Grant Summary
$300,000 over 34 months for a grant to launch the Civic Media Consortium, linking the civic media offerings of ten Boston-area institutions to local civic organizations. Civic media refers to the practices of designing, building, and implementing tools to intervene in or participate in civic life. Embedded in coursework, civic media provide a means to challenge students to link theory to practice in applied real world contexts. These courses draw on readings in political science, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, arts, and literature to challenge students to work with civic and community processes and understand cultures unlike their own, while designing media objects such as games, apps, websites, campaigns, videos, and so on that can help bring about a civic goal. The consortium will provide an administrative hub to develop shared curriculum, build and maintain relationships with local community partners, and disseminate knowledge and resources on civic media. Over the grant cycle, at least 12 inter-institutional courses will be developed in partnership with at least 15 civic organizations as part of developing a financially sustainable model for cross-collaboration harnessing civic media.