Transformative Media ImpactApril 7, 2016

Sasha Costanza-Chock @schock

These Slides: http://bit.ly/media-impact-april8

Six focus groups with 49 youth, youth organizers, and adult allies.

National online and in-person survey of 166 youth organizers and allies from 106 organizations in urban and rural communities. Questions re: media practices, strategies, analysis, impacts, audience, and barriers.

Methods (PAR)

Where orgs see the impact of media production

Media making is a critical tool for political education and youth leadership development

“A majority (69%) of those surveyed said that making media rooted in an organizing project has increased political consciousness among participating youth, as well as among their peers. Many youth organizers said that they saw young people grow as leaders and learn to critically analyze power while working on media projects. This dynamic between analysis, production, and purposeful inquiry expands the definition of “media impact” beyond traditional metrics such as audience reach or products created, to include skills like listening, sharing, teamwork, and taking an idea from concept to fruition in a social justice context.”

--Krystal Portalatin, FIERCE, re: “Fenced OUT,” a documentary about Christopher St. Pier

Advisory group of LGBTQ & Two-Spirit community based organizations participated in RQ development & study design.

Online organizational survey of 231 LGBTQ & Two-Spirit organizations nationwide.

Series of participatory data analysis workshops.

Methods (PAR)

Media making can be a liberatory,creative, and healing process; threequarters of organizations (75%) say

that individual and community growth and healing is one of the highest

priorities for their media work.

“I don't care if groups outside of New Orleans know who we are, if the mother at the corner store or the

young women headed to the mall have heard of us, then we are impactful.”

-- Survey respondent

“Survey respondents feel that it is important to ask big questions, such

as “are we shifting culture?” instead of just looking at victories and failures

campaign by campaign.”

Most useful impact studies:●Mixed Methods●Multilevel●Grounded in specificity of

project/org/movement goals●Ex: BritDoc impact guide

Social Movement StudiesCultural/Mobilization/Policy Outcomes (Staggenborg)Biographical/Lifecourse Impacts (McAdam)

Communication for Social Change

Ex. “Communication for Social Change: An Integrated Model for Measuring the Process and Its Outcomes”http://www.communicationforsocialchange.org/publications-resources?itemid=17

Transactional/TransformationalImpacts

(M. Pastor, J. Ito, R. Rosner)

Design Impacts“TxtMob and Twitter”http://publicpractice.org/wp/?p=779

Media Impact Assessment:A crowded field.

Takeaway: The most interesting, transformative impacts are the hardest to

measure!

Kthx =)