CSM Blog

Center Director Pat Aufderheide's new book, Documentary Film: A Very Short Introduction is now available! Hear what others are saying:

 Read more...

Public media have often served as a lifeline during times of community or national crisis, offering audiences breaking updates, informed perspectives, and information about how to seek help in emergency conditions. But what can media-makers do when an unexpected disaster directly impacts their ability to reach the public? The San Diego fires have revealed the potential that Web 2.0 tools hold for disaster and crisis management. Read more...

The Ford Foundation’s Future of Public Media initiative brings together an alliance of leading nonprofits whose work forges the public media structures and projects of tomorrow. The group continues to introduce new, experimental practices that redefine the role of public media in the future. Here are some of the projects that they’re working on this month:
Read more...

As a part of the 2007 AFL-CIO DC Labor Film Fest and in partnership with ActiveVoice, the Center for Social Media screened the film, Made in LA (2007), which follows the remarkable journey of three Latina immigrants working in L.A.’s garment factories and their struggle for self-empowerment as they wage a three-year battle to bring a major clothing retailer to the negotiating table. Directed by Almudena Carracedo. Read more...

The Center has endorsed a sensible and much-needed set of guidelines from the Electronic Frontier Foundation for managing the use of copyrighted material in online video. Online video has become territory for First Amendment brawls, as content companies have demanded "takedowns" of videos that use some copyrighted material--even when it might be perfectly legal to do so under Fair Use. Read more...