RESEARCH CLUSTER
Our focus on the civic imagination grew through various initiatives, including opportunities for exchange that emerged through Civics and Social Media (CASM) Research Cluster at the University of Southern California Collaboration Grant. These are the USC faculty that are involved with the Civic Imagination Project through this initiative:
Mike Ananny
Assistant Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. He researches technological systems and news production and the right to hear in civic discourse. (ananny@usc.edu)
François Bar
Professor of Communication and Spatial Sciences. Barr is known for his groundbreaking research on the potential of information technology for economic, social and cultural development, in places ranging from East Africa to Latin America and South Los Angeles. (fbar@usc.edu)
Vicki Callahan
Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts in the Division of Media Arts + Practice. Her research and teaching are focused on the integration of theory and practice with attention to issues in film and media history, feminist studies, digital culture, media strategies for social change, and public scholarship. (vcallahan@cinema.usc.edu)
Ann Crigler
Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences. Crigler's research examines how people understand and learn about politics from the news media. (acrigler@usc.edu )
Nina Eliasoph
Professor of Sociology at the Sociology Department, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences. Eliasoph studies civic and political organizations in a diverse society, ranging from grassroots civic associations and activist groups, to nonprofits and NGOs. (eliasoph@usc.edu)
DJ Johnson
Assistant Professor of Practice at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts in the Division of Media Arts + Practice. With expertise in digital storytelling, documentary production and new media, DJ has developed and taught courses for educational programs internationally. (djohnson@cinema.usc.edu )
Paul Lichterman
Professor of Sociology and Religion at the Sociology Department, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences. As a sociologist ethnographer, Lichterman has investigated what we mean by civic culture, how people develop informal models of citizenship, and how communities forge collective identities within a multicultural society. (lichterm@usc.edu)
Alex McDowell
Director, World Building Institute, World Building Media Lab, Professor of Practice, USC School of Cinematic Arts. McDowell has 30 years experience as a production designer of feature films, working with directors David Fincher, Steven Spielberg, Terry Gilliam, and Anthony Minghella amongst others. (alexmcdowell1@mac.com)
Colin Maclay
Executive Director Annenberg Innovation Lab and Professor for Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. He recently received a grant from the MacArthur Foundation to develop a center for civic media through the Annenberg Innovation Lab. (c.mac@usc.edu)
Tok Thompson
Associate Professor of Anthropology and Communication at the Department of Anthropology, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences. Thompson’s areas of research include folklore, popular culture, minority languages in online spaces. (thompst@earthlink.net)
Jeff Watson
Assistant Professor, Interactive Media and Games Division at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts at the Interactive Media and Games Division. Watson’s work investigates how game design, pervasive computing, and social media can enable new forms of storytelling, participation, and learning. (remotedevice@gmail.com)
Holly Willis
Chair of the Division of Media Arts + Practice. Willis has overseen the Media Meets Message workshops, which bring together USC and Los Angeles area media makers to share their expertise with visiting media makers from the Muslim world, a program sponsored by the U.S. State Department. (hwillis@cinema.usc.edu)