University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism

The Civic Imagination Project at the University of Southern California’s (USC) Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism is a proven approach to negotiating and building consensus around difficult social and policy issues in divided communities. Launched in 2016, it is based on years of research carried out by media scholar Henry Jenkins and his research team, and it uses media, popular culture, and participatory practices to tap the Civic Imagination (a collective vision for what a better tomorrow might look like) of divided communities to bridge perceived cultural gaps and work toward shared solutions. The Civic Imagination Project is using this flexible support grant to document its impact and plan for its scale and long-term sustainability, primarily by developing partnerships with institutions and networks that are in a position to scale the Civic Imagination in communities around the globe.

The Charlotta Bass Journalism and Justice Lab (the Lab), housed at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism, is a new center for the study of “Black witnessing” that celebrates, documents, and engages the public in the history and practices of African American social justice journalism on the West Coast. This flexible support grant enables the Lab to design and launch an interactive archive of the journalistic contributions that Black witnesses have made specifically on the West Coast, to develop a research agenda and carry out scholarly investigations on topics related to “Black witnessing,” and to provide public programming and educational opportunities based on the Lab’s archive and research. The Lab is helping to bring visibility to the contributions of Black media makers to the American story, and it is promoting and bringing greater understanding to the practices and impact of participatory media on the gathering and sharing of news and information.

The Annenberg Innovation Lab (Innovation Lab), housed within the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism, combines research and practice to understand the evolution of the media and its impact on governments, businesses, educators, creators, and consumers, with a special focus on the future of the media landscape and its impact on society. This grant supports the Innovation Lab’s on-going administration of the USC Civic Media Fellowship, which empowers artists, creators, technologists, storytellers, organizers, and others working at the intersections of media, technology and culture to further hone their practice through nine-and-a-half months of exploration and collaboration within a dynamic and diverse cohort of Fellows. It supports participants as they level-up existing skills and develop new ones, build shared capacity for social and community impact, and have a positive impact on the world locally, nationally and globally. These new leaders and the resources they develop also help to bring greater visibility to and understanding of participatory civic media practices that take advantage of the social web to connect with communities, inspire action, build civic capacity and help sustain social change movements and efforts.

The Civic Imagination Project at the University of Southern California’s (USC) Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism is a promising new approach to negotiating and building consensus around difficult social and policy issues in divided communities. It is based on years of research carried out by media scholar Henry Jenkins and his research team, and it uses media, popular culture and participatory practices to tap the Civic Imagination (a collective vision for what a better tomorrow might look like) of divided communities to bridge perceived cultural gaps and work toward shared solutions. This project grant enables the Civic Imagination team to expand its model to include collaborations with public institutions, such as museums and libraries; develop new tools for working with individuals and firms in the creative industries; and establish a peer learning community for those using the Civic Imagination approach in their work. These activities are intended to expand the pool of experts using the Civic Imagination in new sectors and help the Civic Imagination team develop a sustainability plan for the project.

Count the Nation is a project of the Annenberg Innovation Lab (the Lab) at the University of Southern California’s School for Communications and Journalism. The Lab combines research and practice to understand the evolution of the media and its impact on governments, businesses, educators, creators, and consumers, with a special focus on the future of the media landscape and its impact on society. Count the Nation is the Lab’s new initiative to use the power of popular culture and participatory media to encourage the participation of hard-to-count communities in the 2020 U.S. Census. In partnership with the nonprofit organization Define American, the Lab will work with both young social media influencers and youth in hard-to-count communities to develop sharable media that accurately communicates information about the 2020 Census and sparks a national campaign fueled by user-generated content to encourage hard-to-count communities to participate.