The United States is and has always been a country of transitions. It has moved from left to right, right to left, and center to both ways. Each generation thinks that their time is the time of change and the most important in our collective historical timeline.

Today is no different than the past and will most likely be no different than the future. Politics in the United States – forever intertwined with religion, culture, and actual governing – is at another inflection point that will dramatically impact the country going forward for years to come.

To recognize this point, the visual journalists of The VII Foundation and their colleagues at the VII Community have been documenting the USA over the last several years.

USA 3.0 is a project that will combine visual journalism and writings to provide a commentary on the past, present, and near future. The work will mark this historical period and be a historical record for years to come.

In partnership with the Daily Iowan Documentary Workshop and School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Iowa, the project is also a teaching tool for UI students. The university’s young professionals will get real time learning opportunities with internationally acclaimed journalists, gaining experience in editing, design, project management, promotion, and curation. Daily Iowan Documentary Workshop director, VII’s Danny Wilcox Frazier, will lead the educational program and serve as editor and co-director of the project with VII Foundation co-founder Ron Haviv. Students will follow the project to its final printed form, a document meant to not just inform today’s readers of the issues of the day, but also preserve the push and pull that is the imperfect but ever evolving democratic process in the United States.