Last mentioned in the July 9, 2004 Scout Report, 1000 Journals is a Museum 2.0 project (where the audience participates in as well as views the project) from SFMOMA. Organized by Someguy, a San Francisco-based artist and designer, 1000 journals were circulated beginning in August of 2000, initially only to people who asked for them, these people then added something to the journal - writing,...

Dramatic, poignant, and provocative, PBS’s Point of View documentaries provide access to often overlooked facets of American society. African-American filmmakers and parents Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson chronicle twelve years of educational ups and downs of their son, Idris, and his classmate Seun in American Promise. The documentary follows the two boys’ journey through Manhattan’s...

In 2005, three young Americans, Rudy Adler, Victoria Criado, and Brett Huneycutt, whose backgrounds include activism, economics, and advertising, wondered what would happen if they gave disposable cameras to two groups of people on different sides of the border between the United States and Mexico: undocumented migrants crossing into the United States, and American Minutemen trying to stop them....

The Chicago Film Archives is an amazing regional film archive that collects, preserves, and provides access to films that represent the spirit of the Midwest. They work together with a range of other partners to host film festivals, develop seminars, and also sponsor public lectures. Visitors should click on over to the Explore Collections area to browse through over 600 films. This section...

Many organizations and individuals are working to transform some of America's most violent inner city neighborhoods by forming a series of coalitions with local residents, religious organizations, and schools. This engaging documentary from PBS's Frontline takes a look into "the violent landscape of our cities through the eyes of those fighting to sow peace and security." First-time visitors...

Gordon Knox was born in Greenville, Texas and during his long career he made a wide range of documentary films for the United States Armed Forces, state and federal government agencies, and private sector clients. In 1941, Knox formed the Princeton Film Center in Princeton, New Jersey, and over the coming years he would create profiles of Princeton ("University Town"), "Fortress in the Sky" (for...

Over the past few years, Independent Lens has produced a number of well-received documentaries that have aired on PBS and other places. They have also created some very nice websites in an attempt to enhance the viewing experience of their programs. The Independent Lens: Interactive site offers some additional web-original projects for the interested public. Some of these features include Beyond...

Independent Lens recently went inside a classroom in the Chinese city of Wuhan to witness a rather interesting experiment in democracy. Recently, elementary students at the Evergreen Primary School there were asked to elect a class monitor. Filmmaker Weijun Chen took his cameras inside the classroom to document this process, and the results are quite fascinating. Visitors to the site can learn...

The Independent Lens series has taken on a number of controversial subjects, but this recent documentary about the world of Jehovah's Witnesses is quite an eye-opener. While some people can be dismissive of this faith, this documentary provides a nuanced and rather fascinating look at both those who practice this faith and their involvement in a record number of important Supreme Court cases....

The principal aim of MediaStorm is "to usher in the next generation of multimedia storytelling by publishing social documentary projects incorporating photojournalism, interactivity, animation, audio and video for distribution across multiple media." Many people have taken notice of their fine work thus far, as they have garnered several Emmys and a couple of Webby Awards in recent years. On their...