Changes in the Facebook Page
We have consolidated all our upates onto just one page: http://www.facebook.com/CenterForSocialMedia. Please join us there for updates on Media that Matters 2012, fair use, and more!

Early Bird Registration for Media That Matters 2012 is now open!
Visit our conference page for the February 10-11, 2012 agenda. Get 15% off regular registration for the conference if you register by January 1, 2012. This year's theme, "Change for Good," features conversations about how independent social change filmmakers can execute integrated campaigns that are strategic, action-oriented, and have enduring impact. Read more...

Reel Aging: Real Change
The Center is proud to cosponsor a workshop with media makers addressing aging and elder rights: Working Films, with support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reel Aging: Real Change, an initiative that will tie compelling documentary films and transmedia projects that explore aging to ongoing policy work and grassroots campaigns supporting older populations globally. Read more...

The International Documentary Association presents Doc U: Can Your Doc Really Change The World?
On December 5, Center Associated Director joins a discussion with Ronit Avni, founder and Executive Director of Just Vision, Adam J. Segal, founder/principal at the publicity agency The 2050 Group, and Robert West, co-founder and Executive Director of Working Films. The discussion on the ways and means of producing documentary films with the potential to effect real change will be moderated by Nina Seavey, Director of the Documentary Center at George Washington University. Read more...

Camera as Catalyst: Matt Eich by Guest Blogger Tara Kocourek
Matt Eich makes a point to photograph his subjects as if they are his own family. At the center of his personal mission, and the LUCEO Images’ mission, are relationships. This may defy the conventional notions of photojournalism and objectivity, but is hailed by the New York Time’s LENS Blog as the next model for photojournalism. Read more...

Designing for Impact Case Study: "The Line"
Filmmaker Nancy Schwartzman is a young woman who was raped and decided to confront the attacker with a hidden camera. The film puts our focus on today’s “rape culture”, and raises a difficult question: Where is the line defining consent? For this case study, we will focus on how this intimate 24-minute documentary effectively addressed the issue of sex and violence, and how the filmmaker started a campaign that bring real changes to the ways that viewers think about consent. Read more...

Notes from the Benevolent Media Festival: Non-profit Storytelling
Liz Norton spent the earlier part of her professional career working with policy makers and wondering if her efforts truly helped improve the lives of others. After tossing that question around one too many times, Norton started Stone Soup Films. Stone Soup, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating videos for other non-profits to use as part of their overall communication strategy, has now been in operation for more than 3 years. Read more...

Designing for Impact Case Study: "Lioness"
How did a group of female support soldiers – mechanics, supply clerks and engineers – end up fighting alongside the Marines in some of the bloodiest counterinsurgency battles of the Iraq war? In this case study from Designing for Impact, we look at this amazing film and examine the mechanics behind it. The case study by Barbara Abrash analyzes how the movie successfully brought the issue of gender inequality for military women into the public eye, and gradually influenced policymaking. Read more...


Reflections on "The Interrupters": Screening, Poetry Reading, and Community Dialogue
In the dark theater, with the credits still rolling, Erin Finicane could hear sniffles to the right and excited whispers to the left. As the brightening lights gradually illuminated the seated crowd, their faces reflected what her ears had already suggested – that this film had resonated deeply with this audience and they were now eager to share their thoughts and their experiences. Read more...

Designing for Impact Case Study: "Out In The Silence"
Sometimes fear and hatred come from ignorance. When that occurs, the best way to eliminate hate is to foster understanding. Five weeks into our release of Designing for Impact, this time we look at how "Out in the Silence" initiated LGBT campaigns. We analyze the way the filmmakers have responsed to obstacles, and used various media and distribution channels to build networks and reach out to a broader audience. Read more...

Kisses, Broken Cameras and Bananas: Human RIghts, Corporate Ethics and more in IDFA Documentaries. 
Documentaries from around the world probed social isses with compelling stories at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam (IDFA) held at the end of November.  With screenings, a market, a pitching forum, a showcase for interactive projects, panels and endless get-togethers, IDFA offers a panoramic, global view of the form.
Read more...

Fair Use Question of the Month: Why Do My Students Need To Learn About Fair Use?
This month's Fair Use Question comes from a teacher whose student wants to use an iconic song from a popular movie soundtrack in his student film. Should she hold his work to the standards of fair use? Read more...

Fair Use Video Of The Month: “I’m Not Here To Make Friends”
Pop culture critic Elisa Kreisinger spots another online-video gem that demonstrates creative and critical work employing fair use. Read more...

