Free Event - A Robot Sent to Destroy Me: The New Media Invasion and the Future of News 10/21 7 p.m.
So, ok, the official title of the event is the Town Hall Meeting on Media and Democracy. But we thought that sounded too low-key; so we decided to zip up our promotions a bit this week.
Anyhow, Open Media Boston and the other event co-sponsors - Free Press, Lesley University,Mass. Global Action, MIT Center for Civic Media, and MIT Comparative Media Studies - are pleased to invite everyone who wonders about what the rise of social media means for the future of journalism to come to the famed lecture hall MIT Room 10-250 (Building 10, 2nd floor, Room 250) at 7 p.m. on Friday, October 21st and join us for a fun, informative discussion. The evening will be hosted by the Boston Media Reform Network with support from Participant Media.
The documentary Page One: Inside the New York Times, which chronicles the transformation of the media industry in the face of changing economic and technological realities, will frame the conversation. We will explore how the shifting media landscape impacts our democracy, and what that means for the news and information needs of local communities, especially in Boston. Clips from the film will be shown, several media experts will be asked to share their thoughts and experience on this changing landscape, and audience participation will be strongly encouraged.
And how about those media experts? We'll have Brian Stelter of the New York Times (who is featured in Page One), Cindy Rodríguez from Emerson College, Sasha Costanza-Chock from the MIT Center for Civic Media and MIT Comparative Media Studies, and Craig Aaron from Free Press. I will be moderating. Plus we might have some extra special guests on hand. Incidentally, the quote in the title of this editorial refers to something that David Carr of the New York Times media desk says about his colleague Brian Stelter in Page One. It's a funny scene that reflects the passing of the torch from older reporters like Carr to younger social media savvy ones like Stelter, and one of the big reasons we thought it would be a blast to build this event around the film.
This panel is also the opening event of the Social Movements/Digital Revolutions conference - which we'd love you all to attend. We've already written about that in detail in these pages, but we'll be putting out a special editorial on it next week - with a list of speakers and workshops.
Given the role that social media is playing in the rise of the #Occupy movement nationally, and in the global wave of uprisings from which it sprung, we think this conversation could hardly be more timely. So we strongly encourage #OccupyBoston folks to come on over to the both the opening panel on Friday, October 21st and the main conference on Saturday, October 22nd.
That's it for now. If anyone has any questions about either event, just email us at OMB ... info [at] openmediaboston [dot] org. And if you're coming on the 21st, we'd appreciate it if you would RSVPso we'll have an idea of how many folks are definitely planning to attend. Thanks!
Jason Pramas is Editor/Publisher of Open Media Boston
