The documentary film "Waiting for Superman" reignited the debate over the quality of public schools in America. At the request of the Ford Foundation, the Harmony Institute completed an evaluation of the social impact of the documentary film. Before the film was released, the Harmony Institute identified indicators and constructed an evaluation framework to measure the social impact of the film. The evaluation methods included focus groups of audience members, online surveys, measuring social media analytics, interviews with education industry leaders, and analysis of press coverage. The

Through the use of computer-generated maps, Maxson offers an innovative tool and visual aid for story-based program evaluation (similar to a word tree or tree map).  Driven by an analysis of text, these maps show the "overlap between how an organization describes itself (to donors) and how storytellers describe the organization or some relevant social problem."  Most importantly, what these visual aids reveal is that some "donor communications have little in common with project beneficiary stories."  Social change organizations could use this visual mapping exercise to understand how their

This study offers findings regarding community engagement and impact for public art projects developed through the Community + Public Arts: DETROIT (CPAD) program. CPAD was founded out of the Community Arts Partnerships office of the College for Creative Studies (CCS/CAP) in 2008.  It brings the arts, communities, and youth together to produce high-quality public art projects and events that allow neighborhoods to express and develop their unique character and potential through the arts. CPAD has placed 22 highly visible, long-lasting public art projects in under-resourced Detroit

In 2003, Understanding Neighbors, a collaborative project between Out North Contemporary Art House, the Interfaith Council of Anchorage and Alaska Common Ground, brought together nearly 100 citizens in a month-long series of dialogue sessions to address the question: "What is the social, moral, and legal place of same-sex couples in our society?" Artists Peter Carpenter, Sara Felder, and Stephan Mazurek created eight performance and video works derived from interviews with nearly 70 community members to serve as the catalyst for small group dialogues. Using a customized dialogue approach

Finding Voice, an ongoing program supported by the Tucson Pima Arts Council (TPAC) and Every Voice in Action Foundation, helps refugee and immigrant youth develop literacy and second language skills by researching, photographing, writing, and speaking out about critical social issues in their lives and communities. Finding Voice educators, Julie Kasper (Catalina Magnet High School ESL/English Teacher) and Josh Schachter (Tucson-based photographer and educator) founded the program in 2007 in collaboration with the Tucson chapter of the International Rescue Committee. Through the creative

Towards a Periodic Table of Visualization Methods for Management describes the effort of defining and compiling existing visualization methods in order to develop a systematic overview based on the logic, look, and use of the periodic table of elements. First, authors Ralph Lengler and martin Eppler describe the current fragmented state of the visualization field. Then, identifying the criteria for research and collection of 100 visualization methods, Lengler and Eppler propose a framework for imagining the field of data visualization as a periodic table.

Theory of Change is both a theory of methodology that originated in evaluation of social change initiatives and a method for fostering social change. The Theory of Change method is described as a work in progress intended to help practitioners develop their own way of talking about their initiative's theory and to use their terms more effectively. This method of planning social change requires participants to be clear on long-term goals, identify measurable indicators of success, and formulate actions to achieve goals. A Theory of Change, if it is good and complete, can be read by others as a

The Social Impact of Arts Programs and How They Measure Up, a product of Comedia Publications Ltd., addresses key issues in contemporary arts practice, with particular attention to Australia, including the social purpose and value of participatory arts, through case studies and related research. The paper aims to develop a methodology for evaluating the social impact of arts programs and to begin to assess that impact in key areas by:

In "The Metrics Syndrome," Arlene Goldbard asks practitioners to take a deeper look into the apparent need for metrics-evaluation and make sure that this quantitative evaluation is, in fact, advancing the work.  She suggests that community and cultural work has fallen into belief that every good endeavor can and should be backed up with hard numeric evidence to prove its success. In fact, as she explains, this notion is in direct conflict with values inherent in community cultural development. Drawing upon policy, philosophy, cognitive science, and mathematics, Goldbard makes a case for the

The Lear Center's Media Impact Project provides a deeper understanding of media's influence on social trends and individual behavior. Through an evolving inventory of reports, publications and tools, the Media Impact Project works to: