September 5, 2007Newsletter

The Center for Social Media is looking forward to a busy autumn season. Check out the full schedule of the 2007 Human Rights Film Series. We're excited about an upcoming visit with the Fall 2007 Visiting Filmmaker Liz Garbus - we'll be screening her latest film, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib. The Center is also thrilled to add Joost to our growing list of endorsers of the Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use - see below for more details. See you soon!

2007 Human Rights Film Series
October 3 - November 8, 2007

Our 8th Annual Human Rights Film Series showcases films that show how film and video can make a difference for human rights. Discussions with expert speakers follow all screenings.

Screenings will take place at the WCL campus and AU's Wechsler theater.

Visit our website for film synopses and full event details!

Encounter Point
WCL Oct 3 @ 6:00
AU Oct 4 @ 5:30

Devil's Miner
WCL Oct 17 @ 6:00
AU Oct 18 @ 5:30

The Refugee All Stars
WCL Oct 24 @ 6:00
AU Nov 1 @ 5:30
Nov. 1 SPECIAL EVENT--Reception to celebrate the 20th anniversary of public TV series P.O.V. with P.O.V.'s Simon Kilmurry and special friends from all over public broadcasting! FREE

Ghosts of Abu Ghraib
Katzen Arts Center Nov 8 @ 5:30

Nov. 8 SPECIAL EVENT - Human Rights in a Time of War
An Evening with Ghosts of Abu Ghraib Award-Winning Producer Liz Garbus

Nov. 8
5:30-8:00 pm
Katzen Arts Center, AU, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW

Part of the 2007 Human Rights Film Series

Join us for a powerful evening as Fall 2007 Visiting Filmmaker Liz Garbus shares her experiences as a pioneer of human rights filmmaking and answers your questions about the making of this provocative film. This event takes place against the backdrop of Fernando Botero's startlingly barbaric exhibit, Botero: Abu Ghraib. Cost: FREE

2007 DC Labor Film Fest - Screening of Made in L.A.
October 10, 6 pm
Katzen Arts Center

In partnership with AFL-CIO and ActiveVoice.
See our website for full details. Discussion with special guests to follow screening.

iPhone Babies - be the first to read about it!
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 debates that have shaped both policy and practice in digital culture.
Want to be the first to read it? Click here to buy it now!

Newsrooms of the Future
Read Center Research Director Jessica Clark's recap of this year's Journalism that Matters conference, which mused on the future of print journalism and its ability to continuing stimulating public discussion. Read 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

New report shows how public radio stations use social media
Our new report, Public Radio's Social Media Experiments: Risk, Opportunity, Challenge, 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>>

Public Media Mapping initiative to be featured in upcoming book
Center research will be featured in an upcoming book titled 'Participation and media production. Critical reflections on content creation'. Director Patricia Aufderheide and Center research fellow Katja Wittke co-authored a book-chapter on "Mapping Publics and Issues of The War Tapes: Claims and Connections online" (Cambridge Scholars Publishers).

Center to release a new report: Mind-Forged Manacles: The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy
Sep. 25, 2007, 2 pm., Washington College of Law, 603, 4801 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC. Reception to follow.
Join us for the launch of a new report on copyright and creativity. Mind-Forged Manacles reveals that teachers' misunderstandings about copyright impairs their teaching and limits student creativity. The report, produced by the Center, Media Education Lab of Temple University, and the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, Washington College of Law, American University, draws upon long form interviews with scores of teachers and professors across the U.S. The report calls for teachers to develop a code of practices on fair use similar to what has been so successful for documentary filmmakers, so that teachers can use their rights under law without fear. The event will also be webcast at http:// www.wcl.american.edu/go/medialit.

UFVA Working Group develops syllabus for teaching Fair Use
At the University Film and Video Association meeting this August, Center media fellow Maura Ugarte conducted a workshop in which the Working Group on Fair Use honed a syllabus statement on fair use. That statement has been approved both by lawyers and by the University Film and Video Association board. Find it here.
If you are a member of UFVA and would like to join the working group, send an email to Maura.

Major insurers all accept Fair Use!
Fair Use claims are now accepted by the four major U.S. insurance companies for errors-and-omissions insurance of fair use claims (AIG, MediaPro, ChubbPro, and OneBeacon). The companies' acceptance of these claims is perhaps the best gauge of the adoption of fair use in general, and the Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use in particular, since insurance companies are both the ultimate gatekeepers for television documentary and also historically cautious to adopt practices that involve risk. Major insurers are now newly interested in projects relying on fair use, with all requiring a legal letter of opinion about its principles. The Statement made such a letter of opinion far easier to write than ever before and has opened the doors for documentary filmmakers to make possible more and better documentary work, all without jeopardizing the strength of copyright ownership.

Joost Endorses the Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use
Joost, an online distributor of TV and user-generated video content, is the latest to join a growing group of organizations who support the Center's Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use. Calling it "well-thought out and smart," Joost, like the other endorsers, stand behind the Statement's position as a guide to media makers on their rights to free expression.

New Copyright and Fair Use Project Announced!
American University's Center for Social Media and Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property are undertaking a multifaceted project. "Copyright and Fair Use in Participatory Media," to promote standards for the use of copyrighted materials in user-generated media that is broadcast over the internet. This project, supported by the Ford Foundation, follows CSM and PIJIP's path- breaking convening in April, "Unauthorized," about the implications of copyright law for makers and hosts of participatory video, and builds on the two organizations' success in helping to establish "best practices" for fair use by documentary filmmakers. Read all the details here, in our Copyright and Fair Use blog.

Sign up for ITVS Community Cinema-DC!
If you enjoyed [ITVS] Community Cinema-DC films like "Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes" and "The World According to Sesame Street" at Busboys and Poets and other venues around the city, stay up-to- date. Subscribe to Community Cinema's monthly e- Bulletin for screenings featuring the latest docs from the ITVS "Independent Lens" series. CLICK on the link below and follow the instructions to subscribe.

The new season of [ITVS] Community Cinema begins September 2007. Be one of the first to get a complete list of the entire 2007-2008 season available to e- Bulletin subscribers.

Check out Alagados, a new film by AU MFA grad Sylvia Johnson.
Alagados is a documentary film and photography initiative that aims to increase access to voice from a marginalized community in Salvador, Brazil. Check out the trailer and photography on the film's website.


Submit your Podcast or PSA!
Deadline Extended to October 4!!!
submit a 3-5 minute podcast or a 30-second PSA on government surveillance, free speech or due process rights. Prizes include $2,000 for Best PSA and $1,000 for Best Podcast with additional awards for originality, production and humor.

Click here for more information. Or contact 212.997.0505 ext 218 or email info@zilo.com.