Executive Summary

Interactive Design Documentary as a Method for Civic Engagement: Implementing Curriculum in Emerging Areas of Interactive Documentary Filmmaking and Community Engagement in India.

Civic engagement can prepare young people to become better citizens by focusing on processes that build self-awareness and critical thinking, which encourage action related to social issues. This is especially important at a time when many historically and culturally significant locations, in both India and the U.S., are threatened due to development, environmental impacts, neglect, and/or other reasons.

Salisbury University proposes a joint initiative that aims to address civic engagement through a collaboration between Salisbury University (SU) in the U.S., and Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication (SIMC) in India. As part of this initiative, SU and SIMC will also partner with the American Geosciences Institute (AGI), a non-profit organization dedicated to serving professionals in the geoscience community. The partners in this project will collaborate in the development of short and long-term courses on interactive documentary (iDoc) filmmaking that incorporate the instructional approach known as place-based education (PBE).

Through the innovative combination of iDoc, PBE and geo spatial elements, this project will promote civic engagement in India and the U.S. The resulting Interactive Documentary Filmmaking courses will become part of the curricula of the degree programs in Mass Communication at each institution and will provide valid and important results in an immediate sense, while also establishing the foundation for long-term changes at the participating institutions, including future faculty and student collaborations and exchanges.