar 3, 2010
UCLA, which in January yanked down videos being streamed for classroom use as a result of bullying by a trade association has rediscovered that educators have fair use rights. Now, UCLA professors can post videos again within their passworded class sites online. In a UCLA press release, Christine Borgman, chair of the Information Technology Planning Board and UCLA Presidential Professor of Information Studies, said, “The UCLA faculty and administration quickly reached consensus on both the need to restore these essential instructional services and to assert our rights to use intellectual property within the bounds of existing copyright laws.” While UCLA pointed… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Stupid Takedown Tricks
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Mar 3, 2010
Remix videos, mashups, memorials, fan videos and other works that build in copyrighted material sometimes get taken down from YouTube and other video sites, because automatic bot programs identify copyrighted material. And then stupidity ensues. All the audio in Larry Lessig’s February speech to the Open Video Alliance was recently taken down because Warner Music Group identified some copyrighted material in clips of remixes that he used, to demonstrate the vitality of emergent participatory culture. (You can still watch it on Blip TV, though.) Journalists and the Electronic Frontier Foundation cried foul, and Lessig will contest it. And it will go… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Loni Ding, Social Documentarian
Posted by Barbara Abrash on Feb 26, 2010
Loni Ding — documentary filmmaker, university teacher, and media activist – died on Saturday, February 20, 2010 in Berkeley, California. She exemplified the best in the way social documentarians can expand the public sphere. She did this by working to create public institutions to showcase underrepresented voices in American life, and by creating work that not only raised awareness but encouraged meaningful discussion and debate. Her film work had immediate and long-lasting impact, including influencing Congressional action on redress for Japanese-American internment during World War II. A tireless advocate for social issue documentary, she played a central role in the creation… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Lessig, Fair Use, and Open Video Alliance
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Feb 26, 2010
The Open Video Alliance, which pushes for more and better open-source tools to make, edit, showcase and access video, held a dramatic demonstration of the power of open source on Feb. 25. A speech by copyright guru Larry Lessig was beamed via open-source codec Ogg Theora to more than 40 venues around the world. American University was one of them; a group of the copyright-curious gathered to watch the speech, which was only occasionally garbled. Lessig spoke passionately about the vitality of remix, or read-write culture, and the need for “free/fair” copyright policies. He then urged people to work to get… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
True Tales of Fair Use: The Most Dangerous Man in America
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Feb 26, 2010
One of the most impressive recent social documentaries, The Most Dangerous Man in America, has been nominated for an Academy Award. It tells the story of Daniel Ellsberg’s decision to release the Pentagon Papers—a story full of important parallels for today. The film is beginning its theatrical release, and we hope to bring it to campus soon. Meanwhile, there’s an excellent interview with directors Judy Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith in Filmmaker magazine this month, in which Rick references the Center’s work: “We had a very interesting experience with the fair-use issue. I don’t know how much you’re familiar with Pat Aufderheide… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Fair Use at Diversifying Participation
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Feb 22, 2010
The Diversifying Participation conference held at the University of California, San Diego on Feb. 18-20 and headed by USC’s Henry Jenkins, marked the consolidation of a research field, digital learning. Funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and showcasing many MacArthur-funded projects, the conference featured creative overlaps between educators, youth media practitioners, digital designers, gamers, nonprofit institutions and funders. The overcrowded space—this was one hot ticket—was crammed with panels, so I can’t claim to have even sampled the best, but there was a lot to learn. Our panel on fair use for digital education was alive with questions… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Fair Use Day on NPR
Posted by Micael Bogar on Feb 15, 2010
Currently on NPR you can listen to Weekend Edition’s report on Fair Use Day. Center’s Director Pat Aufderheide is interviewed as well as other experts such as Gigi Sohn and Johnathan McIntosh. The piece originally aired Saturday, February 13. Listen to it now! When Fair Use Isn’t Fair To some in Hollywood and the music industry, there’s a fine line between using movie and audio clips to create new works and flat-out copyright infringement. Joel Rose reports on the some of the intricacies in fair-use law. more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Where is Your Line partners with MTV
Posted by Alison Hanold on Feb 14, 2010
Where is Your Line?, a project that will be demoed at the soon-to-be-rescheduled Making Your Media Matter conference, has partnered with MTV to have an open conversation about the recognition of abuse and sexuality among teenagers. Nancy Schwartzman, who heads up this project, wrote the following on the project’s website: Since its launch, our team has been watching MTV’s “A Thin Line,” a campaign, dedicated to raising awareness of “Digital Abuse,” and helping teens untangle normal versus unhealthy relationship dynamics. They focus on how cell phones can amplify and exacerbate abusive behaviors. Some of my favorite slogans are: It’s a thin… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Students for Free Culture Want Their Fair Use
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Feb 14, 2010
The Students for a Free Culture conference, hashtag #fcx, drew participants from throughout the U.S., who negotiated filthy weather on their way to Washington, D.C. Organizer Ben Moskowitz congratulated them not only for making their way through the snow, but also for recognizing the importance of Washington, D.C. for people who care about copyright and creativity. Students for a Free Culture started out in 2003 when a couple of Swarthmore students hacked into Diebold company emails showing how shaky and riggable electronic voting machines were. The organization now has dozens of chapters all over the country and internationally, and it focuses… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Making Your Media Matter rescheduling and refund information
Posted by Alison Hanold on Feb 10, 2010
We apologize for the inconvenience that canceling the Making Your Media Matter conference might have caused some attendees, but given the current weather conditions in the area, we are assured this decision was for the best. We have not yet decided on a rescheduled date for the conference, but it will likely be later this spring. All registrations will be honored for the rescheduled date. If you are unable to come to the new date when it is announced, we will begin processing refunds on registration. We will be back in touch soon with more details regarding the rescheduled conference. more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Making Your Media Matter is postponed.
