Skeleton schematic of On Cities virtual gathering

To engage viewers in cities around the world in conversations about the future of life in cities and serve as a platform to launch a multilingual film contest that will incentivize digital filmmakers to tell stories about life in cities where they live. Multiple other urban initiatives will be announced and discussed at the event.

Overview

The On Cities virtual event is planned as the first point of engagement with a global audience about the daily challenges of urban living in the 21st century.

Anchored in the Storer Auditorium on the University of Miami (UM) campus in Coral Gables, Florida, the initial screening of the short non-verbal film On Cities will be replicated in various locations around the world. A host in each location will gather between 25 and 150 people and be responsible for providing hardware (projector, computer, DVD player etc.), software, and bandwidth to synchronously connect to the event at UM via Twitter and Skype. In addition to screening the film each host at multiple remote venues will have the option to display the anchor event at the Storer auditorium on a separate screen via a web page that will stream the event at the UM live.

Attendees at all remote venues can participate in the global conversation focusing on urban challenges and potential solutions using Skype. Individual audience members at all locations will be able to participate continuously using the #oncities hash tag on Twitter. The Twitter feed with comments from the audience will be featured on a separate screen at the anchor venue at UM. Several brief presentations by thinkers and media makers will be featured via Skype in addition to the film. At the end of the event, an announcement will be made launching a contest for filmmakers everywhere to tell stories about the cities in which they live.

Logistics

The event moderator at UM will collect emails of invitees from hosts and Evites will be sent to potential attendees everywhere. The anchor location at UM will have multiple Skype calls open and a web page will be created to host the video stream. The anchor location will have 2 screens – one for screening the film and then switching Skype video/audio from different locations and one for displaying the Twitter feed. Remote locations will have the ability to screen the film and receive Skype video calls.

Click here to visit the On Cities event website

Jim Virga, a prolific storyteller, producer and director of Beyond Assignment, and Ed Talavera, an award-winning cinematographer, traveled with each of the photojournalists, Adriana Zehbrauskas, Gail Tibbon, and Mariella Furrer to Mexico, Israel, and South Africa, respectfully, focusing not only on their photographic work, but also what drives them through their journeys as photographers.

"We spent about a week with each, so what the viewer gets is a slice of life of these photojournalists," said Virga. "Hopefully the viewer is able to see how dedicated they are, and how much they give of themselves."

The documentary also reveals the emotional cost on journalists and their subjects when reporting on underexposed and tense issues, especially in ethically-challenging and sensitive situations.

"This is as close as it gets to doing the real thing, Virga leads us through their work, their subjects and their lives," noted Maggie Steber, an internationally-known documentary photographer and visiting lecturer at the SoC. "Through these women we learn lessons of how to see, what is important in storytelling, and fine examples of commitment to their subjects." ??Other SoC faculty members involved with Beyond Assignment include Dia Kontaxis, director of the Motion Picture Program, who served as the film's editor, Jeffrey Stern who worked as the film's sound editor and Electronic Media professor Sanjeev Chatterjee, who served as the executive producer.

Talavera and Virga have collaborated on several projects over the years. Talavera said he had his hands full during this shoot.

"What was challenging was trying to create images that mirrored the 'look' of the work of the photojournalist we were exploring," he explained.

But filming in three different countries provided much inspiration.

"If I had to pick a favorite, I would say Israel because it is so visually rich with all the religious imagery," Talavera said.

Virga credits much of Beyond Assignment's support to the Knight Center for International Media at the School of Communication and for providing them with such a memorable experience.

"It was a real pleasure to spend time with these top professionals and see them work," Virga said. "There were some intense moments, but that's just the nature of the business."

For more on the film and future screenings, visit beyondassignment.org.

Jim Virga, a prolific storyteller, producer and director of Beyond Assignment, and Ed Talavera, an award-winning cinematographer, traveled with each of the photojournalists, Adriana Zehbrauskas, Gail Tibbon, and Mariella Furrer to Mexico, Israel, and South Africa, respectfully, focusing not only on their photographic work, but also what drives them through their journeys as photographers.

Portions of Beyond Assignment were screened to School of Communication faculty and students during a Brown Bag Session this past fall where Virga talked about the making of the film and working with the three women photographers.

"We spent about a week with each, so what the viewer gets is a slice of life of these photojournalists," said Virga. "Hopefully the viewer is able to see how dedicated they are, and how much they give of themselves."

The documentary also reveals the emotional cost on journalists and their subjects when reporting on underexposed and tense issues, especially in ethically-challenging and sensitive situations.

