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Super Tuesday: Vote. Record. Blog. Map. Upload. Discuss.
Elections are inherently both public and participatory, so naturally there are scores of related public media projects. Center Research Director Jessica Clark points out the most noteworthy projects to watch as the election moves forward. Read more>> more
Innovation in Focus – The Sundance Institute’s DocSource Project
Each month, we feature a roundup of the innovative projects by public media outlets and their allies. This month, we’re taking a closer look at DocSource, an online hub from the Sundance Institute that connect filmmakers, human rights advocates and publics from around the globe. Launched just a week ago at the Sundance Film Festival, DocSource helps make the connection between… more
Low on Lindens? The sweatshop beckons…
Sundance brought us more than glitz and glamour in ’08. This year, New Frontiers on Main showcased the best of what’s new (and in fashion) for media for public knowledge and action. This year’s must-have accessory? Double Happiness jeans, made by indentured avatars in a sweatshop in the virtual world of Second Life. Avatars (this could be you!) work their factory… more
Online Video and Copyright in Vegas
On January 7, Center Director Pat Aufderheide, along with law professor Peter Jaszi, who directs the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property in the Washington College of Law, presented findings from the new report, Recut, Reframe, Recycle at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Read Pat Aufderheide’s account of the discussion that took place. more
New Study Shows Remixes Could Be Quoting Copyrighted Material Legally
When college kids make mashups of Hollywood movies, are they violating the law? Not necessarily, according to the latest study on copyright and creativity from the Center and American University’s Washington College of Law. The study, Recut, Reframe, Recycle: Quoting Copyrighted Material in User-Generated Video, by Center director Pat Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi, co-director of the law school’s Program on Information… more
Congress reframes reporters—none too soon
The Citizen Media Law Project notes that Congress just passed a Freedom of Information Act reform that broadens the definition of "a representative of the news media." Read more about what this means to the future of public media. More>> more
Mapping Public Media
What constitutes “public media” in a participatory, digital era? This is the question we’ve set out answer with our Mapping Public Media project, an ongoing series of maps and visualizations designed to reveal the changing public media landscape. The opening analysis contrasts two research methods—case studies by Center for Social Media fellows and Web network mapping by the Amsterdam-based Govcom.org Foundation—to… more
Want your questions on Fair Use Answered?
Check out the new Fair Use FAQ! Due to the overwhelming number of inquires about our work on fair use and the Statement of Best Practices, we have compiled a list of our most frequently asked questions. In addition, we hope to share a new question with you every month via our fair use blog. This month’s question is about fair… more
Ford Foundation Grantees Changing the Face of Public Media
As the year comes to a close, the grantees of the Ford Foundation Future of Public Media initiative, an alliance of leading nonprofits, continue to redefine the role of public media by forging new models and practices for the future. Read moreabout some of their latest initiatives>> more
Public Media’s Participant-Observers
A new wave of researchers are using anthropological methods to explore platforms, spaces and practices that might support future public media. Here’s a short list of notable projects. Read more>> more
Online Political Forums – MySpace, or Theirs?
As the nation awaits tonight’s online CNN/YouTube Republican debate, Center Research Director Jessica Clark reflects on the changing nature of electoral engagement in a digital age. Her cover piece for In These Times explores the implications, both good and bad, of the online offerings of digital participatory platforms like YouTube and MySpace that are used to interact with voters and help… more
Documentary Film: A Very Short Introduction
Center Director Pat Aufderheide’s new book, Documentary Film: A Very Short Introduction is now available! Hear what others are saying: “This is the first book about documentary I’ve encountered that tackles its identity, history, evolution, and major controversies enjoyably and in brief. I marvel at how much ground Pat Aufderheide covers and the clarity she brings to documentary’s many functions, paradoxes,… more
Storymapping, Mapumentary and More
2007 may well be heralded as the "year that put maps on the map." Free tools for mapping and visualizing have exploded online, and a wide range of amateurs, nonprofits and media outlets are harnessing these new technologies to make public media. The Center for Digital Storytelling is a nonprofit organization "dedicated to assisting people in using digital media to tell… more
Google as Big Brother?