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Feb 9, 2010
Making Your Media Matter is postponed. It was a tough decision, and we thought until today that we could still hold the event. But the combination of more snow, American University closings (and the possibility of more), airport closings (and the possibility of more), and transportation chaos all around the DC area convinced us that postponement would be the wiser choice. We don’t think even a wonderful event is worth taking crazy risks to get here. And we really don’t want you coming here to find out that we can’t open the doors! I’m really sorry about inconveniencing you. I’m also… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Making Media Work Webcast Today
Posted by Micael Bogar on Feb 9, 2010
Due to the inclement weather, New America Foundation is closed today and they are not able to host in-person attendees. The previously scheduled conference, “Making Media Work” will not be held. This event, however, is proceeding as scheduled in a webcast-only format. You can tune in on this page at 12:15 ET / 9:15 PT today. Please join in the conversation via Twitter — use the hashtags of #beyondecho and #mpinaf. The economics of media have been turned upside down in recent years, and many organizations are still struggling to make sense of the new landscape. Authors Jessica Clark and Tracy… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
RealScreen and Cold Realities
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Feb 4, 2010
RealScreen Summit, February 1-3, the annual coming together of documentary cable programmers and hopeful producers, is also an annual cold shower in the realities of making television today. At a panel on product placement in reality programming, one speaker said with not a trace of irony (and remarkable clarity), “Our audiences come to us to escape from reality. That’s the first thing we have to satisfy.” A keynote speaker celebrated the fact that changing technologies make it ever more possible for content producers to tailor their content to the needs of advertisers. The overarching theme seemed to be, Embrace the advertiser.… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Voice for the Voiceless, a Table Talk Lunch Series at Kay
Posted by Micael Bogar on Feb 1, 2010
On Thursday January 28th, American University’s Kay Spiritual Life Center’ sponsored a panel, Tweets & Blogs: Social Media as a Voice for the Voiceless. (CSM cosponsored.) The speakers included:. Emily Jacobi is the Co-Founder and Director of Digital Democracy, a New York-based nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering civic engagement through digital technologies. David Johnson is a Professor of Journalism at American University and teaches courses in digital journalism, interactive storytelling and convergence media. Matt Wood is the Associate Director of the Media Access Project, non-profit law firm and advocacy organization. Emily Jacobi from Digital Democracy began the talk with a Powerpoint… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Crying Shame at UCLA: Fair Use, Videos and Higher Ed
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Jan 30, 2010
The University of California at Los Angeles has decided to forbid teachers from posting videos (or, apparently, pieces of them) to their electronic teaching platforms, after an educational media association complained about the practice. It is just a crying shame that UCLA has capitulated to the association’s demands, without considering the effect either on pedagogical practice in its own institution or on the wider world of higher education. (Read about it at Inside Higher Ed here.) The original provisions of Sec. 110 of the Copyright Act, special educational exemptions, were never designed for the digital era, and the amendments to it… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
True Tales of Fair Use: Katy Chevigny
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Jan 28, 2010
Going into the fifth year after the publishing of Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use, filmmakers are beginning to be each other’s teachers. On a recent trip to New York, I had the pleasure of dining with Katy Chevigny, executive director of Arts Engine. Along with making splendid films, Arts Engine runs the Media That Matters film festival. Katy Chevigny is a “born again” fair user, she says. She also teaches about fair use, both at the IFP Rough Cut Lab and with Arts Engine’s Media That Matters filmmakers. She tells a compare-and-contrast story that’s worth sharing. “When I… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Public Participation as Public Media: Digital Participation and the National Broadband Plan
Posted by Chris Ali on Jan 27, 2010
We’re pleased to present this guest post from Christopher Ali, doctoral student at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Ali holds an MA in Media Studies from Concordia University in Montreal and his research interests include local and community media, broadcasting, and telecommunication policy in Canada and the United States. The Center for Social Media defines “public media” as platforms and projects that convene publics around shared issues. In this post, I’d like to take that notion one step further, to include that of public participation in policy making through digital platforms. Take for instance the National… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Voices of Terezin: Art as a Strategy for Survival
Posted by Micael Bogar on Jan 27, 2010
The Center has partnered up with organizations and schools all over campus in an effort to remember survivors of a prison camp from World War II in a city northwest of Prague called Terezin. The camp, during the course of the war held about 100,000 people, a large number of which were artists and musicians. We’ll be featuring the film Fighter as part of the program but not until April 7th. In the meantime, check out some of the other amazing events leading up to a play March 19-21 at the Katzen Arts Center. For more information please visit: http://www.american.edu/cla/terezinNot… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Fair Use at the Sundance Film Festival
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Jan 26, 2010
The Sundance Film Festival isn’t just a showcase for movies, but also a place to meet people and exchange information. At the Filmmakers’ Lodge, the festival annually provides space to nonprofits supporting independents at their Outreach Table. Here’s Center fellow Mike Shubbuck’s report from the (cold) front at the 2010 fest: “On Jan. 24 I had the pleasure of introducing some of the Center for Social Media’s reports to filmmakers at the Sundance Film Festival’s Outreach Table. Although it was a Sunday morning, quite a few people stopped by to learn more about topics that the Center covers, such as fair… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Vote for Pat as a GameChanger at WeMedia! (Feb. 3 deadline!)
Posted by Alison Hanold on Jan 26, 2010
The Center’s Pat Aufderheide was nominated as a GameChanger by members of the WeMedia community. If enough people vote for her, Pat could be chosen to give a keynote at the WeMedia annual conference, where cutting-edge strategies in collaborative and participatory media are featured. It was Pat’s work on fair use that attracted attention in the WeMedia community. Fair use, which creates a “floating” public domain composed of copyrighted work, is a critical tool for a vibrant participatory culture. It’s also a critical part of the movement to loosen restrictive copyright, or what Cory Doctorow calls “copyfighting.” Please vote for Pat… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Fair Use in the Military
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Jan 25, 2010
On January 22, communications experts from the Department of Defense got together in northern Virginia, to share their challenges with incorporating social media. It was an honor to make a presentation on fair use. This was a knowledgeable, engaged, and (as is typical of the military) nicely diverse crowd. I learned a lot too. It’s not as easy as you might think to bring Twitter and Facebook to the Army, as the creators of my.army.mil and of the site for JIEDDO (Joint IED Defeat Organization) explained. Government sites can’t have advertising on them, and need customized applications; generals may not really… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Fair Use at Educause Learning Initiative
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Jan 25, 2010
At Educause’s Learning Initiative conference, the tech experts at universities around the country get together to compare notes on how best to use technology to help learning. At this year’s meeting on Jan. 19 in Austin, TX, members discussed with me how university copyright policies get in their way. They need fair use to be able to help faculty and students make videos for class; to help faculty understand what they can and can’t put on their websites; to help librarians move productively to a digital environment. Too often they face general counsels who don’t know the law, faculty who deal… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
World’s Fair Use Day
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Jan 13, 2010
The Washington, D.C. public interest organization Public Knowledge hosted World’s Fair Use Day on January 12, providing a much-needed focus on fair use as a key asset of copyright policy. For too long, chic chat on copyright has focused on the (all too real) creative stranglehold of “long and strong” copyright ownership, without featuring part of the solution: the highly flexible and adaptable doctrine of fair use. This lively day demonstrated that fair use has become a central part of copyright reform, and that a large part of that reform is within the grasp of anyone who wants to educate themselves… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Why Does Public Media 2.0 Matter?