"This is as close as it gets to doing the real thing, Virga leads us through their work, their subjects and their lives," noted Maggie Steber, an internationally-known documentary photographer and visiting lecturer at the SoC. "Through these women we learn lessons of how to see, what is important in storytelling, and fine examples of commitment to their subjects." ??Other SoC faculty members involved with Beyond Assignment include Dia Kontaxis, director of the Motion Picture Program, who served as the film's editor, Jeffrey Stern who worked as the film's sound editor and Electronic Media professor Sanjeev Chatterjee, who served as the executive producer.

Talavera and Virga have collaborated on several projects over the years. Talavera said he had his hands full during this shoot.

"What was challenging was trying to create images that mirrored the 'look' of the work of the photojournalist we were exploring," he explained.

But filming in three different countries provided much inspiration.

"If I had to pick a favorite, I would say Israel because it is so visually rich with all the religious imagery," Talavera said.

Virga credits much of Beyond Assignment's support to the Knight Center for International Media at the School of Communication and for providing them with such a memorable experience.

"It was a real pleasure to spend time with these top professionals and see them work," Virga said. "There were some intense moments, but that's just the nature of the business."

For more on the film and future screenings, visit beyondassignment.org.

At ONA, UM School of Communication alumni, Paul Franz, M.A. ’10 in multimedia journalism, tied for first place in the Online Video Journalism student category for his thesis project, “Haiti’s Lost Children” (www.haitiedstories.org/). The project deals with Haiti's struggle to build an education system following the 2010 earthquake.

The Society of Professional Journalists presented the School of Communication, Transitions, a nonprofit, independent online news organization, and UM’s Knight Center for International Media with a Sigma Delta Chi Award and Bronze Medallion in recognition of distinguished service to the American people and the profession of journalism through outstanding accomplishments in Digital Media Presentation for “Colorful But Colorblind: Roma Beyond Stereotypes” (roma.glocalstories.org/). The project delves in age-old prejudices about the Roma people by featuring personal insights into the daily lives and struggles. The SPJ competition did not have student categories, and the University of Miami was the only academic institution to win an award this year.

"I am extremely proud of our students and the award-winning work they are producing under the guidance of our exceptional faculty,” said Gregory J. Shepherd, dean of The School of Communication at the University of Miami. “And it is important to note that these awards are for work in new and digital media, as we intend to be a leader in the rapidly changing world of communication."

UM Professor Rich Beckman was “Colorful But Colorblind’s” executive producer, UM Professor Kim Grinfeder, the design director and Daniel Cloud, the programming director. Alumnus Trevor Green and Candace Barbot, an adjunct UM faculty member, also worked on the project as story coaches and trainers in conjunction with 10 multimedia graduate students and 50 journalists from Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

“At the Knight Center we set out to become an epicenter of excellence for compelling multimedia storytelling on global issues and to give voice to the unheard and unseen on underreported issues,” Beckman said. “Our graduate students have embraced these worthy goals and their work continues to bring recognition to the School, the Center and our international partners.”

UM had six finalists competing in three categories at the 2011 ONA Awards. This is the second year in a row that a UM student project has won this prestigious award. In the eight years that student categories have been judged in the competition, 15 projects by Prof. Beckman’s students have been named finalists and this is the fifth to win a top prize.

Launched in 2000, the Online News Association Awards, administered by ONA in partnership with the University of Miami’s School of Communication, are the only comprehensive set of journalism prizes honoring excellence in digital journalism, focusing on independent, community, nonprofit, major media and international news sites.

Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well-informed citizenry, works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press.

Mariella Furrer, one the of three photojournalists featured in Beyond Assignment, has been working for eight years on a body of work on the subject of child sexual abuse in South Africa. She is currently working on publishing this material as a book entitled My Piece of Sky: Memories of Child Sexual Abuse.

Furrer's book is a testimony to the young children who have survived the experience of rape, and those who have lost their lives to it. It is a book that will visually seize the attention of reader through the use of photography and artwork, and will capture their minds through in-depth interviews, journals, essays and poetry by children who have been abused.

In bringing forth this difficult subject, the book will encourage governments to advocate for effective legislative protection, survivors to provide community understanding, and departments of criminology and psychology to conduct research to enhance academic understanding on the subject of abuse. In the film Beyond Assignment and in her book,Furrer's drive to bring to light the sensitive topic such of child abuse is evident. By exposing the harsh realities of abuse in her home country of South Africa, Furrer hopes to shed light on what can be done to help prevent abuse, assist those who have been abused in finding help and, in the process, save lives in a part of the world where the topic of child abuse is taboo.

Currently, Furrer's project is eligible for funding from Kickstarter.com, an organization that allows project creators to gain funding from independent donations as a means to test out their projects and ideas without financial risk and without losing any rights to their projects. If you would like to learn more about Furrer's project, please visit her Kickstarter page at: www.kickstarter.com/projects/1862412233/my-piece-of-sky-memories-of-child-sexual-abuse. To watch the trailer and for more information on Beyond Assignment, please visit beyondassignment.org.

