MESSAGE SENT BY:
Monique Loayza
SSRC
[log in to unmask]
________________________________________________________________________
__________________________
Necessary Knowledge for a Democratic Public Sphere Program
http://www.ssrc.org/programs/media
WHAT:
The SSRC is pleased to launch its next round of the small grants project
for academic-advocacy collaboration in the media and communications
field. This round will provide grants of up to $7,500 for research that
clearly supports advocacy, organizing, policy and/or campaign uses in
the media and communications field in the US. The grants are intended
for short-term work, completable and usable by advocacy partners within
the next 4-12 months. Awards will be made on a rolling basis.
WHO:
In this round, proposals must be:
1. Submitted by a US-based nonprofit advocacy, organizing
or community group working on media and/or telecommunications issues.
(Groups with nonprofit fiscal sponsorship are also eligible.)
2. Structured as a partnership with an academic researcher
based at a university, college or other research institution. This can
include advanced graduate students.
There are no citizenship requirements for participants in these
projects.
CRITERIA:
Please review the attached list of criteria carefully BEFORE preparing
your proposal.
All projects must:
* Be strategically useful in their proposed advocacy
and/or organizing context.
* Produce scholarship that meets academic standards.
* Have a realistic workflow and timeframe.
The selection committee will also favor proposals that:
* Address issues of disparate impact on communities on the
basis of race, class, gender, ethnicity, age or other identity/status
category.
* Build capacity-skills, tools, experience, access to data
sets-within the "user" organization and/or community.
* Have a clear plan for the dissemination of the research
to target audiences.
* Have uses outside the immediate intended context.
* Use methods or models of research that have proved
effective in similar contexts.
* Reflect diversity in the staff or group involved with
the project.
Bonus points for proposals that:
* Involve collaboration between two or more
advocacy/community groups in the project design and the plan of use for
the research.
* Use participatory methods to engage community and/or
advocacy group members in framing the questions, data collection, and/or
analysis.
* Are related to issues of telephony, publishing, privacy,
intellectual property, independent media, or spectrum.
See also sample topics below.
PROPOSAL STRUCTURE:
Please submit proposals to [log in to unmask] . Please send a project
outline of no more than 5 pages including:
* A short description (max. 100 words) of how the research
will be used to advance public-interest change in the
media/communications arena.
* A description of the research project (max. 1000 words),
covering both process and outcomes, and addressing the criteria above.
* A description of the proposing organization (max. 200
words), including mission, constituency, geographical scope of work, and
annual budget.
* The name, institutional affiliation(s) and research
experience of the academic partner.
* A project timeline.
Plus:
* The researcher's CV.
* A budget of up to $7500, with itemized major
expenditures. If the project draws on other resources or financing,
please indicate them.
REVIEW COMMITTEE:
Applications will be reviewed and selected for funding by our Panel:
* Saskia Fischer, Media Empowerment Project
* Hernan Galperin, Annenberg School of Communications,
University of Southern California
* Dorothy Kidd, Media Studies, University of San Francisco
* Gene Kimmelman, Consumers Union
* Mark Lloyd, Center for American Progress
BACKGROUND:
The Collaborative Grants project is part of the Necessary Knowledge for
a Democratic Public Sphere (NKDPS) Program of the Social Science
Research Council, working in partnership with CIMA: Center for
International Media Action and the McGannon Center for Communications
Research at Fordham University. The program is funded by the Media, Arts
and Culture program of the Ford Foundation.
The NKDPS program is launching a series of funding opportunities to help
increase the production, use and capacity for research to serve
public-interest advocacy and organizing around media and communications.
These mini-grants for collaborative advocacy- academic partnerships have
been initiated to meet the short-term research needs of advocacy and
policy actors.
Several other funding projects will be launched in the next months,
including a "Research Bounties" project that place prizes on
advocacy-defined research and a larger program to support longer-term
advocacy-academic research partnerships and training.
For more information on the program, see
http://www.ssrc.org/programs/media.
For all program-related inquiries, please write to [log in to unmask]
Subscribe to MediaResearchHub-News for program updates, research funding
opportunities, and conference information:
http://listserve.ssrc.org/mailman/listinfo/mediaresearchhub-news
SAMPLE PROJECT TOPICS:
Proposals might seek to:
1. Measure the success or failure of mainstream media in
advancing different public interest goals or values.
2. Measure the impact of existing "alternative"/ community media
systems on communities, public discourse, or democratic processes.
3. Develop better, actionable accounts of the role of 'new media'
in people's lives.
4. Analyze policymaking and/or regulatory systems.
5. Analyze emerging systems, frameworks, or models of media and
communications that transcend the current regulatory framework.
6. Analyze economic models, industry structure, markets, or
audiences for different kinds of media.
7. Create analytical tools or research resources for use by
advocates, communities, or the public.
8. Document or evaluate advocacy or organizing strategies around
communications and media issues.
To view past submissions that were approved in the first round, go to:
http://www.ssrc.org/programs/media/collaborative_grants/smallgrants.page
Note that any new applications do not have to work within the exact same
range of topics as we encourage a diversity of issues as long as they
are related to the media and communications field.