Posted by Micael Bogar on Dec 17, 2009
Don’t miss this recent short by Nonso Christian Ugbode of the National Black Programming Consortium on why public media 2.0 matters: Why Does Public Media 2.0 Matter? from Nonso Christian Ugbode on Vimeo. We are excited to partner up with NBPC in their upcoming Public Media Corps project. Over at Current, Ugbode explores the potential of this project further, asking: Is public media — often slow to innovate or take risks — capable of creating this new media town square on your TV, on your computer, on your phone? Do public media have a chance of reaching as many Americans as… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
New Report on Copyright and Doc FIlmmaking in South Africa
Posted by Micael Bogar on Dec 10, 2009
The International Copyright Balance and Documentary Film Project of American University, is releasing a groundbreaking report and film on the experiences of South African documentary filmmakers with copyright clearance obligations. The report and film, sponsored by the Ford Foundation, are being simultaneously released at a film screening and workshops with filmmakers December 10-12, 2009, in Johannesburg, South Africa, and on the web at wcl.american.edu/pijip/go/internationalfilm. The report finds that in South Africa as in other countries, documentary filmmakers need to quote other material-including music, still images, news footage or even images from commercial films-in order to tell their stories. Such material is… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Universities ‘On Fire’ in Europe—Using social media to mobilize for action
Posted by Micael Bogar on Dec 2, 2009
Students in Austria have sparked a new, European-wide movement using social networking tools, as Global Voices Online reports; it’s a fascinating example of participatory, grassroots public media in action. Faced with underfunded university systems across Europe, students have used social networking tools to find each other, brainstorm approaches, and mobilize for action, through the movement they call unibrent (university on fire.) Launched in October 2009, within a month the movement spread to Germany, Switzerland, Albania, Serbia, France, Italy, Croatia and the Netherlands. Students are using a traditional non violent method of sit-ins but are incorporating various social media tools to organize… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Making Your Media Matter Registration Open!
Posted by Micael Bogar on Dec 1, 2009
Sign up here for Making Your Media Matter, Real Stories, Real Impact February 11-12th at American University See below for a short promotional trailer and the abbreviated schedule. Our keynote speakers this year are Paco De Onis and Pamela Yates. Thursday, February 11 5pm-8pm Registration Introduction and Welcome by Pat Aufderheide and Dean Larry Kirkman Keynote: Pamela Yates and Paco De Onis, Strategic Design Reception Friday, February 12 9am-5pm Registration, Coffee/bagels, and Demos Welcome Connecting the dots - Developing synergies to build your conversation Lunch Ethics Workshop Spotlight on new tools and outreach strategies Fiction for change - how mainstream media… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
IDFA, Ivens, Oranges and More
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Nov 30, 2009
If you want to take the pulse of documentaries as interventions in public life, the International Documentary Film Festival at Amsterdam (IDFA)—which just wound up on Sunday—is an excellent stop. The largest international documentary film festival in the world, it exhibits hundreds of films, takes in thousands of international visitors, attracts passionate audiences that pack theaters on a Sunday morning for impossibly obscure experiences, and hosts a vigorous market. It focuses on documentary with a social agenda, rather than the burgeoning field of “factual entertainment.” Sure, you could take a boat ride on the canals, but there will always be something… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Fiords, Rhubarb Juice and Copyright
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Nov 19, 2009
Documentary filmmakers in Scandinavia joined scholars and lawyers to discuss the “clearance culture”—the custom of paying for all uses of copyrighted material in films— in Bergen, Norway on November 18. I got to keynote the event, which was thrilling, but even better was seeing the reach of the Center’s copyright scholarship. At a conference more than a year ago, Professor Leif Ove Larsen, a film history scholar and student of public sphere theory, learned of the research that Center director Pat Aufderheide and WCL legal scholar Peter Jaszi had done on the “clearance culture” and how to leave it. He tracked… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
The Internet, Free Expression and Authoritarianism
Posted by Micael Bogar on Nov 19, 2009
Earlier this week at Georgetown University’s Mortara Center, I participated in a conference on issues of authoritarianism and the Internet. Headlining was Open Society scholar Evgeny Morozov followed by a panel with NPR’s Andy Carvin, Human Rights Watch’s Arvind Ganesan, World Bank’s Shanthi Kalathil, and George Washington University Professor Marc Lynch. Morozov’s presentation focused largely on authoritarian regimes’ use of the Internet to control and censor populations. He shared a multitude of examples from China, Iran, Russia, Nigeria and Burma. You can watch his PowerPoint here. The general theme of the talk was a reminder to take a step back and… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
New Media in the South Caucasus: Engaging publics in unstable regions
Posted by Micael Bogar on Nov 6, 2009
Had a great time yesterday giving a presentation on New Media in the South Caucasus at the Foreign Service Institute. I’ve put my presentation up on Slideshare if you want to check it out. The conversation centered on public media 2.0 principles and then branched out to look at various case studies of emerging new media projects in the South Caucasus region. In the South Caucasus, the evolution of public media 2.0 is complicated by the historic role played by state-run media. Our Public Media 2.0 white paper notes that, “What is needed for the future of high-quality content is at… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
PubCamp high on innovation, low on diversity
Posted by Jessica Clark on Oct 29, 2009
While the “unconference” format of the first national Public Media Camp was open and inclusive, a look around the room revealed many missing participants. “The question of diversity within public media is a serious weakness in the structural core of many ‘public broadcasting gone public media 2.0’ conversations I have witnessed in recent months — at conferences, webinars, and ‘unconferences’ alike,” observes Nonso Christian Ugbode, National Black Programming Consortium’s new media director. “Having the right people in the room is not the final destination,” he continues. “But it is also not simply the step we missed on the way to the… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Honest Truths conversation continues
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Oct 27, 2009
At the New York University Institute for the Humanities on October 23, Center director Pat Aufderheide spoke about “Honest Truths: Documentary Filmmakers on Ethical Challenges in Their Work.” The luncheon group, composed of fellows of the Center including writers Janet Malcolm and Philip Lopate, briskly discussed the ethical questions raised in the report. As with other public discussions of the Center’s pathbreaking report, there was both curiosity about and astonishment at the wide array of techniques filmmakers use to portray reality. Fellows debated whether and when reenactments were appropriate, how much restructuring of a conversation was appropriate, and how viewers can… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Global citizen media, taking steps toward a global public media 2.0
Posted by Micael Bogar on Oct 22, 2009
written by Pat Aufderheide and Micael Bogar Several new reports from the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA), part of the U.S. government-funded National Endowment for Democracy, showcase strategies that can build capacity for public media 2.0. But it won’t be easy. Citizens are seizing upon social-media tools, faster than oppressive forces in their society are. While war-profiteering governments are adding social media tools to their toolkits, the large majority of innovation in social media use comes from citizens opposing injustice, inequality and government lack of transparency, says a new CIMA report. Digital Media in Conflict Prone Settings offers a realistic… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Human Rights Film Series—Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai
Posted by Alison Hanold on Oct 19, 2009
This… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Social Media, Greek Style
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Oct 16, 2009
What does social media mean in a country where most people still don’t have easy access to broadband? That was the question on display at the /www.mosaiko.gr/view_article.asp?id=241”>“New Media, New Content?” conference at the University of Athens last week, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy’s cultural program Mosaiko. The conference, held the day after highly-charged elections, brought more than a hundred students to listen to Greek and U.S. speakers. Almost all of them had Facebook pages; almost none used Twitter; and most were trying to figure out what new media means for their job opportunities as communications students. For me, the most interesting… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Human Rights Film Series—Burma VJ screened to a full house