My Story, My Goal teamed 14 UM multimedia students with students from seven Knight Center for International Media partner schools in Africa and Asia to tell stories that personalize the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The students' work focuses on issues such as poverty, maternal health, environmental sustainability, universal education, gender equality, HIV/AIDS, and children's health. The website mdg.glocalstories.org/ features seven short videos and a compilation documentary.

Another group of multimedia students recently returned from Africa, where they continued working on the project.

My Story, My Goal was co-produced by Professor Rich Beckman, the school's Knight Chair in Visual Journalism, and Tom Kennedy, a former Knight Center Professional-in-Residence. It was produced by UM alumnus Ami Vitale.

The project has received international attention. Last November, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon presented a segment of the project at a G-20 Summit event in South Korea. My Story, My Goal is linked to the U.N. website's Millennium Development Goals section.

"Historically students have led some of the world's great revolutions," said Beckman. "By empowering students to produce local stories that have global impact, we are helping to start a communication revolution. Compelling stories shared through social and online media outlets can motivate change, and we can make a difference in the world one story at a time."

Originally from Patna, Bihar in eastern India, Chatterjee will be working with students at Jadavpur University to create a multimedia website that will bring better public understanding of urban waste utilization and recovery.

The East Kolkata Wetlands are located east of the city of Kolkata and cover about 77 miles that include salt marshes and salt meadows. The wetlands are used to treat Kolkata's sewage, and the nutrients contained in the wastewater sustain fish farms and agriculture that feed surrounding communities. A city of 12 million inhabitants, Kolkata does not have a sewage treatment plant and the wetlands act as its “kidneys,” naturally cleansing the 160 million gallons of urban waste daily. The East Kolkata Wetlands were named a Ramsar site in 2002. The class will interview scientists, fish farmers, neighborhood consumers, government officials and other stakeholders.

“I’m excited about this Fulbright Award because it will allow me to engage with students in a process of discovery in India about a key urban issue,” Chatterjee said. “These students will be learning outside the classroom and will be sharing information on a very important issue.”

Chatterjee embarks to India on July 18.

Chatterjee is no stranger to issues that affect our global environment. During his recent role as director of UM’s Knight Center for International Media, which is committed to producing compelling visual media to solve the world's most difficult issues, he co-directed One Water, an award-winning documentary about water challenge around the globe that was broadcast on the Discovery Networks Planet Green Channel.

The Knight Center also supported Aguas Negras, a multimedia website about wastewater farming in Mexico City that first introduced Chatterjee to this issue and gained his interest to explore it further.

Chatterjee is currently working on One City, a non-verbal short documentary film that explores imminent threats to contemporary cities around the world.

“To have a teacher and filmmaker of Prof. Chatterjee’s stature is going to greatly benefit students of Jadavpur University, which has a strong commitment to environment issues,” says Abhijit Roy, an associate professor of Film Studies at the School of Media, Communication and Culture, Jadavpur University. “Together we will be creating a vibrant inter-disciplinary group of young people who will continue to work beyond this project in the field of multimedia documentation of water issues to meaningfully shape environment policies in India.”

The winner of the 2010 Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award for excellence in journalism in the Digital Media Presentation (Independent) category is Colorful But Colorblind, by the School of Communication, University of Miami, Transitions and the Knight Center for International Media.

Colorful but Colorblind is a project aimed at remedying anti-Roma stereotyping through the creative use of multimedia in reporting minority issues in new member states of the European Union in Central and Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia) and internationally.

The training and production components of the Colorful but Colorblind project were designed and implemented by Rich Beckman, Professor and Knight Chair in Visual Journalism at the School of Communication at the University of Miami. The project director was Tihomir Loza from Transitions. Trainers included Jim Seida, Senior Producer, MSNBC.com, Candace Barbot, CEO / Founder at Pulp2Pixel Media Inc. and Ben de la Cruz, Emmy Award winning documentary video producer and reporter at The Washington Post. Story coaches included Travis Fox, Emmy Award winning freelance videographer, NYC, Trevor Green, Senior Video Editor & Operations Assistant, Knight Center for International Media, University of Miami and Seida. Kim Grinfeder, Assistant Professor, School of Communication, University of Miami and Daniel Cloud, Senior Programmer, Knight Center for International Media, University of Miami, directed the web design and programming teams.

Ten multimedia graduate students: Danny Bull, Paula Echevarria, Paul Franz, Nick Harbaugh, Charles Ledford, Lauren Malkani, Nick Maslow, Lauren Santa Cruz, Lauren Whiddon and Chi Yang participated in the project.

