Dean Ernest J. Wilson III (pictured) started his 2010 Dean's Series on Sustainable Innovation with an examination of the innovation taking place at USC Annenberg's Metamorphosis and Intersections: The South Los Angeles Report projects (full video).
This was the first of a Spring 2010 series that presents innovative projects developed by USC Annenberg faculty and center affiliates. USC Annenberg innovators reflect on the lessons learned from their own innovation experiences – in the classroom, in research and in the field – and provide food for thought on best practices in innovation.
Communication professor and Metamorphosis director Sandra Ball-Rokeach, and journalism professors and Intersections co-directors Bill Celis and Willa Seidenberg each spoke about the innovation taking place at their respective projects. Doctoral student Carmen Gonzalez spoke about a sub-project of Metamorphosis that focuses on South Los Angeles, and Intersections project manager Emily Henry talked about her own experiences with the hyperlocal news site.
"There aren’t a lot of places in the country that are doing this kind of project in low-income communities," Seidenberg said about Intersections, which is a community news Web site dedicated to covering South Los Angeles and surrounding areas, with contributions from residents, high school students and journalism students from USC Annenberg. "We've only been at it a year and we're amazed by the progress so far."
Ball-Rokeach spoke about Metamorphosis, which has a mission to understand the transformation of urban community under the forces of globalization, new communication technologies, and population diversity so that its research can inform practitioner and policy maker decisions. Metamorphosis was the inspiration behind the other projects talked about at the Feb. 25 event.
Ball-Rokeach also talked about a soon-to-be-released site called "Alhambra Source," whose overall goal is to raise the level of civic engagement in the city of Alhambra, and to do it through communication resources. She said she hopes it will become a model for local media outlets in ethnically diverse communities.
"Our goal is to create a Web site that will serve as a shared storytelling network and thereby increase the level of civic engagement," she said. "One of the key challenges of our day is to innovate ways to construct ethnically inclusive storytelling networks that enable strong community formations where residents can come together in common cause to improve the conditions of their everyday lives and in so doing be a building block of civil society. Most community Web sites avoid the problem of ethnic diversity, either by targeting homogeneous communities or one only one ethnicity within a community. Also, most community Web sites are neither driven by theory nor research."
Celis said Dean Wilson wasn’t exaggerating when he talked about the innovation that Sandra has brought to the School for a long time with the Metamorphosis project.
"It’s really made a tremendous difference in the quality of learning at the School and really re-thinking about what it is we do and why we do it, and it’s all reflected in (the Intersections) Web site for starters," Celis said.
Ball-Rokeach said the project goals of Alhambra Source are: Local media source grounded in community-based research; Participatory platform: a common space for local storytelling; Linguistic tools facilitating conversation across ethnic groups; Research on the effects of a new media source on civic engagement; A model for local media outlets in ethnically diverse communities
Jeanine Auza (B.A. Communication '10), a student in the audience who grew up in Alhambra, said after Ball-Rokeach spoke that the professor painted an accurate portrait of the lack of civic communication in Alhambra.
"The issues they talked about were so accurate and so persistent in Alhambra," Auza said. "There wasn't any civic engagement or a move toward it. But people there have no idea they're civically disengaged, and this project can help."
The USC Annenberg School's Dean’s Series on Sustainable Innovation hosts leading innovators and scholars for an ongoing dialogue on the communication challenges to individual, organizational and societal responses to the fast-changing technological transition toward a post-industrial networked society.
"This was a great lesson in storytelling," Dean Wilson said about the event. "We have been talking about innovation here at the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism for a couple of years now. And this year we thought we would focus on really the most important aspects of innovation — the innovation that’s being conducted by our colleagues here at the Annenberg School."
Video
Dean's Series on Sustainable Innovation
Upcoming Events
Dean's Series on Sustainable Innovation: Exploring Virtual Worlds and Network Culture
Thursday, March 11, 2010, 12:00 p.m.
RSVP for this event »
Dean’s Series on Sustainable Innovation: The Norman Lear Center’s Creativity, Commerce & Culture Project
Thursday, March 25, 2010, 12:00 p.m.
RSVP for this event »
Dean’s Series on Sustainable Innovation: Popular Music Project
Thursday, April 1, 2010, 12:00 p.m.
RSVP for this event »
Dean’s Series on Sustainable Innovation: Brand Cultures
Wednesday, April 7, 2010, 12:00 p.m.
RSVP for this event »
Dean’s Series on Sustainable Innovation: News Entrepreneurship -- Mashup of Journalism & Entrepreneurship
Thursday, April 22, 2010, 12:00 p.m.
RSVP for this event »
Dean's Series on Sustainable Innovation: Annenberg Innovation Lab
Thursday, April 29, 2010, 12:00 p.m.
RSVP for this event »