Longtime public interest advocate Jeffrey Chester, of the Center for Digital Democracy, has written a provocative op-ed in The Nation about Google as the dubious guardian of the public interest in communication. He points to Google’s rapid acquisition of other media and communications companies, and its core strategy of developing data-mining into an art that serves advertisers. Read more>> more
Media literacy advocates gather to discuss fair use in the classroom - read about it here!
On September 25, 2007, the Center co-hosted a diverse group of teachers, lawyers and advocates to discuss the Center’s latest report, Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy. The report draws on scores of interviews with educators nation-wide and reveals that media literacy education is compromised by a dearth of understanding of copyright and principles of fair use. To read more… more
Media Literacy Education constrained by misunderstandings of Fair Use - Find out how!
Read the Center’s latest report, The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy, which is based on scores of longform interviews with teachers and shows that the fundamental goals of media literacy education—to cultivate critical thinking and expression about media and its social role—are compromised by unnecessary copyright restrictions. As a result of poor guidance, counterproductive guidelines, and fear, teachers use… more
Celebrate the launch of the ITVS International Global Perspectives Project & ‘Please Vote for Me’
Come celebrate the launch of the Global Perspectives Project from ITVS International Featuring a special preview screening of "Please Vote For Me" With introductory remarks by -U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel- -Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong- Of the People’s Republic of China -Patricia S. Harrison- President and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting And a post-screening panel discussion moderated by: Ray Suarez Senior… more
Confused about copyright? You’re not alone. Please Join Us on Sept. 25 for a Special Event!
New Report Shows Educators’ Hands are Tied by Confusion about Copyright Media literacy educators rely on the ability to use copyrighted materials in their teaching. But ignorance about copyright — and particularly a lack of awareness of the fair use provision - is interfering with teachers’ ability to teach important critical thinking and communication skills that enable them to promote digital… more
Be the first to read it - iPhone Babies
How are young people adapting to the enormous potential—and challenges—of digital media? Will digital make them more vulnerable consumers than ever, or more effective activists for the public good—or both? Center colleague Kathryn Montgomery’s new book, Generation Digital (MIT Press) takes a look at how the new media landscape is changing the nature of childhood and adolescence and analyzes recent political… more
What will the newsroom of the future look like? Read on!
"American Journalism Review Struggles to Keep Publishing." Nope, it’s not an Onion headline; it’s a pointer to a Washington Post story from Romanesko, the media industry blog hosted by the Poynter Institute. But the perilous fate of the AJR does mirror that of the many print journalism outlets it covers, small and large. Read Center Director Jessica Clark’s commentary on the… more
YearlyKos 2.0: From partisan media to public?
The second annual YearlyKos convention took place in early August at Chicago’s sprawling McCormick Place. Named after—but by no means conscribed by—the popular progressive blog DailyKos, the conference demonstrated the increasingly fluid relationship between political and public media projects, and the ever-expanding role that citizens are playing in demanding and shaping media that addresses civic issues. Read more>> more
What’s Filmanthropy? Read the report to learn more!
On June 16, 2007, more than 70 filmmakers, nonprofit communication managers and public engagement practitioners and strategists met during SILVERDOCS to discuss partnerships on social action, advocacy and public information campaigns. Read on! more
How are public radio stations using social media tools? Read our new report!
Read the Center’s newest report, Public Radio’s Social Media Experiments: Risk, Opportunity, Challenge, which analyzes the results of a survey of public radio stations and highlights the successes and challenges of integrating new social media tools into the mission of public radio. The report, co- sponsored by PRX, also provides best practices on successfully using social media tools. Read more>> more
Alternative video games as public media?? Read more!
Read the latest blog entry by Center Research Fellow Jessica Clark. She discusses World Without Oil, an alternative reality game (ARG) sponsored by ITVS. Read more on the Future of Public Media blog. more
Read the Center’s newest report - New Deal 1.5!
The New Deal Version 1.5: Monetizing and Mission is the Center’s annual report on the nuts and bolts of digital distribution deal- making. Curious about who’s making these deals? Average percentages for independent filmmakers? Average license periods? All of this and more in this highly-anticipated new publication. Click here to read the full report. more
Your Fair Use Questions Answered - Demystifying Fair Use
This week, the Center is participating in an online discussion about fair use and documentary film with D-Word, the online documentary forum. Visit D-Word to submit your questions by June 8 and to join the discussion! more
Read the Transcript of the Ask The Experts Online Q&A on Fair Use!