Posted by Alison Hanold on Oct 9, 2009
Last night we hosted a screening of Burma VJ as a part of our 10th Annual Human Rights Film Series. The house was packed and very moved by the images of the Saffron Revolution, and captivated by the comments by our special guests, U Gawasita and U Agga, two Burmese monks who were both leaders in the 2007 protests. From left to right: Translator for the evening Zaw Moe Kyaw, U Agga, Michael Haack of the US Campaign for Burma, Christine Gettings of the Kay Spiritual Life Center, and U Gawasita. Video of their panel discussion will be available on our… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Check this out - “Collaboration in Action: Strategies for Developing and Distributing”
Posted by Alison Hanold on Oct 9, 2009
Catherine Stifter and jesikah maria ross just finished their 2.5 year project, Saving The Sierra: Voices of Conservation in Action, and have shared a few lessons in planning a national multiplatform documentary. You can read their article here! more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Read This Report: Knight Commission Sets a Public Media 2.0 Agenda
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Oct 2, 2009
We started out today at the Newseum, in a high-octane crowd of Washington, D.C. movers and shakers, including not only the current head of the FCC (Julius Genachowski) but a dizzying array of former FCC heads, with some Administration officials and media executives in the mix as well. We were all there to celebrate the release of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy’s report “Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age”. The report calls for “new thinking and aggressive action to dramatically improve the information opportunities available to the American people, the information health… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Visiting Filmmaker Spotlight: Jennifer Maytorena Taylor
Posted by Matthew Gordon on Sep 28, 2009
Two-time Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker Jennifer Maytorena Taylor will be screening her latest film New Muslim Cool on October 22, 2009 at the Wechsler Theater at American University. The film is part of our 10th Annual Human Rights Film Series which is presented in conjunction with Washington College of Law’s Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. New Muslim Cool tells the story of Hamza Perez, a Puerto Rican-American rapper, raised a Catholic, who abandoned his life as a drug dealer, moved to Pittsburgh and began a new life as a young Muslim. The film follows Hamza, a single father, as… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Fair Use Inspires European Filmmakers
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Sep 28, 2009
European filmmakers have been casting an envious eye at American documentarians for some time, for their ability to employ fair use. Fair use, explained in the Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use, has made making quality documentary films easier and cheaper, without impairing owners’ copyright. Late last year, European filmmakers mobilized to intervene in their own political process, in the European Union, to assert their right to quote their own culture. Willemein Sanders, a Dutch scholar of documentary film, recently chronicled their efforts in the magazine of the European Documentary Network, DOX. more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Honest Truths and NPR
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Sep 25, 2009
NPR’s media-analysis show, “On the Media,” took interest in the Center’s latest report, Honest Truths: Documentary Filmmakers on Ethical Challenges in their Work, and is airing a segment on it at the end of the show this weekend. (Here is the link to the schedule.) Highlights, I hope: Co-host Bob Garfield was shocked to discover that documentarians don’t always honor their own ethical beliefs; I pointed out that it was their strong ethical beliefs that trouble them when they can’t honor them. He also said that journalists strive always to be true to the sense of their interviewee’s remarks, and that… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Fair Use and Film Publishing
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Sep 23, 2009
So you’re a film scholar and you want to analyze Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck’s wonderful Shut Up and Sing. You want to show how the filmmakers demonstrate intimacy in their shot composition. Do you have to get permission from the distribution company in order to reproduce a frame grab in your academic journal article? You’d also like to include this example, and compare it with a similar scene from the Maysles brother’s classic film Salesman in a forthcoming text for undergraduates. What do you tell the publisher, who wants to see all your permissions? Oh and you would also like… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Canadian copyright reform movement referencing our fair use codes
Posted by Micael Bogar on Sep 23, 2009
As the Canadian government addresses copyright reform, the U.S. fair use movement is providing an important example. The latest evidence: Face to Face Media, a Canadian media advocacy organization, is citing the fair use codes facilitated by the Center for Social Media and the Washington College of Law in the reform process. Its recent publication “Creating Copyright Legislation that Supports Media Literacy” outlines the current limitations and hindrances within the Canadian law regarding education and copyright. It praises the fair use doctrine as well as codes of best practices for doc filmmakers and media literacy, which help citizens understand their rights.… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Knight Batten Award Highlights
Posted by Micael Bogar on Sep 18, 2009
Center’s associate director Alison Hanold and I spent yesterday at the 2009 Knight Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism: Digitial Deliverance. Prior to the award ceremony were the much anticipated panel presentations from all the awardees. Each panel of the ceremony was given a different theme based on the term “delivery” –delivering transparency, delivering in new ways and delivering public insight, to name a few. The event was sponsored by J-Lab, our officemates and friends. The commonality between the Center’s work and J-Lab’s revolves around the future of public media and citizen journalism. While J-Lab works more on the citizen journalism… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
What I Learned at the Toronto International Film Festival 2009
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Sep 16, 2009
The first weekend of TIFF, one of the biggest gathering of film wheeler-dealers in the year, was as always too full of activity; films competed with press conferences, which competed with parties and the first-ever documentary conference, hosted by documentary programmer Thom Powers. Here were some of my takeaways: You can find treasures at a festival: How to Fold a Flag, by Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein (you remember them from Gunner Palace, The Prisoner: Or, How I Conspired to Kill Tony Blair, and Bulletproof Salesman), is one of my favorite documentary films in recent memory. The story of how four… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Honest Truths and Hot Talk at TIFF
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Sep 16, 2009
At the Toronto International Film Festival, or TIFF, the Center’s report Honest Truths: Documentary Filmmakers on Ethical Challenges in Their Work became a hot discussion topic on Sunday September 13, as New York Times critic Michael Cieply noted in his article “At Toronto Film Festival, Cautions on Documentaries”. Report co-author Mridu Chandra reported that filmmakers rejected the notion of journalistic standards, but did not have alternatives. Panelist Michael Tucker, whose How to Fold a Flag, made with Petra Epperlein, said he daily faces the question of how much to reveal of a subject’s story. Many of his stories, distilled from Iraq… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
“A Very Happy Collaborator”: Meet George Stoney Sep. 26
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Sep 9, 2009
On Sep. 26th at 2:30 pm, I’ll be lucky enough to talk with George Stoney at the National Gallery of Art’s main theater—incidentally the finest screening room in the city. I invite you to join me there (it’s free, by the way), and I bet you’ll think you’re lucky too. At 93 years old, filmmaker George Stoney could be a piece of our filmic heritage, and that would be enough. But he’s not putting up with that. George is still teaching (at New York University), making films (as always, with collaborators), and keeping a close eye on the issues of the… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
A New Report—Honest Truths: Documentary Filmmakers on Ethical Challenges in Their Work
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Sep 8, 2009
We’re proud to announce the release of our new report Honest Truths: Documentary Filmmakers on Ethical Challenges in Their Work at http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/ethics. It’s also being showcased on a panel at the Toronto International Film Festival’s first documentary conference, on Sept. 13, 2009. In the report, dozens of documentarians frankly discuss workplace challenges to ethical standards, conflicting ethical values, and most concerning, a lack of open and shared standards and practices. The report discusses challenges ranging from subject payment to re-enactment to misrepresentation of archival material. Do you face ethical challenges in the workplace? Do you think a discussion site that preserves… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Can you help us get panels at SXSW? Your vote will count!
