2008 Digital Ocean Project Planning Phase Gaines, S., Melack, J., Penley, C., & Rice, R. E. (Co-PIs). Funded by The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, January - September 2008, $100,000.  The DigitalOcean Project (DO) will use collaborative digital technologies to inspire public engagement in preserving the world's oceans. Recent studies have demonstrated the massive human impacts that are accumulating in ocean ecosystems. Without public support for change, we will lose vital biocomplexity in our oceans. DO will seed leading social networking and media sites with science-rich content and compelling stories. When fully realized, participants will include scientists, educators, students, policy makers, communicators, and the general public. DO will offer them knowledge, tools, and a community base for becoming active supporters of sustainable ocean uses. 2007-2008 Green Screen Environmental Media Internship The Center was awarded $10,000 by the Shoreline Foundation to support the Green Screen Environmental Media Internship Program, Fall 2007-Winter 2008. The funds will be used for film production expenses, publicity, distribution, and to produce a film festival at the end of the program. The objective of the Program is to create and distribute video which will educate and raise awareness about issues facing the coastal and marine habitats associated with the UCSB shoreline, as well as the organizations and efforts to preserve them. Many of the students involved in this program will be alumni of the Blue Horizons Summer Institute on Environmental Media. The Program’s goals are to give these students a network in which they can continue to communicate the issues facing their immediate environment, and to connect them with organizations that have critical messages and issues to convey.  First priority will be given to organizations which the Shoreline Preservation Fund selects. Together, the organization and the filmmakers will develop a production outline and a rough script for what will be shot. During fall quarter the students will shoot the footage for their films, and in the winter will edit them to make short, 5-20 minute movies. Films produced by the Green Screen interns will be distributed as DVDs to the sponsoring organizations, the Shoreline Preservation Fund, related classes at UCSB, and over cable and the Internet through UCTV. There will be a screening/film festival to launch the films along with other Environmental films. This program is part of the Carsey-Wolf Center’s Environmental Media Initiative. 2007-2008 Environmental Media Research Focus Group of the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center The Center was awarded $1000 from the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center to support an Environmental Media Research Focus Group, 2007-2008.  The Research Focus Group will meet at least twice each term to bring together the Center's Environmental Media Initiative faculty affiliates and graduate students interested in environmental media in a regular and focused way to continue our exploration of environmental media through readings and discussion; to provide a forum on our campus for faculty and graduate students to present their work; to invite external researchers to speak to the campus community; and to collaborate on interdisciplinary projects. The IHC grant provides both financial and administrative support from the IHC, including publicity, flyers/posters, scheduling meetings, links to the IHC website, and monthly IHC events calendar listing. This program is part of the Carsey-Wolf Center’s Environmental Media Initiative. 2007 – 2010 Sustainable Fisheries Management UC Santa Barbara and Environmental Defense have secured a $5 million grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation over three years to develop and work with three California fishing communities to implement sustainable fisheries management. The purpose of the grant is to incorporate new mechanisms in fishery management that will align the economic incentives of fishermen with the implementation of conservation tools to improve ocean stewardship. The project will do so by partnering with fishing communities, regulators, and stakeholders to develop and test management, marketing, and financing approaches that bridge the gap between current financial needs and future economic gains. Project partners include the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management; Marine Science Institute; National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis; and the Carsey-Wolf Center for Film, Television, and New Media. The project also draws on the regulatory, economic, outreach, and scientific expertise of the Oceans Program at Environmental Defense. 2007 Blue Horizon Summer Program for Environmental Media Public Programs The Center was awarded a $2940 Instructional Improvement Grant for the creation of an innovative, interdisciplinary summer program for graduate and undergraduate students on the topic of media and the environment.  The Blue Horizons Summer Sessions Program brings together faculty from the Department of Film and Media Studies and the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology to teach a coordinated sequence of coursework in environmental science, video technologies, and filmmaking.  Students in the program will learn about challenges affecting California’s coastal environment, and make short videos to educate audiences about these issues.  Funding provides for faculty stipends, graduate student support, program evaluation, and purchase of video resources.  