Nieman Foundation at Harvard
The annual MIT-Knight Civic Media Conference wrapped up here in Cambridge yesterday. This year’s theme was “The Open Internet and Everything After,” and over the course of two days, speakers highlighted various efforts to take advantage of the open web as well as steps they’re taking to ensure the Internet remains open and free.
If you were unable to watch the conference live or follow along with the Twitter hashtag #civicmedia, you can rewatch the full conference.
But with nearly two full days of talks, panel discussions, and presentations it can be quite overwhelming to watch it all. Here are some of the highlights.
From a website that allows users to compare which YouTube videos are popular in countries around the world to a tool that works almost as a DVR for police scanners, the students at the Center for Civic Media are up to some pretty neat stuff. A number of graduate students showed off their projects, and while a number offer distinct uses for news organizations, and they’ll all be worth keeping an eye on.
How can news organizations appeal to a younger demographic? What are some ways younger people are harnessing the Internet to impact change in their communities? One of the most notable parts of this discussion was Expunge.io, an app developed in Chicago that helps juveniles with criminal records expunge their records. But the whole panel featured a good discussion of how news outlets can best appeal to new audiences. The relevant discussion starts at the 1-hour mark of the above video.
In light of Edward Snowden’s revelations of NSA surveillance, privacy issues have been prominently discussed — especially among journalists. To that end, a useful panel discussed how journalists, human rights activists, and others can approach online security and combat surveillance feature. The panel featured Emily Bell of the Tow Center, Jillian York of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Nathan Freitas of The Guardian Project. The relevant video starts at the 54-minute mark.
