Friend of the Courthouse: a digital media project that promotes access to justice through procedural literacy

Friend of the Courthouse is a website application where parties receive accessible and individualized information relating to their pending case’s procedure. The objective is to allow parties to understand their procedural steps. The platform promotes access to justice in utilizing digital media. It does so by encouraging an understanding of procedural law. Although its application is best suited to the Quebec legal landscape, it can equally be applied in Ontario provided that a modernization of its court record system takes place. Considering that Friend of the Courthouse exemplifies the use of digital media as a vehicle for the advancement of access to justice, Ontario can in fact be incentivized to undergo such a modernization given the current access to justice issues it faces.

Friend of the Courthouse: a digital media project that promotes access to justice through procedural literacy

Friend of the Courthouse is a website application where parties receive accessible and individualized information relating to their pending case’s procedure. The objective is to allow parties to understand their procedural steps. The platform promotes access to justice in utilizing digital media. It does so by encouraging an understanding of procedural law. Although its application is best suited to the Quebec legal landscape, it can equally be applied in Ontario provided that a modernization of its court record system takes place. Considering that Friend of the Courthouse exemplifies the use of digital media as a vehicle for the advancement of access to justice, Ontario can in fact be incentivized to undergo such a modernization given the current access to justice issues it faces.

The forms of content presentation in educational media (on the example of Arzamas educational media project)

The subject of this research is the forms of content presentation in educational media, which are quite a large developing typological group and comprise a substantial segment of the Russian information market. The editorial offices of these resources implement the new formats of presentation of scientific-educational information from various areas of knowledge in accordance with the development trends of journalism and meeting the interests and needs of the audience. The hypothesis of this research is reflected in the thought that for solution of creative tasks and fulfilling their functional-target purpose, the educational media use such formats that involve the most. Using the publications of the Arzamas online media project, the author explores the possibilities of various forms of presentation of educational information. The novelty of this work is defined by the poor study of this type of online publication formats, and consists in determination and characterization of the basic forms of content presentation in educational media in the context of the development of online journalism formats. The author reviews the forms of educational media content within the framework of the development of journalism and characteristics of the modern media text.  The article identifies the main forms of content presentation of Arzamas educational media project, reveals their peculiarities and functional purpose. The conclusion is made that for implementation of their functional-target purpose, the educational media employ combinatory forms that allow solving the educational and recreational tasks. The editorial office of Arzamas educational media projects creates hypertextual and multimedia educational environment, resorting to the traditional genres of journalism, as well as formats of the new media.

Do Cinema Novo ao vídeo lésbico feminista: a trajetória de Norma Bahia Pontes

O artigo reconstitui e analisa a trajetória da diretora e crítica Norma Bahia Pontes que contribuiu para legitimar o Cinema Novo enquanto movimento artístico na década de 1960 e foi pioneira na direção de vídeos lésbicos feministas nos Estados Unidos durante os anos 1970. Apontada como um talento promissor pelos cinemanovistas, Norma dirigiu dois curtas-metragens documentários em película, Os Antilhenses (1967) e Bahia Camará (1968), publicou críticas cinematográficas e textos sobre teoria do cinema em livros, jornais e revistas além de ter coordenado um curso de cinema enquanto se preparava para dirigir um longa-metragem no fim dos anos 1960. Com o endurecimento da ditadura, Norma trabalhou como publicitária até que no início dos anos 1970 partiu para o exílio em Nova Iorque com a então companheira Rita Moreira, onde ambas tiveram contato com movimento lésbico feminista e a tecnologia do vídeo. Em parceria afetiva e criativa com Rita, Norma realizou uma dezena de documentários em vídeo, fundou a distribuidora Amazon Media Project e se afastou completamente do cinema. Na medida em que a tomada de consciência política de sua existência como mulher, lésbica e artista engajada com o movimento lésbico feminista coincide com seu afastamento do Cinema Novo, o texto busca compreender as circunstâncias nas quais acontece esse deslocamento ambíguo: a invisibilidade de sua figura na História do Cinema Brasileiro e sua atuação pioneira como realizadora do vídeo lésbico feminista.

Indeterminate: Flora, 3D scanning and the instability of data

This article discusses Echo, an environmental media project that explores the possibility of defamiliarizing representational structures of nature through creative practice techniques. Through a reflective, critical analysis of Echo, this article examines how the 3D scanning process, used at the threshold of viability, can illuminate the fragile conditions of data and the complexities of photographic representation. I argue that movements from the plane of environmental forces and forms into a digital materiality carries meaning in addition to signifying practices. This article suggests that viewing environmental photomedia through the lens of posthumanism and materialist philosophy offers the possibility of opening up more-than-representational meanings within materialities, processes, practices and art encounters.

Resistance and Revival: Indigenous Women Media-Makers in Contemporary Mexico

Through the use of the documentary genre, a group of Mexican indigenous women video-makers and their collaborators are depicting contemporary indigenous women. Occupying transformative roles in their communities, indigenous women are pioneers opening new cultural and social spaces to work toward a more equitable society. The main scenarios of their struggle are indigenous marginalization and women’s marginalization under patriarchy. The documentaries Voladora/Flying Woman (Chloé Campero, 2008), La vida de la mujer en resistencia/We Are Equal (Chiapas Media Project–Promedios, 2004), and La rebelión de las oaxaqueñas/The Oaxaqueña Rebellion (Mal de Ojo TV, 2008) are case studies of female indigenous resistance through the media. Un grupo de creadoras de vídeos indígenas mexicanas y sus colaboradores representan a las mujeres indígenas contemporáneas a través del uso del género documental. Estas mujeres ocupan funciones transformadoras en sus comunidades y son pioneras en la apertura de nuevos espacios culturales y sociales en la búsqueda de una sociedad más equitativa. Sus principales escenarios de lucha son la marginación indígena y la marginación de las mujeres bajo el patriarcado. Los documentales Voladora (Chloé Campero, 2008), La vida de la mujer en resistencia (Chiapas Media Project-Promedios, 2004) y La rebelión de las oaxaqueñas (Mal de Ojo TV, 2008) son estudios de caso de resistencia indígena femenina a través de los medios de comunicación.