The four courses making up the summer program include: FAMS 75 - Introduction to Environmental Media FAMS 113EM - Introduction to Environmental Media Production EEMB 94 - Issues in Marine Conservation FAMS 113EP - Advanced Environmental Media Production The four courses that make up BLUE HORIZON will make use of the extraordinarily wide range of guest lecturers in environmental science and nature filmmaking from the Central Coast region. 2007 Cultural and Enrichment Program The Center was awarded $9,200.04 from the UC Santa Barbara Summer Sessions Cultural and Enrichment Program to support two public events held in conjunction with the Blue Horizons Summer Program on Environmental Media. The first event is the Santa Barbara premiere screening June 30, 2007 of “Everything’s Cool,” a documentary on global warming presented by writer/director/producer Judith Helfand.  The second event is an Ocean Film Screening, a showcase for films on critical ocean and coastal issues produced by the students enrolled in the 2007 Blue Horizon Program. 2007 The Future of Multi-Media Digital News and Cultural Networks The Center received $6000 from UCTV to help produce a Center/UCTV half-day workshop and evening presentation, May 11th, on the trends, opportunities, challenges and future of digital media for education, culture and news (please see the Events page for a detailed description and program).  The joint funds provided travel, accomodation and meals for the participants; publicity; workshop and evening venues; filming and editing of the evening program for distribution through UCTV cable and Internet; and production of a final report (also available on the program’s Event page). 2007 Media and the Environment Conference The Arthur N. Rupe Chair in the Social Effects of Mass Communication provided the funding ($5000) for a half-day Rupe/Center multi-media conference, April 18th, that brough together media creators and producers, journalists, scientists, web masters, media researchers, international agency coordinators, and the audience.  The presentations and discussions explored the technological, economic, political, and social challenges involved in creating environmental media content for traditional and new media outlets, and for improving public understanding and action concerning the environment (please see the Events page for a detailed description and program).  The full set of sessions was filmed and edited for distribution through UCTV cable and Internet. 2006 “Digital Oceans” proposal to National Science Foundation, and to Henry Luce Foundation, with Marine Sciences Institute (not funded) The Marine Sciences Institute and the Center submitted a proposal to NSF, and to the Henry Luce Foundation, to fund a Digital Oceans center at UCSB. Digital Ocean is a thematic center that focuses on integrating and evaluating media technologies in ocean science education. The specific goals of our program are 1) to develop a portal for dissemination of ocean science-based media technologies and learning content including video, data visualizations, and decision-making tools such as GIS; 2) to facilitate the development and dissemination of exemplary technology-based educational materials that are based on ocean science research, including on-line professional development to support teachers in using media technologies in the classroom and designing their own lesson plans; 3) to develop and disseminate multi-channel media in order to maximize access for all through various sites including informal education centers (e.g., aquariums and museums), formal education venues (e.g., home schools, K-12, universities), and public/private spaces (e.g., TV, movie houses); and 4) to form collaborative partnerships with technology-based initiatives such as NSDL, DLESE, and The BRIDGE to identify and network ocean sciences education efforts. These goals are aimed at translating the findings and data at the forefront of ocean science into educational materials keyed to national standards. Digital Ocean COSEE capitalizes on the power and promise of technology to bring the ocean to everyone. 2004-2005 Critical Issues in America Grant for Year-long Media Ownership Series The Center was awarded $25,000 from the Critical Issues in America Endowment, College of Letters and Science, 2004-2005 for a speaker series and conference on Media Ownership. This grant was complemented by $15,000 from the Arthur N. Rupe Chair in Social Effects of Mass Communication.  The primary goals of this project was be to (a) raise awareness about the critical issue of media ownership; (b) provide venues for debates and discussion of multiple perspectives between the public, researchers and policy-makers; and, especially relevant to an academic institution, and (c) identify, explicate, and disseminate a core set of concepts necessary for students, citizens, teachers, policy-makers, and researchers to understand in order to analyze the articulated positions on the media ownership issue.  In that sense, part of our goal is to increase media literacy and research about the media ownership debates, choices and implications, through devising clear concepts that can improve the influence of the public and researchers on the policy process.  With these funds, during 2004-2005, the Center and the Rupe Chair organized a series of small seminars each term, offered two Freshman Seminars, and a full-day conference on Media Ownership (see the Events page).  Working with the presenters throughout the year, as well as selected additional authors, the Center produced an edited book -- Rice, R.E. (Ed.) (2007).  Media ownership: Research and regulation.  Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.