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Forums continued on the new MIT Communications Forum Web site.
This panel brings together an advertising insider and a critic of the industry to discuss the current battle for consumer eyeballs and how Madison Avenue is responding to the changing media environment.
Grassroots Coverage of Global
Events This Forum will examine how grassroots documentary makers such as Paper Tiger Television and Big Noise Films are responding to the September 11 terrorist attacks and the war against terrorism, and what challenges they face in forming grassroots media organizations for covering international developments.
Teen Activism on the Web The democratic potential of new media depends in part on their capacity to empower groups that historically have had a limited voice in politics. Some American teenagers are now exploring the power of the Internet in imaginative ways. This Forum will combine scholarly perspectives on teen culture on the Web with front-line accounts by youth activists about how they have deployed the resources of new media.
Writing for TV: The State
of the Art In this Forum, writer/producers for such innovative shows as The Sopranos, The West Wing and Party of Five will discuss the current state of television drama, the commercial realities and artistic possibilities of TV today and in the future.
Female Entrepreneurs and Cyberspace Women have been at the center of e-commerce, often working out of their
homes and juggling child-care needs. In this forum leading female entrepreneurs
talk about the challenges faced by today’s wired women.
Copyright and Globalization Copyright developed in the age of the printing press, and was designed
to fit well with the system of centralized copying imposed by the printing
press. But the copyright system does not fit well with computer networks,
and only Draconian punishments can enforce it.
Trademark Wars -- The struggle over control of trademarks embodies a larger struggle.
a system of proprietary control, born in principles governed by advertising and
mass marketing, is changing into something more dynamic. The Web confers
new power on consumers, new forms of accountability on corporations.
The Digital Museum Are digital technologies allowing museums to reinvent themselves? This
Forum will reflect on the ways in which museums are exploiting new technologies
to transform both internal practices and communication with their varied
audiences through marketing, access to collections, exhibitions, and
public programs. What are the risks of these new ways of working? And
what lies ahead for the digital museum?
Journalism and Cyberspace A conversation about the current state of digital journalism. How have traditional newspapers been affected by the World Wide Web? How are new media being exploited by traditional newspapers? How are journals born on the Web differentiating themselves from their counterparts with roots in the print medium? What is known about the audiences for on-line newspapers? Is the content and even the mission of on-line journalism different from that of older media? What are the future prospects for journalism in cyberspace?
New Media and the Elections This Forum will discuss the 2000 presidential election and the media. What are the underlying dynamics of the election, and how has the race unfolded? Who is likely to win and why? How have political communications -- through traditional media such as television and new media such as the Internet -- shaped the 2000 election? What innovations in electoral politics and political communications have come about through the Internet? How does the American political experience with new media compare with that of other countries?
Public Intellectuals: the Cyberspace
Generation A new generation of public intellectuals has emerged, at home with digital media, engaged in cultural and political debates central to the new communities of cyberspace. These new public intellectuals found their voices in the zines that appeared in the 1970s and 1980s, expressing the values of various subcultural communities. These new intellectuals have created Webzines such as Slashdot and Bad Subjects, which reach a global audience and enable immediate responses to political and cultural issues.
The Digital Library How are digital technologies affecting the traditional work of libraries? How will these technologies transform libraries in the future? Join this distinguished panel for a discussion of the central issues confronting libraries in the digital age.
Youth in a Digital Era The "moral panic" that surrounded the shootings in Littleton, Colorado sparked dramatic responses from the on-line community. Jon Katz's "Voices from the Hellmouth" series on slashdot.com became the focal point for teenagers to respond to the crackdown on cultural diversity in the schools. Katz and Jenkins will have a conversation about American politics, teen culture, the education system, and the power of the internet.
"Real Artists Don't Go to MIT" John Maeda will discuss some issues about art at MIT in the context of his personal work as well as the work performed at the Media Lab Aesthetics and Computation Group. Central to the discussion will be an attempt to discover pathways for MIT students to realize their destiny as humanist technologists.
The Public Intellectual This forum aims to explore the ways in which academic ideas have been disseminated to the public in recent years and how (or whether) this has changed the professional priorities and research of scholars.
Imaging Science and Technology
Stealth Bombers: Invisible Information? A cable television documentary described the development of the $2 billion B-2 bomber (and other stealth planes). Was the program adequate? What information does the American public get about such high tech weapons--or about scientific and technological information more generally? Robert Zalisk, the writer and co-producer of the program, screened his documentary and raised some disturbing questions about how his work was edited and "framed" by the cable channel that telecast it.
The Dark Side of Information Technology What impact will information technology have on world culture? Will it widen the exisiting gap between the rich and the poor? This issue was addressed in a seminar organised by Sangam, the MIT-Indian Students' Association and co-sponsored by the Media in Transition Project and MIT Communications Forum.
Beyond the Ivory Tower:
This forum examined the role of the "public intellectual," considered the ways in which academic ideas have been disseminated to the public and asked how (or whether) so-called "popular science" has changed professional priorities and research.
Journalism and Cyberspace
How has American journalism been affected by digital technologies? What new skills and new knowledge are needed by reporters and editors assigned to cover the "cyber-beat"? How have traditional newspaper formats been altered, challenged, enhanced by the World Wide Web? Do the Web and other aspects of the digital future threaten the very existence of newspapers in the long term?
Hypertext in Historical Context:
This forum used video clips from Ted Nelson's lecture at a 1995 symposium in honor of Vannevar Bush to illustrate how hypertext evolved from conceptualizations rooted in older media toward the reality of today's World Wide Web. A discussion following the screening considered factors that have constrained current implementations of hypertext.
The Aesthetics of Transition - Three
Lectures:
Film historian Tom Gunning reported on his latest reseach on early movies and other media technologies.
Race and Cyberspace
This day-long symposium examined the ways in which digital media may be shaping our notions of race.
[Information about events held before 1997 is available from the MIT Communications Forum web site.] |