Reclaiming Fair Use
Early reviews, blog comments and tweets about Reclaiming Fair Use have been flooding in. Check them out on the book’s Facebook page. Library Journal said that the book “deserves to be read by scholars, bloggers, documentarians, journalists, and everyone else, since we are all touched daily by copyrights." Patrick McKay, creator of FairUseTube and winner of Public Knowledge’s contest to video-respond to Google’s video on fair use, called it “a must-read for anyone interested in issues of copyright reform."

From Global to Localore: Digital Public Media News
Media makers are tackling digital transformation of public media both globally and locally. Researchers across the globe participated in the Open Society Foundations' 60-country research initiative, Mapping Digital Media. Meanwhile the Association of Independents in Radio has taken on the Localore  project to transform traditional broadcast public media. Read more...

New Polity Book Features Center for Social Media Research
A new book by University of Denver professor Adrienne Russell draws upon CSM's public media 2.0 research to examine the transformation of journalism. Read more about Networked: A Contemporary History of News in Transition.

Public Funding and Documentaries at IDFA
Funds from public broadcasting and other taxpayer dollars to promote culture continue to be essential to production of social-issue documentaries, if this year’s crop of docs at The International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam (IDFA) is any guide. Kickstarter campaigns and DIY promotion were everywhere, but usually in conjunction with some kind of public funding. Read more...

Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program announces Fall 2011 Grantees, Apply for Spring 2012 starting in December
Fall 2011 grantees were selected from nearly 500 applications from filmmakers working in over 70 countries. Joining a family of filmmakers dedicated to the art of storytelling, the Fall 2011 group of artists have been hard at work on stories about the troubled state of our environment, international human rights violations, powerful leaders and women, historical events that resonate still, and economic and political movements. Please check the website in December to apply for the next round of development and production/post-production funding. The postmark deadline for Spring 2012 will be February 9th, 2012.

Film Premiere: Through the Eye of the Needle - The Art Of Esther Nisenthal Krinitz, a film by Nina Shapiro-Perl
Through the Eye of the Needle will be screened on December 5, 2011 at the Washington Jewish Film Festival along with two other short films, also directed by women, about the Shoah and the role of women and art in transmitting memory. A panel discussion with the directors, moderated by noted memoirist Faye Moskowitz, will follow the films. For more information, or to order tickets, visit www.wjff.org.

EcoViews: Balancing the Bay, A Documentary by Students in Environmental and
Wildlife Production
See a sneak preview of a film by AU Students that will air next spring on Maryland Public Television during Chesapeake Bay Week on Tuesday, December 13 at 7pm in American University’s Wechsler Theater. The film follows individuals who are actively and passionately trying to restore balance to the ecosystems of the Chesapeake Bay. Professor Sandy Cannon-Brown and her students will be present to introduce the film and answer questions.

ITVS Community Cinema presents TROOP 1500, part of the Women and Girls Lead initiative
At Hilltop Prison in Gatesville, Texas, a unique Girl Scout troop — Troop 1500 — unites daughters with mothers who are serving time for serious crimes, giving them a chance to rebuild their broken bonds. Screenings with be Saturday, December 17th at 5 pm at Busboys and Poets (2021 14th St NW), and Sunday, December 18th at 3 pm at the Washington DC Jewish Community Center (1529 16th St NW). For more information, visit www.communitycinema-dc.org

Koch Brothers Exposed
Koch Brothers Exposed is a multi-media campaign to expose the billionaire Koch brothers and the ways their money is influencing the political narrative, changing regulations, and harming our democracy. See all the videos online for free here and join the resistance .  And, if you would like a DVD with all the campaign videos, click here.

NAMAC Happy Hour at Capitol City Brewing Company
NAMAC is kicking off its first Campaign & Policy Institute that day, where arts advocates from around the country will be in DC to learn how to craft and run effective policy campaigns.  Please join the Media and Democracy Coalition and the National Alliance for Media, Arts and Culture (NAMAC) for a happy hour on Tuesday, December 6 at 6pm at the Capitol City Brewing Company in Washington DC.

Innovate / Activate 2.0
Save the date! New York Law School’s Institute for Information Law & Policy and Berkeley Law’s Samuelson Law, Technology, & Public Policy Clinic are pleased to present Innovate / Activate 2.0. The event will take place April 20-21, 2012 at Sutardja Dai Hall at UC Berkeley. The conference will run from 2-6 p.m. on Friday, April 20, and from 10-4 p.m. on Saturday, April 21. Follow them on twitter @innact and check out www.innovateactivate.org to learn more about last year's event and how you can get involved.