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WE MEDIA FORUM COMES TO CAMPUS

Coral Gables, FL (Feb. 19) – More than two hundred thought leaders, social entrepreneurs and media pioneers gathered Feb. 26-28 for the fourth-annual We Media Forum and Festival. The two-day event, organized and produced by iFOCOS, the Reston, Va.-based media think tank, will bring together leaders from across industry sectors to jumpstart innovative thinking and new media ventures through panels discussions, workshops and mentoring sessions. For more information about the conference, visit http://www.ifocos.org

You can watch the events live in the University of Miami’s Bill Cosford Cinema or tune in to http://umtv.miami.edu/site/live.php

Below is the complete schedule of the live-streamed events:

Wednesday, February 27

8:30 a.m. Keynote Conversation: Print is Dead

Jeff Gomez, Author, “Print is Dead”
Jeff Gomez is the author of five books, including the recent non-fiction title Print is Dead: Books in Our Digital Age, (Macmillan, 2007).
(printisdeadblog.com/bio/) Photo Credit: printisdeadblog.com

Roger Black, Principal, Roger Black Studio, Inc.
Roger Black is an award-winning American designer who has worked on newspapers, magazines, and Web sites around the world. This spring, he helped launch Rove (rovesite.com), Key West magazine, and DailyComedy.com. He is now planning for the next steps for a new magazine for grandparents, Grand. (mediabistro.com/roger-black-1-ondemandvideo.html) Photo Credit: medialifemagazine.com

9:30 a.m. Keynote Conversation: Print Reincarnated

Richard Sarnoff, President, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments
Richard Sarnoff has been President of Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (formerly Random House Ventures) and Executive Vice President of Random House, Inc. since March 2000. He became a member of the Supervisory Board of Bertelsmann AG, the parent company of Random House, Inc., in 2002.
(phx.corporate-ir.net) Photo Credit: randomhouse.com

William C. Weiss, CEO, The Promar Group, Chairman & CEO
William C. Weiss: William Weiss is a strategic thinker who has been providing counsel to corporate leaders and investors for more than 30 years. His experience has been in diverse geographies including Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America.
(promar.com/WW.html) Photo Credit: promar.com

9:50 a.m. Forum: The Power to Change the World – Innovation through media and communication will make the world a better place for more people.

With the traditional media losing its monopoly on information, opinion and storytelling, all sectors of society now have the power through media and communications to make themselves heard. How can we use this new power to make the world a better place?

11:00 a.m. Political World – Hype vs. Reality in Campaign ‘08

It’s supposed to be the YouTube-MySpace-power-to-the-people campaign. So why are online political junkies so frustrated with what they’ve seen so far?

1:15 p.m. Forum: Healthy World – The future of Information and Communication Technologies in Health

Sponsored by UM Miller School of Medicine, AARP, Kaiser Permanente and Microsoft
Leading edge thinkers discuss one of the most important and personally meaningful issues of the 21st century: How communications technology and the content delivered through it will be used to improve the health and quality of life for people worldwide.

3:15 p.m. Leadership World – Women, Media and Technology

Women and girls are a powerful force online: They users, creators and participants, as well as marketing targets for advertisers. Yet women-led businesses and gender-balanced teams in new media are more an exception than a rule. What can some of today’s female media leaders tell us about building successful businesses, leading strong teams and creating a more egalitarian workforce?

4:15 p.m. Civil Discourse

Sponsored by Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive
New media is defined by online interactivity; no blog posting or article is complete with a comments section, for example. How do such virtual conversations influence, inform and reflect real-life public conversations? How can online community organizers keep participants on track and maintain order without stifling the conversation?

5:15 p.m. News World – Traditions and Transformation

Traditional (legacy) news organizations have no choice but to continue to change in order to respond to the growth of aggregators and other WeMedia players. Learn how leaders in the field are tackling editorial, business and management challenges in the culture of empowered content creatives.

Thursday, February 28

9:15 a.m. Developer’s World – Emergent content: Yours, mine, ours

Rather than trying to control content spiraling through the mediascape, enterprising businesses allow content to have a life of its own, as others repost, edit, parody, mashup or comment on it. While surrendering control may seem a counter-intuitive business strategy, content free-for-alls, with soft brand associations, can expand audiences, reach and influence.

10:15 a.m. Social Entrepreneurs: Journalism as a Cause, with Keynote Conversation

Alberto Ibarguen, President, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Alberto Ibargüen is president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, a major supporter of free speech and journalism worldwide and civic advancement in 26 U.S. communities. Previously, he served as publisher of The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald.
(cfr.org/bios/12582/alberto_ibargen.html) Photo Credit: progresoweekly.com

Diana Wells, President, Ashoka Innovators For The Public
Dr. Diana Wells, Co-President of Ashoka, joined the organization in the 1980s after graduating from Brown University with a degree in South Asian Studies. As an undergraduate, her year-long study abroad in Varanasi, India led her to see the need for local solutions to solve global problems.
(ashoka.org/about/leadership) Photo Credit: ashoka.org

11:15 a.m. Networked Economics – a roundtable discussion

Everything is networked: friendship, professional life, customers, knowledge, causes and commerce. These networks represent new opportunities to invent, innovate and disrupt. What do philanthropists, advocates, social entrepreneurs, tech startups, journalists, venture capitals and everyday users now have in common? Have networks changed the nature of business?

2:30 p.m. Working Group: Change the World

How can media and technology be used to facilitate meaningful and measurable change in our society?