We Media Hits Miami

The same day that staffers at the Rocky Mountain News learned that their paper was to be shuttered last week, a conference was taking place in Miami celebrating bright new innovations in the online media world.

We Media, which occurred February 24-26, brought together some 200 digital media executives, experts and entrepreneurs for panels, speeches, awards and networking. Highlights included a talk by expert pollster John Zogby; an interview of Rev. Lennox Yearwood, President and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucusl; and University of Miami President Donna Shalala by U of Miami School of Communications Dean Sam Grogg and a talk on the future of media by Knight Foundation CEO Alberto Ibarguen.

Awards included the Pitch It awards - where new media innovators 'pitched' their concepts to a panel of judges to vie for start-up funding and the MF-sponsored Game Changes awards to innovators whose work inspires involvement and action through media.

For a roundup of coverage on the We Media conference, click here:
http://wemedia.com/2009/02/27/roundup-of-we-media-coverage

To see a Poynter item on Alberto Ibarguen's comments on the future of news as well as broader messages from We Media, click here:
http://poynter.org/column.asp?id=131&aid=159170

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We Media Game Changers Awards Winners

Online media star ZeFrank, mobile texting service Twitter, Obama campaign mastermind David Plouffe, Japanese digital designer Yugo Nakamura and Kenyan mobile alert service Ushahidi are among nine winners of the We Media Game Changers Awards. The awards, organized and administered by iFOCOS, a media think tank and futures lab, will be given out at the We Media Miami conference Feb. 24-26. Other award winners are The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Innocentive’s crowdsourcing for the science crowd, Humana’s Freewheelin’ and social network Socialvibe.

We Media defines Game Changers as entities that ‘lead society to knowledge.’ It invited entries from ‘big companies, little startups, social entrepreneurs, independent thinkers, brands, causes, tools, ideas, commercial, nonprofit – all were welcome.’ To learn more about the MF-sponsored awards and the winners, click here.

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WeMedia 2008: It's Live Now

Trying to get a handle on social and digital media? You don't have to be one of the lucky ones in Miami to reap the benefits of WeMedia 2008: They're streaming video and blogging live on their Web site. http://ifocos.org/we-media-miami-2008

Organized by MTF grantee iFOCOS, WeMedia brings together a couple hundred bloggers, journalists, academics, investors and techies annually to brainstorm and discuss the digital landscape.

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