Harmony Institute

HI featured in Wired

Sarah — Sun, 19 May 2013 21:01:40 +0000

On May 13, HI was featured in a Wired magazine article, detailing the events of DIY Days. The author, Michael Andersen, described his personal experience with the immersive narrative, My Sky is Falling. He also outlined the final keynote presentation at DIY Days, including HI’s discussion of the technology, analysis methods, and interactive design techniques utilized in data-driven storytelling. To date, the article has over 140 shares on social media.

Deputy director, Debika Shome, speaks at Hot Docs

Sarah — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:25:48 +0000

In early May, Deputy Director Debika Shome attended the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto, Canada. Shome took part in real-time case studies addressing tools and best-practices for building a successful audience engagement campaign around a film, entitled “Impact Stories–Building and Measuring Engagement.” She also took part in “Campaigns by Design,” a hands-on workshop for media makers to plan strategies for media project distribution, outreach, audience engagement, and impact measurement..

Deputy director, Debika Shome, speaks at Columbia University panel

Sarah — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:23:04 +0000

On April 25, Deputy Director Debika Shome spoke on a panel at Columbia University‘s screening of the recently-released documentary film, Chasing Ice. The discussion focused on solutions for Arctic sea ice management and connecting with audiences through entertainment on complex issues like climate change. Shome discussed climate change communication and how the film contributed to audience engagement and impact.

HI research analyst, Alex Campolo, participates in San Francisco International Film Festival

Sarah — Wed, 08 May 2013 17:02:32 +0000

On May 5th, HI research analyst, Alex Campolo, participated in two panels at the San Francisco International Film Festival. At the first, the A2E Direct Distribution Lab, he spoke for a select group of narrative filmmakers. The topic of the panel was to adapt strategies from the documentary world to engagement for narrative films. Campolo specifically focused on using measurement techniques to better understand audiences and communities and using real time monitoring to help make distribution decisions. Other speakers in the group included Shaady Salehi, Executive Director of Active Voice, Jennifer Gilomen, Director of Independent Media at the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC).

Campolo was also a panelist in the salon-style discussion, Interactive Impact: Making Change through Audience Engagement. He spoke on a panel of filmmakers and strategists about the latest strategies and tools for engagement strategy and impact measurement. Filmmakers, Kalyanee Mam (A River Changes Course) and Jeremy Teicher (Tall as the Baobab Tree), discussed the challenges of balancing artistic and advocacy positions, while the audience participated in a discussion of distribution, engagement, and impact strategies. Salehi and Gilomen joined the panel as well, along with James Franklin of Britdoc, the developer of a publishing tool called assemble, which manages a film’s online presence across engagement and VOD platforms.

HI collaborates on immersive narrative, My Sky is Falling

Sarah — Mon, 06 May 2013 21:40:49 +0000

On April 11, the immersive narrative, My Sky is Falling, premiered at Envision 2013 in New York City. My Sky is Falling (MSiF) is a collaborative creation and uses methods of data-driven storytelling and an immersive science fiction narrative to explore the social issues surrounding US foster care as experienced by former foster care child and writer/director, Lydia Joyner. The experience was well-received by conference attendees, which included documentary filmmakers, representatives from the United Nations, and members of the Independent Filmmaker Project, who hosted the event. Envision 2013 concluded with a keynote presentation of the experience by Lance Weiler and a discussion of the participant’s engagement data by HI’s Creative Technologist, Clint Beharry.

HI creative technologist, Clint Beharry, presents at the New School

Sarah — Mon, 06 May 2013 19:22:18 +0000

On April 25th, HI Senior Creative Technologist, Clint Beharry, presented at a course entitled, The New Business of Big Data at the New School on the subject of the future of entertainment. His presentation included a discussion of data-driven storytelling, and measuring the social return on investment. Beharry presented HI’s Walking Dead Study, including the brain scan methodologies, the presence of ghost engagement, themes of gun responsibility in fictional narratives, and audience reactions to the show’s portrayal of innocence. He also discussed HI’s recent collaboration with Lance Weiler, on the participatory narrative, My Sky is Falling. These topics included measuring emotional arousal through biometric technology, layering multiple story metaphors alongside biometric data, and mapping a social issue to an emotional experience.

HI data scientist takes part in data.io panel

Sarah — Sun, 05 May 2013 22:40:44 +0000

On March 21, HI data scientist, Burton DeWilde, took part in a data.io event as a panelist on data science. The discussion included three other data scientists, including former HI research analyst, Brian Abelson. The speakers focused on the field of data science and its practitioners, as well as their own projects and techniques. The event took place at Enigma.io‘s offices in SoHo, with approximately 90 people in attendance.

Photo courtesy of Meetup.com

April 2013 Newsletter

Sarah — Sun, 05 May 2013 21:54:25 +0000

Introducing the HI Impact Playbook; Data driven storytelling with Lance Weiler; Upcoming speaking engagements include HotDocs, the SFIFF, and a panel at Columbia University; Work with us: Research Analyst position available. You can read more here.

HI and BAVC release the Impact Playbook

Alex — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:12:24 +0000

The Harmony Institute and the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) are proud to announce the release of the “Impact Playbook”—a resource for media makers that contains best practices and strategies for measuring impact. This joint project builds on HI’s participation at the 2013 Producers Institute for New Media Technologies. We worked collaboratively to understand the needs and workflows of today’s networked storytellers.

The Impact Playbook empowers media makers to use data to effectively measure and communicate the impact of their work. While the need for effective impact measurement is widely acknowledged, media makers are tasked with finding insights from new distribution channels and data sources. The Impact Playbook addresses this issue by integrating data collection and analysis into the creative process. It is now available for download.

HI launches Impact Scoreboard

Sarah — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 17:57:19 +0000

HI recently developed a new product — the HI Impact Scoreboard. The HI Impact Scoreboard is a scalable tool to help filmmakers evaluate the impact of their work. It leverages HI’s expertise in the field of entertainment evaluation to add context and narrative to a wide range of impact data. The goal of the scoreboard is to illustrate a film’s impact and situate it within the larger issue and media landscape. It also provides implications for the film and its community.

Less exhaustive than a full-scale report, the HI Impact Scoreboard allows us to expand our service offerings and work with more filmmakers and funders. It is also our hope that this product will encourage more media-makers and producers to consider impact evaluation.