Other winners in Online Reporting categories included WebMD, Las Vegas Sun, ProPublica, NPR, CNN.com, The Washington Post, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, Politics Daily, FactCheck.org, The Flint journal and The Bay Citizen/New America Media.

Judges chose the winners from more than 1,400 entries in categories covering print, radio, television and online. The awards recognize outstanding work published or broadcast in 2010.

Dating back to 1932, the awards originally honored six individuals for contributions to journalism. The current program began in 1939, when the Society granted the first Distinguished Service Awards. The honors later became the Sigma Delta Chi Awards.

Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well- informed citizenry; works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists; and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press.

Knight Center Update My Story My Goal,

Knight Center Update ONA Award,

Knight Center Update Multimedia Journalism Program.

The event will be streamed online at knight.miami.edu.

During the forum, The Knight Center, based at the UM School of Communication, will show an excerpt of its award-winning documentary on the subject of the world’s water crisis, One Water.

Florida faces many complex challenges around water quality and regulation; natural systems and restoration; and planning for growth, distribution, and treatment. During the first Water Choices Forum, leaders and experts from across the state called for expedited formation of a water ethic. The second forum, beginning at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 28, will examine and discuss the challenges and implementation of the EPA Nutrient Numeric Criteria and an exploration of the use of water credits across the state.

Other divisions of the University of Miami are engaged in the forum, including the Leonard & Jayne Abess Center for Ecosystem and Science Policy.

“The Abess Center is honored to support this event. Water resource management is a critical issue on a global scale, particularly as the effects of extraction for agriculture, industry and human consumption are exacerbated by pollution and climate change. It will take a concerted effort across disciplines and stakeholder groups to confront the challenges we face,” said Abess Center director Kenneth Broad, associate professor of marine affairs and policy at UM’s Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Science. “This conference is an opportunity to bring diverse perspectives to bear on the policy issues regarding appropriate criteria for allowable nutrient levels and allotment of water credits.”

The mission of the Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy is to create innovative, interdisciplinary initiatives that bridge the gap between science and environmental policy. The Abess Center is the nexus for flexible undergraduate and graduate programs, which gives students the opportunity to learn in a problem-solving context and gain substantial hands-on experience.

The Florida Earth Foundation, a collaborative partner with UNESCO and center of training and best practices in sustainability, has committed to a think tank approach to the forums. Participants will take an active role raising questions, testing definitions, and setting the agenda for emerging conversations.

“Our Foundation is committed to respond to calls for discussion and international best practices as we approach a period of big water challenges in our regions, in the courts, and in the industry,” said Florida Earth Foundation Board Chair, Ernest A. Cox. “Leaders and experts from all fields that deal with water want a place to draw on the best possible data, express their concerns, and seek consensus. Our board has made these forums our 2011 priority.”

The conference will include a diversified audience of water system managers, public officials, international experts, attorneys, law students, scientists, educators, videographers and documenters, and engineers. Their counsel will impact the Florida Earth Foundation’s compendium of online best practices and recommendations on the future of water in Florida. The Employ Florida Banner Center for Water Resources will also provide an update on the strong job and career connection to technical training and certification in the industry.

Fairfield Index, Inc. President Don Upton, a nationally renowned expert on regionalism and collaboration, will moderate the discussion. Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture, Adam Putnam, will help frame the issues for a think tank setting.

Thanks to sponsors, the event will offer international audiences the opportunity to ask questions of the panelists.

Registration for the event costs $195, and includes lunch. Students with ID can register for free for limited seating. To register, or for background and notes from the first Forum, and details on CEU credits visit www.floridaearth.org or call the Florida Earth Foundation, 561-686-3688.

Top business leaders and policy experts will discuss these questions at a panel discussion, “Views from the CSIS Commission on Smart Global Health Policy,” at the University of Miami Global Business Forum at 9:30 a.m. Friday, January 14, 2011, in Shoma Hall, Room 3053, at the School of Communication, 5100 Brunson Drive, Coral Gables, FL. This panel is moderated by UM President Donna E. Shalala and sponsored by The School of Communication.

“We will be looking for a lively, interactive conversation that hears directly from our audience of business experts,” says J. Stephen Morrison, Senior Vice President and Director of the Center on Global Health Policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Washington D.C.-based research institution that works to develop actionable recommendations for long-term U.S. strategy on global health.

“We are very excited to pull together this dynamic panel, led by President Shalala, to talk at this important moment about where US leadership on global health is heading. These experts each bring a remarkable perspective on this question of the business sector’s role in global health,” Morrison adds.

In March of 2010, The CSIS Commission on Smart Global Health, whi

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