In April 2016, Jessica Clark delivered this presentation on her research into the impact of emerging forms of media as a Senior Fellow at the Media Impact Project at USC Annenberg's Norman Lear Center.

1. What’s new
media good for
anyway?
!$%&W

2. …and who am I
to tell you?

3. Today we’ll tackle
• Questions for emerging media projects
• Why we need better models and methods
• A first attempt at a new impact language
• Examples from my own work
• An example from an emerging field: VR

4. But first:
a bit of show and tell
[

6. Questions for
emerging media
projects
!$%&W

7. Q1: How new is this?

8. Is it even media?

9. Q2: Is this even media?

11. Q3: Where is this in
the hype cycle?

13. Q4: What are the
points of
connection?
"

14. Q5: What’s the
point of the
connection?
"

15. Why we need
new models
& methods
bxisy

16. What do we mean
when we say
“engagement”?

17. It’s not just
“reach” or
“attention minutes”

18. My favorite definition

19. But, it depends, right?
• Communities of practice
• Goals of the maker or outlet
• Platform affordances
• Audience needs
• Funder expectations M

20. People get stuck
• Applying assumptions from previous
platforms or commercial settings
• Searching for a single impact equation
• Reinventing the research wheel
• Not consulting users soon or often enough
• Confusing intention with success

22. The issue is not
methodology.
It’s mindset.

23. Useful approaches:
• Developmental evaluation
• Experimental, embedded, espouses
bricolage over rigid methodology
• Design thinking
• Hands-on, user-focused, visual inquiry
• Lean startup
• Rapid iteration, minimum viable
products, practice trumps theory

24. A first attempt
at a new impact
language
!$%&W

25. Initial impact models:

26. What do makers need?
• To put their media projects in context
• To talk through goals and strategies
• To communicate quickly and cleanly
• To mix and match platforms and outcomes
• To understand relationships with audience

27. a to z
abcdefghijklmn
opqrstvwxyz
1 to 0
1234567890

29. A to Z
ABCDEFIKL
MNPQRSTUVWXZ
! to )
!@#$%^&

30. everything else
-+<>|=
={}[]
’:~/
¢€€™£®©

31. plus, lots of
;

32. Back to basics
How can we use these icons to clarify:
• What the media project is?
• How it engages users for social impact?
• What that suggests we should evaluate?
• What happens next?

33. A few examples
from my own
work
1567B

34. Tell impact stories
Political TV Ad Archive:
1 + / + B + 6 =
i[j8.

37. Clarify strategy
iSeeChange
phase 1
c + y + p + Q + r =
5 + 7 + 6 + x
phase 2
u + / + : + W + 9 = n

39. An
example from
an emerging field
!@eEQ

41. How did it work?
Uncritical discourse about
Clouds over Sidra :
!= E
Closer look at points of connection:
! + / + h + 7 + b =
Emj

42. Pondering new models
! + E = q
! + F = q
! + T = q

43. Suggested
metrics:
• Amount of VR
content
• Number of
headsets
• Number of
journalism VR
apps
• Amount of direct
advertising

44. We can do better
at making new
media do good.

45. TQ