Posted by Lauren Donia on Aug 27, 2009
The South by Southwest film festival now crowdsources its panels, and two of CSM director Pat Aufderheide’s panel proposals have been approved for public voting. The SXSW team needs to see that panel proposals have public support. Your vote will make a difference.Pat’s panels will raise issues that not only are important for business but also raise basic questions about the future of documentary and of creative practice. Additionally, our colleague Larry Engel also has a panel - a discussion of good environmental practices for fillmakers - approved for voting. We hope you will vote for all three panels, the synopses… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Being Human Goes Green
Posted by Andrew Buchanan on Aug 25, 2009
Good news from SWScreen, the screen agency for South-West England. They adopted the Code of Best Practices in Sustainable Filmmaking a couple of months back and are encouraging film and TV productions in their region to follow it. ‘Being Human’, a BBC drama production about a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost who share an apartment, will now have recycling bins on set and in the offices and is working on using much less paper for scripts and call sheets. OK, it won’t make the series carbon neutral, but it’s a great first step. Let’s hope that the next series goes… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Public Media Camp October at AU
Posted by Lauren Donia on Aug 6, 2009
On October 17th and 18th at American University, join The Center for Social Media, National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service for our Public Media Camp. The event was created to answer the question posed by organizers – “What if we brought together all sorts of people interested in collaborating with public radio and public TV, to see what we could come up with, including digital tools, citizen journalism and other types community-centered initiatives?” The participants promise to be a diverse crowd of newsies, techies, wonks and activists. Based on the “unconference” structure, participants will organize and lead sessions themselves –… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Public Media 2.0 in the South Caucasus—Recent Developments Unite Youth
Posted by Micael Bogar on Aug 5, 2009
Last week, I was interviewed by Onnik Krikorian, who blogs for the South Caucasus Global Voices Online blog. We discussed the recent surge in public media 2.0 trends in the South Caucasus. Since the arrests of activist bloggers Emin Mili and Adnan Hajizade, youth from all over the South Caucasus (and the world) have organized online campaigns to show solidarity.The resistance comes at a time when the governments in all three countries in the region (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) have become increasingly authoritarian in their governance tactics. While international non-governmental organizations have been busy for nearly twenty years working to create… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Online Video for Non Profits Workshop in DC
Posted by Micael Bogar on Jul 31, 2009
Our friends Ryanne and Jay are holding another one of their super Videoblogging Workshops in DC. This is a chance for nonprofits to learn essential skills that will enable them to use video as a tool for advocacy. According to their website the workshop will cover the following topics: * Storytelling Methods * Content Ideas * Technical How-Tos * Basic Video Editing * How to Compress Video * How to Publish and Publicize your Content When: Saturday August 15th, 2009 10am-4pm Where:The Washington Center, 1333 16th St NW, Washington, DC [Metros: Dupont Circle or Farragut West or McPherson Sq.] Cost: $50… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Why Social Media Is Important to Civil Society
Posted by Micael Bogar on Jul 10, 2009
We really enjoyed Suw Charman-Anderson’s recent blog on Corante, Why Social Media Is Important to Civil Society. In it she uses our white paper Public Media 2.0:Dynamic Engaged Publics to look at how the emerging participatory media trend affects civil society. Anderson says, “Civil society associations, by using social tools, can extend the reach of their web presence and the strength of their network, and form direct relationships with the individuals in their constituency. Social tools can also provide website visitors with something immediate to do, even if it is a small action.” Anderson also discusses newly forming trust issues that… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Fair use and Michael Jackson
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Jul 9, 2009
Tipped off by copyright lawyer Michael Madison, I took a look at this brilliant little video posted on YouTube. It’s a video time travel through the origins of the Michael Jackson moonwalk, reminding us of the collaborative nature of creativity and the way in which we all—yes, even Michael Jackson—stand on the shoulders of giants. Each clip has its own copyright story, but all are great examples of transformative purpose. The maker (signed on as AbejaMariposaJr ) repurposed each one to demonstrate the historical antecedents of Michael Jackson’s moonwalk, and is fully entitled to fair use. Enjoy! Want to learn more… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
New Public Media 2.0 Field Report Release
Posted by Micael Bogar on Jul 7, 2009
As promised in our monthly newsletter, here is our Public Media 2.0 Field Report: Building Social Media Infrastructure to Engage Publics —Twitter Vote Report and Inauguration Report 09 —two projects that demonstrated the potential of microblogging formats for election monitoring before the recent upheaval in Iran brought the topic to international attention. Research fellow Nina Keim and Future of Public Media director Jessica Clark released this most recent field report at the Public Democracy Forum conference in New York last month. The report reviews the achievements of both Twitter Vote Report and Inauguration Report ‘09 as they used Twitter and other… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
New Organizing Institute’s New Media Training
Posted by Micael Bogar on Jul 2, 2009
Last week I attended a two-day New Media Training conference with the New Organizing Institute (NOI). The Institute aims: * To train and support a new generation of technology-enabled campaigners. * To consolidate and disseminate knowledge gained in the field of political technology and online organizing. * To conduct new research and post-campaign investigations that employ results-focused, systems thinking to make progressive campaigns and organizations more efficient. The training was focused very much on political campaigns but the discussions still proved very helpful for any advocacy organization/think tank interested in upgrading their promotional and outreach capabilities, as well as media makers… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Blogging from the PDF 2009: Twitter as a promising tool to increase social action
