What is New Media?
A two day conference in Chicago aimed to both answer this question and leave us with some food for thought (video follows below).
The Chicago New Media Summit kicked off its now renamed effort, the Chicago Convergence, to bring together people in various digital and media disciplines, pivoting Chicago forward as the “global New Media Capital of the world”. Those words are paraphrasing those of the Summit’s organizor, John Patterson, and I commend him for such an inspired goal. The 18 minute presentations were a nice homage to TED. I like the challenge posed to the speakers: get your thoughts across in a concise manner and leave the audience with reasonable nuggets.
I was only able to attend Day 1 (the video highlights below run about 13 minutes) of the Chicago New Media Summit, but the line up of speakers was stellar. Many of us were surprised to see how many Chicagoans that were actually IN the new media/digital space did not come to the Summit. Perhaps it was the confusion that stemmed from the CNMS kick-off or perhaps it was the numerous emails that were delivered into inboxes on a weekly basis. Perhaps it was the notion that the Summit was Invite Only (which was removed) or $400 (which was lowered). Whatever the reason, I found myself sitting with people asking ‘Where is everyone’?
What was inspiring was to see the amount of people that practiced traditional media - it appeared that the bulk of them came from film, television or traditional journalism. During his presentation, David Armano asked how many folks read blogs. Few raised their hands. That’s when I wondered, ‘Should we start from the beginning? Are some of these topics TOO detailed for the group?’
As I met with attendees and listened to the presentations, then heard how terrific Day 2’s presentations went, I do know this: there is a great deal of digital/web/media talent in Chicago. This talent, coupled with the wide array of personalities and support structures is something I find to be unique to the Windy City and the Midwest. I don’t think we need to be the epicenter of new media, however. If this is a title Chicago happens to achieve, terrific.
Until then, let’s just be a city that does cool things, moves the dial forward and creates exciting job opportunities for those people that live in our neighborhoods or decide to move here from afar.
So go out there and converge. Until then, here are some highlights from Day 1...stick thru to the end for a funny moment when Rod Rakic found out he was presenting the next day (nice use of the word, 'consternation') . I missed Leah Jones' presentation on Day 2. Thanks to Rod for his video. You can find other highlights from the CNMS site as well.
David Armano on Brand U.0
Jason Fried on Teaching
crowdSPRING on 'The Underdog'
Eric Olson on VC funding
Jane Hirt on the success of The Red Eye
Comments