Ask the Experts! Ever wonder if you can use a photo you took at the march or a clip mentioning CNN on YouTube? Whether you are a blogger, a photographer or a filmmaker, it is not always clear where your freedom to use content publicly might be legally questioned. When it comes to using copyrighted material, you have more rights than… more
Public Media Strategies in Entertainment Education- Doe Mayer Podcast
A public lecture with veteran documentarian and author Doe Mayer, USC School of Cinema-Television. Doe Mayer, a CSM Visiting Filmmaker, has worked in Asia, Africa and Latin America to make media that changes lives. Here is a podcast of the lecture she gave to a full class of students at American University: DOE MAYER LECTURE.MP3 more
Confused about Public Media? Check out the Center’s new FAQ!
Communicating about shared issues—whether it’s traffic congestion in the neighborhood, lower wages for women, or the concerns of the families of soldiers not receiving adequate body armor—builds a group’s awareness of itself as a public. The Center’s new Frequently Asked Questions: Public Media, by Center Director Pat Aufderheide and Research Fellow Jessica Clark, helps to clarify exactly what public media is,… more
What’s really fair when you’re making a mashup or a remix?
Do you wonder what’s really fair when you’re making a mashup or a remix? So does everybody else. The rules are still being written for remix culture, and you could help write them. Take a look at the Center’s new video, made by our own Dan Jones, at http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/videos/remix_culture/. It’s a great compilation of some of the Youtube "classics" from the… more
Another Insurer for Fair Use
Chubb has now joined the group of insurers that recognize fair use claims for documentary filmmakers. These insurers are depending on the Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use to make their judgments (they want a lawyer to verify the filmmaker’s decision that the use is within the Statement’s principles). This is a big step forward, since for years… more
Make sense of Fair Use - the good, the bad and the confusing!
Read the latest Center report which reveals how creators of content on the plethora of sites that accept online video understand their rights and responsibilities regarding intellectual property. The findings come from a survey of undergraduate and graduate college students who upload online video. They were asked to describe their practices and attitudes on using copyrighted material to make new work… more
How is public media making a difference in the Arab world?
The Center for Social Media collaborated with the Arab Media and Public Life (AMPLE) project at American University for a year-long conference series on public media in the Arab world and focused on changes in the media environment, the role of the state, and what "public media" means in the Arab world. The Center’s latest report highlights the proceedings of the… more
Freeing the Data in London
How much access should members of the public have to the data and media projects that their tax dollars fund? How about corporations looking to make a buck from government-financed data? Does information really "want to be free," as Stewart Brand famously pronounced more than two decades ago, and if so, who’s going to pay for its production? These and other… more
Iraq Veterans Memorial as Public Media
New sites for public media—far outside the realm of public broadcasting—are burgeoning. Now here comes the Iraq Veterans Memorial, which showcases videos made by the family, friends and comrades of fallen soldiers in the Iraq war. This non-partisan site honors the fallen in a way that takes advantage of participatory media technologies, and the site is a platform from which we… more
Want to Make Your Documentaries Matter Online?
What’s the best way for filmmakers to take advantage of new online environments for public knowledge and action? Read about the new white paper by Free Range Studios and more in Center Director Pat Aufderheide’s latest blog entry on our News from the Future of Public Media blog. more
Insurer accepts fair use claims!
A major errors and omissions insurer, National Union, a member company of AIG, is accepting fair use claims based on the Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use, when supported by an appropriate lawyer’s letter. Read more… more
Making Your Doc Matter 2007 Rapporteur’s Report with video clips
Were you unable to attend the conference, or do you need more clarification on a particular subject? Check out the MYDM 07 Rapporteur’s Report with video supplements! more
Public Impact of Public Media! The Darryl Hunt Story, a blog entry by Pat Aufderheide
Social documentaries are a great example of media designed for public knowledge and action. The Trials of Darryl Hunt—watch for it on HBO on April 26 and also in theaters this spring—is the latest example of the difference they can make. Our friend David Magdael, who is publicizing the film, tells the story: "Darryl Hunt was a 19 year-old black teenager… more
Blog entries now in separate Center RSS feed!
