April 5, 2007Newsletter

We're welcoming spring with lots of news from the Center! Our new associate director, Ann Williams, comes to us from MHz Networks, an unusual public TV station in Virginia, where she was station manager and also a vice-president of Commonwealth Public Broadcasting. At MHz she also produced more than 350 hours of educational programs and developed the station's new technologies initiatives. We've just produced a conference report on the future of public media in the Arab world, and announces the creation of a new organization, AMPLE, to look at Middle East media. We're also looking forward to a special screening of documentarian Ellen Spiro's Troop 1500, which is part of a multimedia exhibition on incarcerated women. Be sure to take a look at the Center's latest research, an analysis of media for public knowledge and action on Google, Youtube and MySpace; and a set of case studies on nonprofit-documentarian collaborations. We're looking forward to our panel on copyright in the Youtube era, featuring a clash of views on what's fair in the free-for-all environment of online video. Be sure to check our website for our forthcoming publications on fair use and public media issues.

Film Screening: Troop 1500
April 19, 2007
5:30-7:00 pm
Wechsler Theater, Mary Graydon Center - 3rd Fl., American University
A film by Ellen Spiro and Karen Bernstein
2005, 68 min
The story of Girl Scout troop, Troop 1500, a unique group at Hilltop Prison in Gatesville, Texas that unites daughters with mothers who are serving time for serious crimes, giving them a chance to rebuild their lives together. This touching, wryly funny and sometimes heartbreaking film is a great example of Ellen Spiro's work. The noted documentarian is famous for her ability to bring a sense of humor and warm humanism to her social-justice themes. This screening coincides with an art exhibit that will be featured at the Katzen Arts Center entitled, "Interrupted Life: Incarcerated Mothers in the US."
Discussion and book forum to follow screening led by AU Professor Gay Young.

User Generated Content: The Copyright Conundrum
April 10th | 4:00 pm — 6:00 pm
Washington College of Law | Room 603
The Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property at the American University Washington College of Law and the Center for Social Media at the American University School of Communications, in collaboration with the DC Chapter of the Copyright Society of the USA, present a lively discussion on the implications of copyright law for makers of participatory media and the platforms on which it is displayed. The discussion will emphasize strategies to avoid or minimize risk of copyright liability. Panelists will include representatives from non-profit online video sites, corporations concerned with user-generated content, NGOs dealing with intellectual property, and academic experts.

For more information, visit www.pijip.org.

New Center report examines the role of Arab Public Media
"Public Media in the Arab World: Exploring the Gap between Reality and Ideals," a joint Project of the Center for Social Media and the International Communication Program of the School of International Service, was 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. Read the Center’s latest report highlights the proceedings of the project. Read more>>

Center Releases New Case Studies on Nonprofits and Media
The Center for Social Media has produced two new reports on the latest techniques that are helping to make documentary a powerful communications tool for social change. Preview them online today!
-Big Dreams, Small Screens: Online Video for Public Knowledge and Action
Learn from CSM research fellow Jessica Clark how popular commercial online digital video platforms, such as YouTube, GoogleVideo and MySpace, are being used to create, exchange, and comment upon information for public knowledge and action—and what their limitations are!
-Documentaries on a Mission: How Nonprofits Are Making Movies for Public Engagement
Read about how the Sierra Club, The American Civil Liberties Union and local environmental groups use documentaries for high- impact and action. This report by veteran journalist Karen Hirsch also includes an introduction by AU School of Communication Prof. Matthew Nisbet, an expert on new media.

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?

Read more from Center Research fellow Jessica Clark's latest blog entry on the Center's News from the Future of Public Media blog

Insurers are accepting fair use claims
Several insurance companies are now accepting documentarians' fair use claims--because filmmakers and attorneys can now turn to the Documentary Filmmakers' Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use. Like other industry actors, insurers were reluctant to accept such claims before there was consensus in the creative field about reasonable interpretation of the law. Now a major errors and omissions insurer, National Union, a member company of AIG, is first out of the box with the simplest proposal, to accept fair use claims (which would be based on the Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use) when supported by an appropriate lawyer’s letter. The following week, insurer MediaPro joined the field, with a more complicated but also constructive policy: MediaPro will depend on Stanford Law School’s judgment that documentary filmmakers’ uses are within the Statement’s principles and conditions, and require a lawyer's pledge to defend the case in the event of litigation. There are quiet rumors in the industry that other insurers will also change their previous practice of excluding fair use claim. This is dramatic evidence of the power and value of standards documents to provide businesses with new options to lower costs and improve access to markets. Read more on our Fair Use blog.

Project South Book Forum
Women Behind Bars
Gender and Race in US Prisons
Vernetta D. Young & Rebecca Reviere

April 17th , 5:30 – 7 PM
Howard University
Blackburn Center
Reading Lounge, 1st Floor

“This comprehensive text is a strong contribution to the study of women and incarceration. Particularly effective in terms of its focus on race, gender, and imprisonment, it should be required reading in a wide range of courses”
Barbara Bloom, Sonoma State University

Part of the Interrupted Life Incarcerated Mothers in the United States A Socially Conscious Public Art Installation, sponsored by The Women’s and Gender Studies Program, College of Arts and Sciences, American University.

NBPC TELEVISION AND NEW MEDIA INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
The National Black Programming Consortium is looking for a smart and creative candidate to participate in a joint media internship program with MTV Networks. While immersed in this intensive 12- week program, the intern will experience firsthand the fast-paced, ever-evolving, world of television and new media creation and distribution.

The position, which is modeled on our successful TV internship with the award-winning magazine show NOW, is open to undergraduate students and must be for college credit. Students interested in aspects of television or new media creation, development, and distribution, are encouraged to apply. To apply, please send a properly formatted Microsoft Word resume to N. Christian Ugbode, Programs & New Media Coordinator, at Christian@nbpc.tv. The submission deadline is June 30, 2007. Submit your film to the Eye for Change Film Festival
See their website for more information on rules, regulations, and deadlines.

BAVC Women's HD Artist Residency 2007 Call For Entries
Deadline for receipt of entries: April 30, 2007.
BAVC will provide the Artist-in-Residence up to 3 months access to equipment, facilities and staff for production and post-production, and Video Arts will provide two weeks access to their top-of-the-line HD studio and professional staff in order to online their project.
Send applications and submission materials to:
BAVC
c/o Women's High Definition Artist-in-Residency 2007
Attn: Wendy Levy
2727 Mariposa Street, 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94110
Go to http://bavc.org/media/grants/hdstorytelling.htm for more information.