Media Seminar

Scott Rourke is talking about the pervasive use of technology and its impact on daily life.

We heard a lot about blogs yesterday and why they can't or shouldn't be fully trusted. Blogs are popularly characterized -- mostly by traditional news organizations -- as unreliable commentary or opinion that has not been fact-checked or subjected to the tradtional processes of standards and practices that news organizations use.

True, but missing the point. Most of the criticism, as well as the fear, stems from misunderstanding how blogs work -- and how they are edited and filtered.

This is how Andrea Bazan, president of the Triangle Community Foundation, characterized a day of challenges and discovery:

"Interesting seminar so far. Alberto's words framed this well: we have some challenges in the community foundation field to truly be an information innovator. Do we have the capacity, knowledge, funding? But I agree that if we are truly community leaders, this is an area where we need to focus on."

Judy Woodruff stirred our civic imagination with a portrait of an engaged electorate powered by the young, the diverse, and the informed. Our job: "Give them the best that we can."

Video from her remarks is available at uVu, the video portal of WPBT Channel 2.

One of the simply brilliant ideas I heard while touring today's breakout sessions: a web site from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation that is "owned by the community."

My not-so-shameless plug: Next week, about 300 movers-and-shakers creating new forms and expressions of what we we call "We Media" will meet back in Miami at the University of Miami here in Coral Gables.

You can learn more about the conference of jump on to the blog at http://www.ifocos.org/we-media-miami-2008

The conference, which was supported last year by Knight, is conducted by the media think tank and futures lab iFOCOS. Eric Newton and Gary Kebbel will be there to talk about Knight's News Challenge projects.

Just tried that flash drive with the fashionable leather strap. Plug it in to your computer. You can download the presentations, URL, and good stuff from this morning's sessions.

We’ll call these INs, shorthand for Information Needs. They are nuggets or Aha! moments from the dialogue. When applicable, we’ll include a link. Also, you’ve got additional data on the flash drive/tool kit in that little white box at your table.