Posted by Nina Keim on Jul 1, 2009
At this year’s Personal Democracy Forum more than 1,000 opinion makers, political practitioners, technologists and journalists gathered together for the sixth time to discuss how technology is changing politics. Having witnessed how Barack Obama found innovative ways to leverage modern media tools to advance the campaign, the PDF is now focused on identifying how much the Internet and technology tools are changing the environment. Two panels I attended specifically looked at how the micro-blogging portal Twitter allows a wide public to actively engage in campaigns and advocacy work. Crowd-sourced projects, Twitter-based community organizing and fundraising are three promising methods to motivate… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Fair Use Question of the Month: Free Legal Advice for Fair Use
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Jun 30, 2009
QUESTION: Dear Center for Social Media, We are looking for an expert in fair use that can watch our documentary and let us know if we can use some of the news archival and other historical footage that we have included. As you well know, financial resources are always tight when making a film; therefore, I will truly appreciate if you know of anyone that can donate these services to us. All the best, Daniel ANSWER: Dear Daniel, We were co-facilitators of the various Codes of Best Practices in Fair Use that are on our website, and we strongly encourage you… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Lioness making an impact on legislation
Posted by Barbara Abrash on Jun 26, 2009
Lioness shows how a documentary positioned at the centerpiece of a strategic outreach campaign can put an issue on the public agenda and have a direct impact on public policy. The National Defense Authorization Act for the Fiscal Year 2010 was approved by the House Armed Services Committee this week. Included in its recommendations is a section titled . "Recognizing Service Women Who Have Participated as ‘‘Lionesses’’ During Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan (see p. 315-316). This insert into the bill (H.R. 2647), which should be approved by the House this week, is the direct result of the March 31 screening… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Future of Public Media Session @ Silverdocs - watch now!
Posted by Alison Hanold on Jun 25, 2009
Below is the video of the Future of Public Media session from Silverdocs. Please watch, share, and comment! (The clips play in sequential order - when you reach the end of clip one, clip two will automatically start.) A fun-filled, role-playing simulation that asks a cast of experts to step out of 2009 and project themselves into the public media of the future: It’s 2016, and the new titans are Ticketmaster, Google, Amazon and Hulu. Do you know where your public media went? We threw futurists, investors, business folk and public media programmers and makers together to invent a future in… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Firefox Advancing Citizen Media Making
Posted by Micael Bogar on Jun 25, 2009
Firefox has just announced its release candidate of Firefox 3.5 for testing. Its new video features are impressive. With technology evolving at such a rapid speed, filmmaking continues to become more and more accessible to anyone with an internet connection and a flip camera. By the way, we just bought our very own HD flip camera yesterday for $200 but when we did a bit of pricing research we found ones for as cheap as $129. The video below is of Firefox’s director Mike Beltzner explaining the new video Firefox 3.5 features. Watch out mainstream media, here come the citizens. more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Silverdocs Roundup
Posted by Alison Hanold on Jun 23, 2009
One key phrase popped up in all of the Silverdocs branding material this year: “Open Mindedness Suggested.” Based on the subjects of the films and the innovations represented in the conference, it seems that open mindedness was not only suggested, but the key ingredient of the entire festival. I spent Tuesday in the Good Pitch session of the conference. Good Pitch, which was presented by Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, was aimed at directors and producers with film projects that tackle important global and national issues. The filmmakers pitched their projects, all in various stages… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Favorite films of Silverdocs
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Jun 23, 2009
Silverdocs showcased some exciting examples of media for public knowledge and action (and hats off to Sky Sitney for awesome programming). Yoav Shamir’s Defamation raised the unmentionable question: is anti-Semitism sometimes used as a way to avoid hard questions about Israeli politics and foreign policy? The screening I attended drew heated—no, overheated—reactions from pro-Zionist and pro-Palestinian speakers. Afterward, Shamir was beseiged by people who wanted to bring the film into their temples, synagogues, and theaters, to open up a long-stifled discussion. Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein’s No Impact Man is an environmental film with a sense of humor (!). They follow… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Getting Legal at Silverdocs
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Jun 22, 2009
The SILVERDOCS conference now has a thriving strand of panels directed at teachers who use audio-visual material in the classroom and who work with kids who make video. One of their biggest headaches is understanding their rights under copyright. Can students upload their videos to YouTube? Are they permitted to clip out material from commercial (and encrypted) DVDs? Can teachers post clips onto their electronic teaching platforms? Peter Jaszi and I had a lot of fun at the panel, "The Legal 411 on Film and Media in the Classroom." We loved hearing Devin Cheema of Discovery Channels say that she wants… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
“How Green is Green?” panel at Silverdocs
Posted by Larry Engel on Jun 22, 2009
On June 18 I sat on a panel discussing green filmmaking with co-directors of No Impact Man, Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein. The panel was led by Amy King, a longtime Silverdocs associate. Laura… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Our Stories DC at Silverdocs!
