CALL FOR PAPERS Panel on Documenting Documentary Impact: Theories, Concepts, Measurement Co-chairs: Barbara Abrash (New York University) and David Whiteman (University of South Carolina) We are organizing a panel for Visible Evidence XI, which will be held in Bristol, England, December 16-19, 2003 (http://humanities.uwe.ac.uk/visible-evidence/index.htm). If you are interested, please send an abstract by August 20, 2003 to [log in to unmask] PANEL DESCRIPTION This panel brings together academics and practitioners to assess our current understanding of the social impact of documentary film and video and to move this research forward by evaluating appropriate theories, concepts, and measurement strategies. Makers of social issue documentaries seek to foster social change, and recent research has focused on how evidence of social impact can be theorized and evaluated. For example, scholars have examined the effect of "Well-Founded Fear" (Camerini and Robertson) on immigration and human rights policy, the role of "The Uprising of '34" (Stoney and Helfand) in labor organizing, the impact of "Not in Our Town" (O'Neil and Miller) on community responses to hate crimes, the use of "It's Elementary" (Chasnoff and Cohen) in campaigns to include gay and lesbian issues in school curricula, and the use of strategic videos as tools for organizing. Of particular interest are questions of political efficacy: How do documentaries circulate within "issue networks" of activists, analysts, and policy makers? In what ways do they affect the mobilization and status of activist groups and individual citizens? What impact do they have on the agenda for and the substance of policy deliberations? What are the most successful models of interaction between activists and makers? What criteria are useful in assessing "success?" CONFERENCE DESCRIPTION Visible Evidence is a peripatetic international and interdisciplinary conference on the role of film and video as witness and voice of social reality, which encompasses a wide range of cultural, political, social, historical, ethnographic and pedagogical questions and perspectives from fields such as anthropology, architecture, art history, ethnic studies, gay and lesbian studies, history, journalism, law, medicine, political science, sociology, urban studies and women's studies. First held at Duke University in 1993, subsequent editions have been held at the University of Southern California, Harvard and then Cardiff, before returning to the USA, followed by editions in Utrecht (2000), Brisbane (2001) and Marseilles (2002). There is an associated series of books published by Duke University Press. Conference panels are typically devoted to topics such as IMAGE, REALITY, TRUTH; IDENTITIES, BORDERS, CROSSING; HISTORY, MEMORY & SCIENCE; NEW FORMS, NEW IMPLEMENTS. The conference has established the format of a single stream of around 15 panels over four days, augmented by separate screenings with invited film makers, generally (but not exclusively) from the host country. The conference seeks to expand beyond a purely academic schema and make links with filmmakers, curators and producers, in order to engage in debates on contemporary documentary practice and to explore the space between the perspectives of scholars and cultural producers and promoters. The Eleventh edition will be convened by Bristol Docs (School of Cultural Studies at the University of the West of England) with University of Bristol Dept. of Drama (Theatre, Film, Television) and hosted by the Watershed Media Centre. Evening screenings will be curated by Bristol Docs, Vertigo Magazine and DocHouse, reflecting the recent growth of interest in the UK and abroad in both the production and exhibition of independent documentary. __________________ David Whiteman Project on Documentary Film and Social Change Department of Political Science University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 E-mail: [log in to unmask] Phone: 803-777-4548 FAX: 803-777-8255 ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.ScreenSite.org