Patricia Aufderheide University Professor Communication Studies
- Additional Positions at AU
- Affiliate Professor, School of International Service
- Affiliate Professor, History Department
- Degrees
- BA History (summa cum laude), University of Minnesota; MA History, University of Minnesota; PhD History, University of Minnesota
- Languages Spoken
- Portuguese, Spanish
- Bio
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Patricia Aufderheide is University Professor of Communication Studies in the School of Communication at Â鶹´«Ã½ in Washington, D.C. She founded the School's Center for Media & Social Impact, where she continues as Senior Research Fellow. She is also affiliate faculty in the School of International Service and the History department at Â鶹´«Ã½, and a member of the Film and Media Arts division in the School of Communication. Her books include Kartemquin Films: Documentaries on the Frontlines of Democracy (University of California), Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright (University of Chicago), with Peter Jaszi; Documentary: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford), The Daily Planet (University of Minnesota Press), and Communications Policy in the Public Interest (Guilford Press). She has been a Fulbright Research Fellow in Brazil (1994-5), Australia (2017), and South Korea (2024). She is also a John Simon Guggenheim fellow (1994) and has served as a juror at the Sundance Film Festival among others. Aufderheide has received numerous journalism and scholarly awards, including the George Stoney award for service to documentary from the University Film and Video Association in 2015, the International Communication Association's 2010 for Communication Research as an Agent of Change Award, Woman of Vision award from Women in Film and Video (DC) in 2010, a career achievement award in 2008 from the International Digital Media and Arts Association and the Scholarship and Preservation Award in 2006 from the International Documentary Association.
Patricia Aufderheide is proud to publish with her students. Recent co-publications featuring our PhD and MFA students include:
Butler, B., Anastacio, K., and Aufderheide, P. (2024). The Chilling effects of obstacles to accessing, using and sharing in-copyright data for quantitative research. Information and Culture, 69(1), 48-65.
Haywood, A., Sanchez Santos, M., and Aufderheide, P. (2022). "Community Media in A Pandemic: Facilitating Local Communication, Collective Resilience and Transitions to Virtual Public Life in the U.S.," Javnost - The Public.
Bello, B., Aufderheide, P. (2021). The Public Interest and the Information Superhighway: The Digital Futures Coalition, 1995-1998 and the afterlife of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Information & Culture, 56(1).
Sinnreich, A. A., Aufderheide, P., Clifford, M., Shahin, S. S. (2020). Access shrugged: The decline of the copyleft and the rise of utilitarian openness. New Media & Society(2020-9-12)
Aufderheide, P., Lieberman, D., Alkallouf, A., Ugboma, J. M. (2020). Podcasting as Public Media: The Future of News, Public Affairs and Educational Podcasts. International Journal of Communication. ijoc.org
Aufderheide, P., Sinnreich, A. A., Imperiale, L., Silvernail, C. (2019). Norms-Shifting for Digital and Online Arts Practice: Copyright and Fair Use in The Visual Arts Community. Visual Arts Research.
Aufderheide, P., Haywood, A., Sánchez Santos, M. (August 18, 2020). "PEG Community Access: Local Communication Hubs in a Pandemic". (pp. 20). Washington, DC: Center for Media & Social Impact. cmsimpact.org/PEG
- See Also
- For the Media
- To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.
Teaching
Fall 2024
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COMM-414 Hist of Cross-Cultural Cinema
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COMM-860 Seminar in Doctoral Research
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COMM-899 Doctoral Dissertation
Spring 2025
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COMM-411 History of Documentary
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COMM-899 Doctoral Dissertation
AU Experts
Area of Expertise
Copyright, journalism, media criticism, U.S. and international telecommunication policy; press ethics, 1996 Telecommunications Act, telecommunication innovations, information access and equity, free speech, fair use, digital media
Additional Information
Patricia Aufderheide specializes in the social impact of mass media and communication policies. She is director of AU’s Center for Social Media, which analyzes and showcases media for social justice, civil society, and democracy. She co-authored, with Peter Jaszi, Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright (University of Chicago Press, 2011), and authored Documentary Film: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2007); The Daily Planet: A Critic on the Capitalist Culture Beat (University of Minnesota Press, 2000); and Communications Policy in the Public Interest (Guilford Press, 1999). With Peter Jaszi in the Washington College of Law, she has coordinated since 2004 the Fair Use and Free Speech Project, a project to expand access to the copyright doctrine of fair use. Focusing on independent and international work, Aufderheide is an award-winning film and video critic who has been a juror for the Sundance Film Festival. She has also served on the film advisory board of the National Gallery of Art, and on the board of directors of the Independent Television Service, an organization that produces television programming for underserved audiences. Aufderheide is on the board of directors of Kartemquin Films, a leading independent social documentary production company. She is a member of the editorial boards of numerous publications, including Communication and Law and Policy, and the newspaper In These Times. She has received several life-achievement awards, including in 2010 from Women in Film and Video (D.C.); in 2008 from the International Digital Media and Arts Association, and in 2006 from the International Documentary Association. Her current projects focus on social documentary and intellectual property.
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.