In November, Brown@Stanford hosted the first two speakers in its year-long series that examines how innovation is alterating the face of public media and platforms.
On November 1, Internet Archive’s Founder and Director, Brewster Kahle, in a talk entitled “Brewster Kahle locks the web open,” balanced a historical look at the web with an open forum on discussing how in its third decade it could be improved upon, both in terms of access and structure, through decentralization. The decentralized web “lives everywhere and nowhere,” Mr. Kahle said, adding, “it is possible to do this.” Tools that were not available to the early developers make this process possible. The talk went on to outline some of the challenges and questions involved in making it happen.
Then, on November 17, Bay Area Journalist Frances Dinkelspiel introduced the Stanford crowd to Berkeleyside, an innovative approach to local news reporting and ownership. Berkeleyside seeks to report local, and is the first media agency using a Direct Public Offering to let members of its community and readership become vested in the endeavor. Citing some of the reasons why local news coverage has declined over the last few years across the industry, she then outlined why this coverage is still vital to the communities that it serves, and how Berkeleyside is addressing these needs using the new media platforms and tools and engaging directly with their readership.
The Speaker Series will continue in the winter quarter with appearance by Marty Barron and Daniel Alarcon. Dates and details will be announced once formalized. If you’d like to be notified, please join our mail list by clicking here.
Brown Visiting Professor Greg Niemeyer will also present a talk on the Stanford campus on December 9 entitled “State Change: What media will communicate climate change?” Further details can be found here.