For more information contact:
Alison Cornyn
212.226.3099 ext.301
acorn@pictureprojects.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Picture Projects presents the web's first interactive documentary on the U.S.
Criminal Justice SystemNEW YORK— In January 2001, documentary web pioneers and founders of Picture Projects, Alison Cornyn and Sue Johnson launched 360degrees.org, the first interactive website designed to explore the American criminal justice system and its prison population. 360degrees.org premieres in conjunction with Prison Diaries,a new monthlong series by Joe Richman on National Public Radio's All Things Considered. 360degrees will continue to develop and present new stories and data over the next two years.
Logging on to 360degrees.org, visitors can encounter images and candid oral diaries of people whose lives have been affected by the criminal justice system. John Mills III is quiet and well liked, sings in the choir, and decorates the walls of his cell with pictures of his mother. He is also an accomplished armed robber with an expected release date in 2005. Cristel Medina was sent to prison at 15 for cutting another girl's face repeatedly with a razor blade. While incarcerated, Cristel became a youth advocate, completed high school, enrolled in college, and was eventually released three years early. These stories, along with those of their parents, judges, lawyers, and victims, call cultural misconceptions and stereotypes into question by sharing poignant stories of life in prison and beyond.
Using the 360-degree navigation of QuickTime VR, a device traditionally reserved for real estate websites, visitors use the computer mouse to explore the personal spaces—the prison cells, squad cars, judges' chambers, and living rooms—of those involved in the criminal justice system. For years, the hard facts of the criminal justice system have been buried in specialized technical reports and remained inaccessible to the general public. In response, we have designed dynamic data, a fresh approach to learning statistics that includes quizzes, games, and interactive maps.
An ongoing forum allows visitors to discuss the criminal justice system at a local and national level. Students, ex-offenders, educators, authors, and criminal justice experts including Steven R. Donziger (The Real War on Crime), Vincent Schiraldi of the Justice Policy Institute, and documentarian Tracy Huling (Yes, In My Backyard), will facilitate special discussions on topics including racial bias in sentencing, gang violence, the death penalty, and police brutality. A local Social Action Network translates talk into action with directed plans for the Lower East Side and South Bronx communities of New York. "Picture Projects' goal is to develop a model that will open up the nation's discourse on the American criminal justice system," said Cornyn.
Johnson and Cornyn teamed up with former New York Timeseditor David Anderson to create 360degrees in an effort to reach a national audience about what they believe is "one of the greatest national social crises of our day," said Johnson. "The United States is putting people behind bars more than any other industrialized country, and spending on prison building is increasing faster than any other state level category. We want people to feel a personal connection to the socioeconomic impact of these incongruities."
Picture Projects was launched in 1995 to create an online space for voices traditionally overlooked by mainstream media. Dubbed by Photo Insider "the gold standard in interactive documentary," Picture Projects is renowned for blurring the lines between art and documentary. They were nationally recognized for their award-winning site, akaKurdistan, an online archive of images and stories designed to collect and preserve the history of the Kurdish people. akaKurdistan was created in collaboration with photographer Susan Meiselas. Other notable projects include: RE: Vietnam–Stories Since the War, a collaboration with Marc Weiss of POV Interactive to create a digital companion for the PBS broadcast of Maya Lin, A Strong Clear Vision, and Farewell to Bosnia with photographer Gilles Peress. Though their approach is technologically savvy, Picture Projects is defined by its commitment to creating innovative web-based tools for social and political reform.
360degrees has received funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Creative Capital, the New York Council for the Humanities, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the New York Community Trust.
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