Want to stay on top of the Center’s latest blog entries? Subscribe to the Blog RSS feed! more
Let us know what you thought about Making Your Documentary Matter 2007!
Thanks to everyone who made the Center’s third annual Making Your Documentary Matter conference such a great success! The speakers were awesome, but not more so than the amazing list of attendees. We’re thrilled that people are blogging about it, and we’re alerting people at our own Future of Public Media blog, and audio downloads of the panels are now available.… more
CSM Grieves the Loss of Advisor Cole Campbell
The Center was privileged to benefit from the insight and wisdom of Cole Campbell, one of the pioneers of public journalism, a superb journalist and most recently a leader in journalism education. We mourn his sudden death in a car accident. Blogs by /gonepublic.wordpress.com/2007/01/08/hello-world”>Prof. Noelle McAfee, one of the Center’s research fellows, and Richard Harwood tell you more. more
Check out the Center’s latest Fair Use tools - Learning from Refrigerator Mothers
Understanding fair use made easy - learn from decisions made by Kartemquin Films when making Refrigerator Mothers. The Center’s latest videos feature clips used in the film under Fair Use and purchased clips. more
Want to know more about the Infinite Mind?
Read the latest installment of the Center’s article series, News from the Future of Public Media. Eager to be among the first adopters of new technology, producers of the award-winning public radio program The Infinite Mind have branched into 3D virtual broadcasting. They have "built" a spacious broadcasting complex in Second Life, a burgeoning online world where the rules of three-dimensional… more
Center Director Pat Aufderheide Receives 2006 IDA Preservation and Scholarship Award
The Center for Social Media is proud to announce that Center Director Pat Aufderheide is the recipient of the 2006 International Documentary Association Preservation and Scholarship Award. This distinguished award recognizes the accomplishments of an individual who has devoted his or her career to providing a forum to promote the work of documentary film and video makers. The Center applauds Pat… more
How do we nurture tomorrow’s documentary storytellers? Read to find out!
report… more
Read about an innovative, online multimedia archive
Part of the Center for Social Media’s article series, ‘News from the Future of Public Media,’ this article examines the Densho Archive, a vast, free online multimedia collection of materials related to the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Where other online digital media projects fail or are forced to charge prohibitive fees to end-users, the Densho Archive has… more
Watch our latest videos on the latest in web-based and community outreach media
Produced by Marty Lucas for the Center for Social Media, these latest additions to the Center’s video library highlight the unique opportunities that public media has to embrace web-based and community outreach models. The first film highlights the Center for Social Media co-sponsored conference, Beyond Broadcast: Reinventing Public Media in a Participatory Culture and highlights web-based media models such as podcasting,… more
Want to know what happened at the Second Annual Wikimania Conference?
“Wikimania 2006: The International Wikimedia Conference” discussed new Wiki projects and brought together hardcore Wikipedians from August 4-6 at Harvard Law School. Center associate director Jessica Duda posted highlights in the Future of Public Media Blog. more
Check out the Center’s Fair Use Toolkit DVD
The Fair Use Toolkit is now available on DVD and online. The Toolkit contains the new Center film, Fair Use and Free Speech, a 7-minute explanation of the Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use, how it was created and how it can be used. It also contains a revised version of an earlier short film, Stories Untold, some… more
Center fellow Martin Lucas at Alliance for Community Media conference
Center fellow Martin Lucas presented a new video, “Making the Music You Want to Hear”, at the annual gathering of cable access programmers, the Alliance for Community Media, in Boston. Along with Washington DC-based community development specialist Jessica Venegas and Brooklyn Cable Access TV Director of Education and Community Partnerships, Carlos Pareja, Lucas showed the 17-minute film showcasing three stories of… more
Copyright Society - Highlights from June 11-13, 2006 Annual Meeting
The annual meeting of the Copyright Society—an organization of the nation’s leading copyright lawyers—featured fair use and documentary film this year, honoring the work of the Center and the Washington College of Law in creating tools to help doc makers use fair use. Prof. Peter Jaszi, the Untold Stories project’s co-principal investigator, and filmmakers Gordon Quinn and Byron Hurt engaged veteran… more
Allied Media Conference Showcases Media Literacy in Education
