Developing a Common Language to Assess Impact

By Dana Chinn, Director of the Media Impact Project, and Johanna Blakley, co-Principal Investigator of the Media Impact Project

This year BRITDOC had five winners of its Impact Award - not one winner and four finalists as in previous years.   Was this yet another example of everyone getting a trophy just for showing up?   We don't think so.   We think it was a reflection of the increasing complexity of measuring media impact, and a recognition that "impact" can't be measured by counting discrete things such as the number of attendees at screenings.      

The Impact Award recognizes documentary films that have had "significant and measurable social or environment impact."  Just by looking at this year's winners you can see that it'd be ludicrous to select one winner by some numerical formula of "most" or "best."  

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