James Chapman

Jury Project Proposal

Gaines Seminar
10/6/09

Background and Proposed Project:

Over the past summer, I lived in Washington, DC, working an

internship within the Bureau of Diplomatic Security in the United States

Department of State. My jury project idea is the direct result of an

initiative to which I was exposed during my experience there. The State

Department has recently increased its efforts to reach out and connect

with peoples of all countries. It has redoubled its efforts in matters of

public diplomacy and in matters necessitating collective action and

collaboration.

As part of this new prioritization, the State Department created a

new program called the Democracy Video Challenge (DVC), which

summoned people everywhere throughout the world to create a video

that completes the phrase, “Democracy is….” The goal of the DVC was

to create a global dialogue about the nature of democracy and to urge

citizens of nations with limited freedom to begin the same conversation

within their countries and potentially create a grassroots movement to

demand democracy. The winners of the inaugural competition came

from Zambia, the Philippines, Poland, Nepal, the United Arab Emirates,

and Brazil. Submissions came from literally all corners of the world,

from Australia to Iran and from Russia to Chile. The first competition
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succeeded by all measures.

At its most basic, my project takes these ideas and applies them

to the city of Lexington. It is designed to help Lexington create a

conversation about itself and to help Lexingtonians create a

conversation about our city and what it means to live here. More

specifically, I want to organically create a brand for Lexington, much like

Louisville’s recent rebranding of itself as the “Possibility City.” An open

and honest assessment of Lexington’s strengths and weaknesses is

needed, and it needs to come from citizens.

The exact method I will use to start this city-wide dialogue and

help develop this brand is an online video competition based on that

which the State Department created while I worked there this summer.

This video competition, called the Lexington Video Challenge, will allow

and encourage any inhabitant of, or anyone with an interest in,

Lexington to create an up-to 3 minute video that finishes the phrase,

“Lexington is…” and post it to YouTube for public viewing and

commentary. The form of the answer may come in absolutely any style

the creator wants, from a monologue to a more creative explanation of

what Lexington means.

This utilization of social media is another aspect of my project I

am very excited about. Social media has the ability to redefine how we

communicate with each other, and this project will demonstrate its

potential to greatly improve the ease of communication between

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residents of Lexington and greatly expedite the spread of ideas and

thoughts. Eventually, an independent group will select the top ten

video submissions, and then those selections will be subjected to an

online, public vote to choose the best response.

The Democracy Video Challenge offered its winners “an all-

expense-paid trip to Washington, New York, and Hollywood to attend

gala screenings of the winning videos” and the opportunity to meet

creative talent and democracy advocates within the film industry and

the government. I would like to similarly incentivize, in some manner,

the program to encourage everyone to put a great deal of effort into the

video. Potentially, I could partner with the LFUCG to actually put some

weight behind the possibility of creating a real, recognized brand for the

city.

This project combines many of my interests and my passions, and

it will allow me to utilize a variety of my strengths. The idea of city

identity is one that draws me to the humanities, and I am looking

forward to working with this idea in a practical setting in this project. I

am excited to connect with Lexington’s community outside of the

immediate UK campus, and I am particularly keen to see the results of

social media outreach to a community to allow its members to connect

with one another, exchange ideas, and create a dialogue that will lead

to measurable and noticeable results.

Schedule:
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I have no set schedule that I must follow, but I will push myself to

get the project off the ground as soon as possible. Here are the general

time guidelines and deadlines I will follow:

October: Find town juror; develop full set of terms, requirements,

eligibility rules, judging criteria, and the general way in which the

contest will be run; begin assessing Lexington’s concept of itself

currently and its implications

November: Announce contest with full set of rules and regulations;

begin to market it to the local online community; begin to market it to

local “power figures,” Jim Gray or Jonathan Miller, for example; develop

the membership of the committee to choose the best ten submissions

for online voting; continue to assess Lexington’s currently existing idea

of itself

December: Monitor online progress; continue to market it and spread

the word of the program; continue to encourage the city-wide dialogue;

committee will meet and choose the top ten videos

January: Online public voting for the best video will happen (2 week

window?); winner will be announced in conjunction with Gaines Center

programming

Budget:

Currently, I do not foresee any expenditures related to my project.

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It will be done on free, public websites, and there should be no need for

me to spend money.

Jurors:

Dr. Christopher Rice, professor of Political Science at the

University of Kentucky and Online Community Manager for the Big Blue

Network, has agreed to be my faculty juror. He will bring to my project

a passion and expertise for social change through community

involvement and social media outreach that will prove to be invaluable

to my efforts. I am very excited to have him as part of my jury.

Jessalyn Ubellacker, in her capacity as my Senior Gaines Mentor,

will serve as one of my jurors, and from our initial conversations, she is

very excited about my project. I am happy to have her as part of the

team.

I have not yet chosen my town juror. I have several choices in

mind, from individuals within the Lexington community to individuals

with whom I have connected through Twitter. I anticipate choosing my

town juror in the very near future.

Sources:

http://www.possibilitycity.com/
http://www.videochallenge.america.gov/
http://www.youtube.com/user/DemocracyChallenge
http://www.facebook.com/democracychallenge
http://twitter.com/DemVidChallenge
http://www.visitlex.com
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