Posted by Amy Hendrick on Jun 22, 2009
I just returned from Silverdocs where Brittney Barbour, one of the filmmakers from my youth media project, Our Stories DC, was asked to screen her film and participate in a panel discussion. The panel was made up of five other youth, some of who traveled to the festival from as far as Mozambique. They demonstrated a diversity of experience that has not historically been a part of public media. Youth media production tends to be used as an educational device in urban nonprofits (with the exception of Appalshop and similar groups). As a result, youth of color are commonly the creators… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
CSM: In good company
Posted by Lauren Donia on Jun 19, 2009
The School of Communications and Center for Social Media were recently the subjects of Mark Glaser’s Mediashift blog. The post explored how American University’s School of Communications is evolving into an epicenter for the education of new journalists and media makers. Glaser’s piece includes video interviews with the Center’s director, Pat Aufderheide, as well as SOC Dean Larry Kirkman, Jan Schaffer from J-Lab, Charles Lewis from the Investigative Reporting Workshop and Amy Eisman, the head of writing classes at SOC. Glaser’s conclusion: a socially conscious and active student body and the Washington, DC location make SOC and its affiliated centers and… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Seattle Youth Confront Media Consolidation through Doc Filmmaking
Posted by Micael Bogar on Jun 19, 2009
Reel Grrls, a Seattle based production company, just released a new short doc titled A Generation of Consolidation. The film can be viewed online in its entirety at www.generationofconsolidation.org. A Generation of Consolidation was created by high school students who are working to stop further consolidation of media corporations. It won awards at the Seattle Independent Film Festival and the Seattle International Film Festival. These student filmmakers have harnessed the power of documentary film to make their voices heard. While they fight to keep multiple channels of mainstream media alive, they in turn create informative engaging media themselves. more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Barbara Abrash at BAVC Producer’s Institute
Posted by Barbara Abrash on Jun 15, 2009
I was in San Francisco last week, participating in a Round Table at Bay Area Video Coalition Producer’s Institute. The panel included Elspeth Revere from the MacArthur Foundation, Cara Mertes from the Sundance Documentary Institute, Sam Gregory from WITNESS and Ellen Schneider from ActiveVoice. The Producer’s Institute is a 10-day residential workshop, focused on storytelling for social change, that brings together documentary filmmakers and technologists to work together on digital applications that propel social issue documentaries into multi-platform interactive projects. This year’s projects included work by first-time filmmakers Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapily. The duo’s documentary, … more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Future of Investigative Reporting Has Arrived
Posted by Micael Bogar on Jun 15, 2009
What happens to the crucial public media role of watchdogging the powerful as newspapers die? Nonprofits have poured funding into hard-hitting investigative reporting, through The Center for Investigative Reporting, The Center for Public Integrity, ProPublica and now the brand-new Investigative Reporting Workshop (part of American University’s School of Communication). Now, the Associated Press—the nation’s news lifeline—has agreed to carry these organizations’ work. There couldn’t be a more powerful stamp of approval for nonprofit news. Read AP’s press release here. Also, interesting to note J-Lab’s new report New Media Makers—A Toolkit for innovators in Community Media and Grant Making will give you… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
CSM at the BAVC Producer’s Institute 2009
Posted by Alison Hanold on Jun 12, 2009
I had the great pleasure last week to attend the presentation session for the 2009 Bay Area Video Coalition Producer’s Institute. According to their website, the Producers Institute for New Media Technologies is a “ten-day residency for eight creative teams (independent producers or public broadcasters) with a shared goal of developing and prototyping a multi-platform project inspired by, or based on a significant documentary project. The intention of the Institute is to develop socially relevant media projects for emerging digital platforms.” The presentation session involved participants of the Institute sharing the projects they developed over the previous two weeks to complement… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
The Prenups Released Today
Posted by Alison Hanold on Jun 8, 2009
Documentary films and related multimedia are increasingly influential in the shaping of public discourse around social issues. (After An Inconvenient Truth, who wouldn’t want a big film to galvanize thought leaders’ and public participation?) The old professional silos are giving way to promising, sometimes tricky, new partnerships: Funders are recognizing the value of communications in general—and documentary film in particular—for advancing their portfolios. Policy shapers and advocates are using media to put human faces on public policy. Filmmakers want to tell stories that have an impact in the public square. Each sector brings its own skills, needs, concerns and assets. Much… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Media That Matters Festival
Posted by Alison Hanold on Jun 5, 2009
I had the great pleasure to attend the premiere of the ninth annual Media that Matters festival, presented by Arts Engine. The festival is comprised of 12 short films with a social justice focus. The films were various in their formats – some documentary, some narrative, some PSA, and even one "docu-music video." One particular favorite of mine was the narrative film Immersion" which told the story of a young Mexican boy in a US school. The boy is very skilled at math, but does not have a solid understanding of the language used in the math problems in his class.… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
J-Lab’s New Report: New Media Makers
Posted by Micael Bogar on Jun 3, 2009
Congratulations to our suite partner and close ally J-Lab on the release of a new report New Media Makers —A Toolkit for Innovators in Community Media and Grant Making. The report reviews the growing trend of philanthropic organizations increasingly funding media projects. Please read the press release below and check out the report itself here. New Media Makers Increasingly Getting Grants for News Jun. 01, 2009 WASHINGTON, D.C. — At least 180 community, family and other foundations have contributed nearly $128 million in grants to news and information initiatives in the United States since 2005, according to a report released today… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Who’s Plagiarizing Now?
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on Jun 3, 2009
Copyright protectionists decry copying as theft and plagiarism—and let’s just acknowledge here that sometimes it is. (Copying a work and re-using it for its original market purpose and not paying the owner what he or she is selling or renting it for is wrong.) The well-funded efforts of copyright owners’ organizations to promote this message, though, has thoroughly confused many people about their fair use rights. In many situations, including making new work and analyzing or critiquing existing work, people in the U.S. have ample rights to use copyrighted material without permission or payment. So there’s a certain pleasure—what the Germans… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
The Fair Use Bunker Scene
Posted by Micael Bogar on Jun 2, 2009
Have you seen Electronic Frontier Foundation Board Chairman Brad Templeton’s remix of the popular meme “the bunker scene” from the 2004 film Downfall? In this version, Hitler is trying to stop people from making remixes by invoking the DMCA. (Meta enough for you?) EFF’s article When Fair Use Is Fairly Difficult describes what technical contortions Templeton had to go through to use his fair use rights. For more clarity on what your fair use rights are, click here. more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Fair Use Question of the Month: Citing Your Sources
Posted by Micael Bogar on Jun 1, 2009
QUESTION Dear CSM: Is it required to cite your sources when claiming fair use in an online video context? Thanks for your help, Jon ANSWER Dear Jon: Citing your sources when they are knowable, whether it’s in the body of the work or in credits, is always a nice idea, and it’s polite. It also shows that you recognize and acknowledge that the work you used is not your own. This fact further reinforces a fair use claim if you are ever challenged, and therefore providing attribution is commonly suggested. It’s an easy way to reinforce your fair use claim. In… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Documentary Games at G4C 2009
Posted by Alison Hanold on May 30, 2009
The presence of interactivity in documentary has increased tremendously with the evolution of online community building and promotion, but has interactive media evolved to the point where a documentary can be a game? This was explored today at the Games for Change conference with a panel focusing on documentary games. Panel description: As game theory and the practice of making games become recognized as valued pedagogical and cultural processes across a broad spectrum of disciplines, we see forthcoming a movement specific to a new genre — documentary gaming — which will position game systems within a framework that questions the practice,… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Make Media Matter Panel at the Newseum
