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 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.

The University of Southern California’s (USC) Annenberg School supports research and scholarship in the fields of communication and journalism. For the past two years, with support from MacArthur, Henry Jenkins, a leading media scholar and professor at the Annenberg School, has been working with a team of researchers to develop and pilot a new approach to civic engagement and community problem solving called the Civic Imagination. This new approach 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. Jenkins and his team have tested the approach with a diverse set of community groups, such as coal miners and technology innovators in Appalachia seeking to secure the future of work in their region. The Civic Imagination approach is designed to foster productive dialogue on issues that divide communities, and it is intended to help participants envision a shared future and a road map to get there. This project grant provides flexible support for the Civic Imagination Project to develop new tools and resources to scale this new approach to communities across the country, while continuing efforts to document and study its use and impact.

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 to launch and run a participatory civic media fellowship program: a cohort-based experiential learning program for early-stage practitioners who promote social progress as a collaborative effort, using digital and popular culture and media and technology. With particular attention to historically marginalized communities and perspectives, the fellowship program is designed to expand and increase participants’ capacity and standing, deepen and expand their networks, and position them for future success while bringing greater visibility to and understanding of civic media practices. It also will serve to coalesce and strengthen a burgeoning network of participatory civic media organizations, practitioners, academics, and entrepreneurs.

The Annenberg Innovation Lab is a curious, creative and committed “think and do tank” at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. It practices innovation as a collaborative exploration involving artists, scientists, humanists and industry professionals working together on problems and opportunities at the dynamic intersections of media, technology, culture and society. The award will support an interdisciplinary convening for the purpose of exploring emerging research priorities, methods and practices for tracking and understanding the spread of misinformation, disinformation and propaganda online.

The Annenberg Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California 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 two sets of activities: 1) field-building to coalesce a community of like-minded academics and practitioners committed to advancing new knowledge and practice at the intersection of media, technology, popular culture, and civics, and 2) landscape research to inform the design of a participatory civic media fellowship program.

The University of Southern California’s (USC) Annenberg School supports research and scholarship in the fields of communications and journalism, with a special emphasis on those disciplines’ relationship to the entertainment, media and technology industries. Grant funds support a team of researchers led by Professor Henry Jenkins to study and refine a new approach to civic and political participation called civic imagination, and to develop tools for practitioners to integrate the practices of civic imagination into their work. Civic imagination uses the power of popular culture to increase the capacity of individuals to imagine alternatives to current social, political, or economic institutions or problems. 

In support of the Institute for the Future of the Book (over two years).

In support of a multi-site ethnographic study of how young people use digital media, and to what effect (over three years).

In support of planning for a multi-site ethnographic study of how and to what effect young people use digital media (over three months).

For a project to create the Institute for the Future of the Book (over two years).