We’re grateful and proud to have spent 2016 working with some truly incredible clients and projects:

The Internet Archive’s Political TV Ad Archive: We helped the Internet Archive launch and evaluate the Political TV Ad Archive, a repository of political ads aired during the 2016 election, paired with fact-checking and data collection efforts, as well as a new tool that allowed people to share, comment on, and remix content from the presidential debates in near-real time. Outlets including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones, Time and many others used this project to analyze ads and speeches throughout the campaign. Stay tuned for more details on the very important work the Archive is doing now, including creating an archive of President-Elect Trump’s statements, and building a copy of its entire collection in Canada.

Jessica Clark and Paul Waters of the Democracy Fund present at the 2016 Media Impact Forum

Media Impact Funders: We continued to work with our very first client, Media Impact Funders, to:

Immerse: Dot Connector Studio’s Director Jessica Clark worked with the Tribeca Film Institute, MIT Open DocLab, and The Fledgling Fund to launch Immerse, a monthly interactive magazine based on Medium that examines how storytellers are creatively using new technologies such as VR. She’s now serving as the editor—check out the three issues that have been released so far here.

The Democracy Fund: After working with the Democracy Fund to create and launch the Local News & Participation Systems Map, we continued to work with them on creating new models for strengthening engaged journalism and local news ecosystems. Stay tuned for the release of related research.

ISeeChange: We helped to launch the groundbreaking ISeeChange citizen-science app, produced with support from NASA. The app allows community members to report on climate-related changes in their communities and connects them with journalists and scientists. As federal funding for climate change initiatives is likely to be slashed in the coming years, community-based climate projects like this will take on even more importance. Learn more and download the app here.


Culture Lab: We worked with the Culture Lab at the Citizen Engagement Lab to build visual storytelling tools for activists and advocates seeking to use media to advance social change.

Media Impact Project: While serving as senior fellow at the Media Impact Project at USC Annenberg’s Norman Lear Center, Jessica developed a pair of new tools: a deck of cards to help makers, funders, and others think through different impact strategies, and an associated symbol font. (Read on for more news about the deck below!)

Many of these initiatives will become even more important given the changes to our political reality. We are thrilled to continue to work with clients and partners who believe in the power of media to change the world for the better, and we are looking forward to working with more in the coming year.

This year, watch our site for more changes as Dot Connector Studio continues to grow. We’re adding new associates and changing the structure of our business. After spending the fall of 2016 conducting beta-tests, we will also officially launch our first product: The Impact Pack. These cards are designed to help media makers and funders think strategically about impact as they build their social change initiatives. Sign-up to pre-order a pack here.

Want to work with us or learn about our upcoming initiatives for 2017? Drop us a line! We’d love to hear from you.