As we announced in September, DigitalJournal.com was invited to be a media sponsor of a leading digital media conference, nextMEDIA. The popular conference takes place Nov. 30 to Dec. 1 in downtown Toronto and boasts an impressive guest list of the top leaders in the media and Web fields.
Below you’ll find an overview of planned coverage for Monday and Tuesday, and all of it will be brought to you live by DigitalJournal.com staff from nextMEDIA in Toronto. Log on to digitaljournal.com on Monday and look in the “Featured Articles” widget on the front page for direct access to our extensive coverage.
In addition to coverage via live blogs, you can also follow us on Twitter (I’m @chrishogg and my colleague David Silverberg will run the @digitaljournal feed) where we’ll post observations, “micro interviews” with other guests and observations from the floor of the Toronto Design Exchange. The hashtag used for this event will be #nextMEDIA.
We’ll also have wrap-up coverage and featured interviews with some of the leaders who present and attend this annual new media conference. Check out live updates sent throughout each day via Digital Journal’s mobile site.
Monday:
Beginning at 9:30 a.m. (Eastern), we’ll start off with a live coverage of a panel discussion titled, “The Death of Free Content or the Bright Light of Subscription Fees?”
This conversation is highly relevant to anyone who has followed recent debate surrounding News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch who said the Wall Street Journal may soon block aggregation and search engines such as Google from indexing content. “The fact is there’s not enough advertising in the world to go around to make all the websites profitable,” Murdoch said in a recent interview. “We’d rather have fewer people coming to our website – but paying.”
News Corp’s Jonathan Miller said he envisions a future where at least some of the TV shows and movies on Hulu, the premium video site co-owned by News Corp. NBC Universal and Disney, will be available only to subscribers. Meanwhile Comcast’s TV Anywhere trials are enabling cable subscribers to access television content online. In Canada, Rogers is launching a similar service where cable subscribers will have access to television content online.
Is this the rise of subscription-based service where content is behind a paywall or will free content live to see another day? This session will discuss the implications of, and alternatives, to subscription fees. Speakers include:
• Ian Caminsky, Head of Business Development – Youtube, Google Inc.
• David Purdy, Vice President and General Manager Television Products – Rogers Cable
• Avner Ronen, CEO and Co-Founder – Boxee
• Moderator: Mark Greenspan, Vice President of Digital Media at Achilles Media Ltd.
At 11:30 a.m. (Eastern) we’ll begin live coverage of a discussion titled, “Smartphones – More than Words?” that will address the impact the iPhone has had on the wireless industry and how an all-in-one handheld device could change how we consume media. As smartphones become an increasingly common choice for the mobile consumers, content creators, distributors and application developers must ask themselves if mobile internet really that different from the rest of the worldwide web.
The discussion will look at how smartphones are changing business models for advertisers and content distributors, how multimedia experiences change based on screen side and how mobile content can thrive commercially. Speakers include:
• Michael Carter, Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer – MyThum Interactive Inc
• Sara Diamond, President – Ontario College of Art & Design
• Kunal Gupta, CEO – Polar Mobile
• Moderator: Matt Hartley, Technology Reporter – National Post
Starting at 1:45 p.m. (Eastern), we’ll offer live coverage of a panel titled “Creating conversation,” a discussion that will look at the issue of companies still struggling to understand marketing as a new generation of digital opportunities unfolds. Mitch Joel, President of Twist Image, will show how creating conversation online can have staggering results where loyalty is incredibly strong. Tune into this discussion to learn more about taking part in online communities and starting conversation.
Tuesday:
Beginning at 1:45 p.m (Eastern), we’ll bring you coverage of a keynote address titled “Stop Advertising and Start Socializing” by Tony Chapman, Founder and CEO of Capital C.
This keynote will discuss how organizations need to adapt their marketing process to survive in the increasingly competitive digital world where consumers demand more for less and social networks are where decisions are made.
Is social media the flavor of the month, or will it become the definitive channel for communication? How will organizations and their agencies have to reorganize to adapt to a faster, better and more efficient model? Will mass media survive, and if so which ones?
Later on in the afternoon, at 3:30 p.m. we’ll bring you live coverage of a keynote address called “Making Whuffie” by Tara Hunt, Author of The Whuffie Factor.
This keynote will look at how online communities are changing culture, business and the environment of Web 2.0. Hunt, who was named one of 2009’s Most Influential Women in Technology by Fast Company magazine, will offer advice on how businesses can master community marketing, avoid alienating newly emerging sensibilities and succeed in the participatory Web economy.
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Summary of coverage:
• Log on to digitaljournal.com Monday and look in the “Featured Articles” widget on the front page for direct access to live blog coverage.
• Follow us on Twitter (I’m @chrishogg and my colleague David Silverberg will run the @digitaljournal feed) where we’ll post observations, “micro interviews” with other guests and observations from the floor of the Toronto Design Exchange. We’ll be using the hashtag #nextMEDIA.
• Watch for images being sent live from nextMEDIA throughout the day via Digital Journal’s mobile site.
• Create a news alert for “nextmedia’ and you’ll be notified of coverage by email, or you can access all coverage by searching for “nextmedia” in the search field above.