Posted by Lauren Donia on May 29, 2009
Yesterday, CSM staffers attended the IFC Make Media Matter panel discussion at the Newseum in D.C. Gideon Yago, host of the television show IFC Media Project with Gideon Yago, moderated the event. One of the event’s sponsors — the National Association for Media Literacy Education — partnered with the Center to create our Code of Best Practices in Media Literacy Education. The panel discussion was one event in a multi-faceted media literacy campaign. The panel was comprised of a well-known, but hardly diverse group of journalists: George Stephanopoulos, Greta Van Susteren, John King, Juan Williams, Marcus Brauchli, Norman Ornstein and Tucker… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Update on Code of Best Practices in Sustainable Filmmaking
Posted by Micael Bogar on May 28, 2009
As key author on the Code of Best Practices in Sustainable Filmmaking, Larry Engel will be spending the summer promoting the Code at upcoming festivals and conferences this summer and fall. Andrew Buchanan, his co-author of the Code of Best Practices in Sustainable Filmmaking, will "attend" where possible via Skype. Leading off is a session on Friday, June 12th in Savannah, Georgia at the Blue Ocean Film Festival. The following week he will be at Silverdocs in Washington, DC on June 18th. Two more sessions will be held at the UFVA annual conference in New Orleans in August and at the… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Fair Use and Academic Freedom: Here Come the Communications Scholars
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on May 26, 2009
At the annual meeting of the International Communication Association a group of us formed a committee to create a Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Communication Scholarship. Chris Boulton, a grad student at University of Massachusetts-Amherst, kicked it off with a story of not being permitted to file his M.A. thesis until he took out all copyrighted material. The problem was that the copyrighted material—pictures of children’s fashion advertisements—were the thesis’s core data. Other scholars in the room pointed to other practices that needed clarification. Could professors studying advertisements share their collected research materials with other scholars? Could they… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Regulating Media 2.0
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on May 26, 2009
At the Quello Center’s annual symposium on communications and media policy "Rethinking Media Policy in the Age of New Media," a number of us spoke about regulating in the public interest. I argued, like many (including Free Press in its great new publication Changing Media), for a robust universal broadband policy. I also argued, as is explained in Public Media 2.0, for taxpayer funding for public media beyond broadcasting. One of the most intriguing presentations, for me, was from Arizona State University’s Matthew Hindman. He addressed the question of how we measure "concentration of ownership" in a web environment, giving us… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Internews Media Leadership Awards
Posted by Micael Bogar on May 20, 2009
As members of the Host Committee, we’re proud to invite you to the 2009 Internews Media Leadership Awards. On Tuesday June 2nd from 5:30-7:00pm Internews will honor media makers that work to empower local media around the world. For more details please visit their website here. more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Announcing the release of our new video, Remix Culture: Fair Use is Your Friend
Posted by Alison Hanold on May 18, 2009
Last summer the release of the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video nearly crashed our servers with people downloading the document. Based on this demand, we created Remix Culture: Fair Use Is Your Friend is a collaboration with the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property—a program of AU’s Washington College of Law—along with Stanford Law School’s Fair Use Project. The video was funded by Google. The video was directed by our graduate fellow, Claire Darby, and features interviews with Dr. Mitzuko Ito, research director of the University of California Humanities Research Institute and Anthony Falzone, executive… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
National Ethnic Media Expo and Awards
Posted by Micael Bogar on May 18, 2009
As media partners for this event, we encourage everyone who’s going to be in Atlanta to come. To register visit expo.newamericamedia.org more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Free Press, Plugging More and Better Public Media
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on May 17, 2009
Last Thursday’s Free Press Summit provided a shiny showcase for the media reform organization. Its organizers showed that it can pull a crowd of policy-wonks, bring in their luminaries (including the acting head of the Federal Communications Commission and two former heads), and get Ray Suarez to postpone his Newshour activities long enough to ask sharp questions of the once and future powerful. Moreover, Free Press debuted a thick tome of policy suggestions for Obama’s media reform agenda. Its call for universal, accessible, competitive and middleware-free broadband with more unlicensed spectrum melds the best of recent thinking on how to get… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Art’s Engine’s Media That Matters Festival
Posted by Micael Bogar on May 15, 2009
Media That Matters: MORE THAN A FESTIVAL World Premiere June 3rd! SCREEN the collection of jury-selected films. ACT now to make a change. IMPACT your community by using short films with on-the-ground activism. visit www.mediathatmattersfest.org for more details more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
Obama As The Social Media Innovator
Posted by Micael Bogar on May 12, 2009
It is no surprise at this stage that Obama’s use of social media was a major force behind his landslide victory. PR Firm Edelman’s most recent white paper Social Pulpit: Barack Obama’s Social Media Toolkit outlines the areas in which Obama’s team excelled in using this powerful tool to engage publics. The paper talks about the multitude of videos created by not only the Obama team but by the supporters as well, “The authentic user-generated video is more compelling and elicits more support than official productions because we are more trusting of information that is from people who hold similar beliefs,… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Social Good Podcast with Jessica Clark
Posted by Micael Bogar on May 8, 2009
The Chronicle of Philanthropy is the newspaper of the nonprofit world. It is the No. 1 news source, in print and online, for charity leaders, fund raisers, grant makers, and other people involved in the philanthropic enterprise. Listen to Jessica Clark’s fifteen minute podcast on The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s new podcast series Social Good with host Allison Fine on the future of public media and whether nonprofits models are the future of newspapers. more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
DMCA , Fair Use, Documentary Filmmakers and Remixers
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on May 7, 2009
On day two of the Copyright Office’s hearings about exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) , documentary filmmakers and remix artists and their supporters came to Washington, D.C. to show regulators the cost of criminalizing copying of popular culture. (Read about day one where the focus was on fair use and educators here.) To recap, the issue is: The DMCA prohibits breaking of any encryption on copyrighted digital material, even when you have a legal right to the material inside—for instance, a fair use right. If you can make a strong case for the need to do so during… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
DMCA, Fair Use and Educators
Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on May 7, 2009
The best theater in Washington, D.C. is in federal agencies and hearing rooms. That’s where ritual battles over power take place. The first day of the Copyright Office’s hearings about exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act pretty much met expectations. (Read about day two where the focus was on fair use for documentarians and remix artists, here.) The issue: The DMCA prohibits breaking of any encryption on copyrighted digital material, even when you have a legal right to the material inside—for instance, a fair use right. If you can make a strong case for the need to do so during… more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?
New podcasts from CSM director Pat Aufderheide
Posted by Alison Hanold on May 6, 2009
As a part of the School of Communication’s American Forum, CSM director Pat Aufderheide recently spoke at length with Danna Walker about two key issues: public media and fair use. Be sure to give these eye opening podcasts a listen! Patricia Aufderheide on fair use can be listened to here. Patricia Aufderheide on public media can be listened to here. more
Continue the discussion here! What are your views?