Futures Of Entertainment Spotlights Social Intersection Of Media, Brands And Audiences

Futures Of Entertainment Spotlights Social Intersection Of Media, Brands And Audiences

Innovators, Scholars and Experts Gather at MIT for Sixth Annual Conference

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In the age of digital content creation and circulation, there are myriad new considerations media and marketers alike need to take into account when communicating to key audiences. The need for listening to and empathizing with audiences, new processes of content curation and the challenges of properly using new technologies and platforms for storytelling are just a few. These issues, along with several other topics, will be the focus of the sixth annual Futures of Entertainment conference taking place at MIT Nov. 9-10, 2012. The event will explore the current state and future of media properties, brands and audiences with an audience of more than 300 people.


The two-day conference examines how the media landscape is evolving, how storytelling is changing and the shifting dynamics in how people relate to media properties and brands. Morning sessions will focus on issues shaping the futures of entertainment, while afternoon discussions will look at innovations and experimentation taking place in specific media industries including public media, civic media, gaming and sports.

"The Futures of Entertainment conference is dedicated to bringing together leading thinkers from the academic world, media industries, and marketing disciplines to discuss key issues and considerations shaping the creation and circulation of content in today's media landscape," said Sam Ford, director of digital strategy, Peppercomm Strategic Communications, and director of Futures of Entertainment. "We are excited by the range and caliber of panelists joining us at this year's event."

The conference will offer two keynote sessions. The first, led by Maria Popova, editor of Brain Pickings and co-creator of the Curator's Code, and Joshua Green, strategist at Undercurrent and co-author of the forthcoming book Spreadable Media, will focus on the ethics and politics of curation in today's digital environment. Saturday's keynote will feature a conversation on re-thinking copyright with musician and songwriter T Bone Burnett and University of Southern California's Henry Jenkins and Jonathan Taplin.

Experts slated to participate in FoE6's panel sessions will travel from across the globe and include:


-- Ben Malbon, Google Creative Lab Managing Director
-- Todd Cunningham, Viacom Media Networks SVP of Strategic Insights and
Research
-- Ed Fries, Xbox project co-founder
-- Andrew Golis, PBS FRONTLINE Director of Digital Media and Senior Editor
-- David Polinchock, AT&T AdWorks Lab Director
-- Annika Nyberg Frankenhaeuser, European Broadcasting Union Media Director
-- Aman Ali and Bassam Tariq, 30 Mosques in 30 Days co-creators
-- Emily Yellin, author of Your Call Is (Not That) Important to Us
-- Yanis Varoufakis, Valve Software Economist-in-Residence
-- Jason Falls, Social Media Explorer CEO
-- Grant McCracken, author of Culturematic
-- Mansi Poddar, Brown Paper Bag co-founder
-- Carol Sanford, author of The Responsible Business
-- Lara Lee, Continuum Chief Innovation Officer
The conference is sponsored by Hill Holliday, Southwest Airlines, The Alchemists and the Program in Comparative Media Studies at MIT, and produced by Peppercommotions. For program information, the full list of speakers or to purchase a ticket, please visit http://convergenceculture.org/futuresofentertainment/2012/.

About Futures of Entertainment
The core researchers and practitioners that comprise the Futures of Entertainment community collaborate throughout the year and provide a steady stream of individual and collaborative work aimed at addressing many of the issues tackled at the conference. The Futures of Entertainment community collaborates on this research, the Futures of Entertainment conference, and its sister event, Transmedia Hollywood, which is a collaboration between the University of Southern California and the University of California-Los Angeles. The Futures of Entertainment community and conference was launched from the Convergence Culture Consortium project through the Comparative Media Studies Program at MIT, a five-year initiative that produced original research and provided high-level consulting on the changing dynamics of the media industries/brands and their audiences.

SOURCE Futures of Entertainment

Futures of Entertainment

CONTACT: Sam Ford, Peppercomm, +1-212-931-6120, sford@peppercomm.com

Web Site: http://convergenceculture.org/futuresofentertainment/2012


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