Read Center associate director Jessica Duda’s summary of the Allied Media Conference in the Beyond Broadcast Blog. The eighth annual Allied Media Conference from June 23-25 brought together an energetic mix of independent media makers, educators, and activists. Unlike most media conferences, the participants ranged from high school students to retired experts across a variety of ethnic, racial and international groups.… more
Hyperlinked Society Conference Reveals How Linking, RSS Are Changing the Face of Public Media
Read Center Director Pat Aufderheide’s thoughts on the recent Hyperlinked Society Conference on our Beyond Broadcast Blog. The conference brought together leaders in business, scholarship and new nonprofit practice to talk about how linking, RSS and today’s social networking change the way we think about media. The conference bridged gaps between these different arenas that might not otherwise cross and revealed… more
SILVERDOCS 2006
The Center was a proud sponsor this June of SILVERDOCS Documentary Film Festival and Conference in Silver Spring, MD. The Center welcomed guests at a reception, sponsored a conference panel, and released a new report, The New Deal. Attendees at Silverdocs included doc filmmakers and fans, members of a strategic communications institute held by American University and OneWorld US, and many… more
Center Releases New Publication on Digital Distribution in Television
Read the Center for Social Media’s new Report, entitled The New Deal: How Digital Platforms Change Negotiations between Public Media and Independent Producers. The report, which is being released at the 2006 SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival, reveals current business practices around new digital distribution in television. The study, co-produced with the Independent Television Service, comes at a time that is… more
IFC Puts Fair Use Guidelines to Work, Wins Big
Cable programmer IFC has boldly adopted an internal fair use guideline, after saving itself hundreds of thousands of dollars by invoking fair use of Hollywood film clips for the upcoming film Wanderlust. Lawyer Michael Donaldson, who conducted negotiations, was an advisor to the Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use, and used the Statement in his work. A New… more
Center Director Submits Testimony on Smithsonian/Showtime Controversy
Patricia Aufderheide, director of the Center for Social Media, testified on May 25, 2006 before the House Committee on House Administration to raise concerns on the Smithsonian’s 30-year joint venture with Showtime Networks Inc. Aufderheide’s testimony follows an April 17, 2006 public letter that echoes similar concerns to the Smithsonian director Lawrence Small. The pending Smithsonian arrangement is for Showtime to… more
Public Media and the Smithsonian Controversy
What is the obligation of “the Nation’s Attic” to the public? That was the question when the Smithsonian Institution announced a new arrangement with CBS/Showtime to create content, Smithsonian on Demand, for a new digital channel. In a cloudy press release, the national museum announced that henceforth, if a filmmaker wanted to make a film using substantial amounts of Smithsonian materials,… more
Fair Use Featured at CINE Awards
The importance and useability of fair use for filmmakers was featured at the CINE awards in Silver Spring, MD on April 18. CSM director Pat Aufderheide and Washington College of Law Professor Peter Jaszi presented a preview version of the Center’s latest video, “Fair Use and Free Speech in Documentary Film” to a packed audience for a panel on the fair… more
Fair Use at Nashville Film Festival
On April 25, Center outreach coordinator Agnes Varnum appeared with documentary filmmaker Byron Hurt and attorney F. Casey Del Casino to share the Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use at the Nashville Film Festival. The Nashville audience included many songwriters, composers and musician. Hurt summed up his experience, “reading the Center’s Untold Stories report made me realize that I wasn’t… more
“Comedies of Fair Use”
At New York University April 28-30, Center director Pat Aufderheide spoke at a conference, “Comedies of Fair Use: A Search for Comity in the Intellectual Property Wars,” at New York Institute for the Humanities. The conference, which featured filmmakers, writers, academics and lawyers, explored the need to use the law to defend and expand freedom of expression and promote public media.… more
Fair Use at Upcoming Conferences
On June 19-20 in Paris, filmmaker Gordon Quinn will speak about creators’ need to assert their user rights through fair use and similar clauses in international law, at a Trans-Atlantic Consumers conference, “New Relations between Creative Individuals and Communities, Consumers and Citizens.” At the Copyright Society of America’s annual conference June 11-13, user rights in copyright will be featured on a… more