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The Center for Social Media showcases
and analyzes strategies to use media as creative tools for public
knowledge and action. It focuses on social documentaries for civil
society and democracy, and on the public media environment that
supports them. The Center is part of the School of Communication
at American University.
The 6th Annual Human Rights Film Series Continues
with Videoletters
 October
19 and 20
By Katarina Rejger and Eric van den
Broek
Dutch filmmakers worked in the Balkans with former friends and neighbors
who were separated as a result of war. Videoletters reunited them,
and dramatically-charged half-hour TV shows told the world about
them. Join the discussion afterwards with Professor Julie
Mertus, an expert on human rights and the Balkans.
All screenings are shown at 6 pm on Wednesday at the WCL, or 6 pm
on Thursday in Wechsler Theatre. We will also be screening in October
and November Sometimes in April, and Human
Rights in Burma, a collection of shorts by WITNESS
including a special video handbook launch.
Visit the Human
Rights Film Series page to learn more about the films!
 October
20
The Center Hosts Magnum Photographer Paul Fusco
Public Lecture & Presentation, 10 am, Wechsler Theatre, Mary
Graydon Center, 3rd Floor
Learn
More>>
Untold Stories: Creative Consequences of the Rights Clearance Culture
for Documentary Filmmakers
Find out more about the Center's work surrounding
copyright and doc filmmaking, including the statement of
best practices in fair use. Read the report
and watch the video>>
Read a new article by the Center's
Director and Deputy Director published in Current
newspaper Go>>
Public Media ThinkTank Announced
 Our
big news: The Ford Foundation has graciously provided the Center
for Social Media with two years of a projected five year grant to
explore the future of public media in a digital era.
Beginning in September 2005, the Public Media
ThinkTank will conduct and publish research on new directions in
public media, convene leaders throughout the field to think through
these directions, host public events and screenings, and foster
demonstration exercises in new public media expression. Center Deputy
Director Noëlle McAfee will
direct the project.
The Public Media ThinkTank is one of 13 grantees
in a Ford Foundation initiative, Global Perspectives in a Digital
Age: Transforming Public Service Media.
Read more about the Public Media
ThinkTank>>
Read the full press release from AU>>
Read the Ford Foundation's press release for a list of grantees
and more details>>
Sign up for the Center newsletter
Go>>
Young people often get a bum rap for turning
their backs on society's problems. Studies show that they vote less
than older people and express less trust in others. But a closer,
more nuanced look shows that many youth do care and are involved.
And increasingly, they are turning to the Internet as a gateway
to civic engagement. Go>>
The problems that filmmakers face in getting
and controlling rights for their creative work--and the consequences
for cultural creativity--are the focus of a new research project
funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. Go>>
The Center for Social Media scanned the internet
to look at some of the media strategies being used during the war
in Iraq. The war spurred many types of communication; they are categorized
and links to examples are provided.
Go>>
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