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Futures of Entertainment 2 will bring together a mixed
industry and academic crowd. This is not simply another industry
gathering, but an opportunity for industry and the academy to have a
serious conversation about the future of entertainment. The diverse
topics and the unique mix of speakers give the conference both broad
coverage of the new media and entertainment space, and deep engagement
across industry and disciplinary boundaries.
Speakers include:
Panel: Mobile
Media
- Marc Davis is Social Media Guru at Yahoo! Inc. His work focuses on
creating the technology and applications that will enable daily media
consumers to become daily media producers. His research encompasses the
theory, design, and development of digital media systems that leverage
contextual metadata and the power of community to enable people to
produce, describe, share, and remix media. From 2002 to 2006, Marc
Davis served as Assistant Professor at the UC Berkeley School of
Information, where he directed Garage Cinema Research and co-founded
the UC Berkeley Center for New Media. At Garage Cinema Research, Davis
and his students developed and deployed Mobile Media Metadata (MMM)
prototypes for context-aware mobile media tagging and sharing, and
technologies for video capture, tagging, and remixing. In 2005, Davis
worked with Yahoo! Inc. and UC Berkeley to create Yahoo! Research
Berkeley, where he served as Founding Director. In 2006, Marc Davis
joined Yahoo! as Social Media Guru to formulate strategy and take
action to invent and realize the future of social media and mobile
media. Davis earned his B.A. in the College of Letters at Wesleyan
University, his M.A. in Literary Theory and Philosophy at the
University of Konstanz in Germany, and his Ph.D. in Media Arts and
Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory.
- Bob Schukai is vice president of wireless and
broadband technologies for Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., (TBS,
Inc.). In this capacity, he is responsible for global research and
development activities for TBS, Inc. in the areas of mobile/wireless,
broadband, Internet protocol television (IPTV) and games. Prior to
joining Turner in early 2005, Schukai spent more than 18 years working
for Motorola, Inc., in the United States and United Kingdom. Most
recently, he served as director of global 3G strategy and business
development for Motorola, overseeing global strategy and business
development activities for 3G handsets. While at Motorola, he was also
involved in research and development; engineering; design, development
and management; and product marketing and strategy. Schukai holds a
Bachelor of Arts degree in electrical engineering from Rose-Hulman
Institute of Technology and a Master's degree in electrical engineering
from Arizona State University. He is a 20-year member of the Institute
of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a technical and
professional association of more than 365,000 individual members in
approximately 150 countries. Schukai also represents parent company
Time Warner, Inc. in the Open Mobile Alliance broadcast and mobile
advertising working groups, which is tasked with developing globally
interoperable standards for mobile telephony. Schukai is also is in his
second year of serving as a mentor through the Menttium 100 program
which is designed to provide cross-company partnerships for high
potential, high performing women in business.
- Alice Kim is Senior Vice President of Digital
Distribution and Partner Relations for MTV Networks. In her role, Kim
manages distribution deals and partnerships across wireless carriers,
online portals, video aggregators, and emerging media players for MTV
Networks’ diverse brands. Most recently, Kim served as Vice President
of Carrier Relations and Distribution for MTV Networks. In that role,
she cultivated and managed all existing distribution partnerships and
carrier relationships, mobile marketing initiatives and partnerships,
and business development Under Kim’s direction, MTV Networks has forged
successful mobile distribution deals with every major domestic wireless
provider and MVNO, as well as relationships with several
direct-to-consumer partners. Prior to joining MTV Networks in 2005, Kim
served as Vice President of Business Development for Enpocket, a
leading provider of mobile media, mobile marketing and mobile
advertising services, and Vice President of Corporate Development for
PreCache, a digital media distribution technology. She began her career
as an investment banker at Dean Witter and held a succession of
financial analyst positions at CIBC Capitol Partners and Dolphin Equity
Partners. Kim holds a Masters in Business Administration from Columbia
University, and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the Leonard N.
Stern School of Business at New York University.
- Anmol Madan is a Ph.D candidate at the MIT
Media Lab, in the Human Dynamics Group with Dr. Alex "Sandy" Pentland.
Anmol's research is around building perceptual, "socially-aware" mobile
phones and wearables. By mining patterns of activity, proximity and
media consumption, he's trying to create the next generation of mobile
media applications that comprehend the user's social behavior.
Anmol's past work has received attention from several hundred media
sources worldwide, including CNN, BBC, Wired, Slashdot, NPR etc. He has
published academic papers, received awards from the MIT 50k
Entrepreneurship Competition and MIT Enterprise Forum and has been
involved with two startups in the mobile space.
Panel: Metrics
and Measurement
- Bruce Leichtman is the president and principal
analyst of Leichtman Research Group, Inc., (LRG) which specializes in
research and analysis on the adoption of products and services in
the media, entertainment and broadband industries.
Leichtman is responsible for LRG's five annual industry
research studies, and he has conducted research for, and consulted
with, dozens of organizations throughout the industries. He is a
frequent public speaker at conferences and events, and his insights
often appear in the media, including The Wall Street Journal, USA
Today, Investors Business Daily, NPR, and The
NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Prior to founding LRG, Leichtman served
as Vice President of Media and Internet Strategies for the Yankee
Group, and launched the firm's Media and Entertainment
practice. He has also served as director of marketing for Continental
Cablevision, where he worked on the deployment of new products and
services, and provided competitive analysis and positioning. He
received a B.S. degree in communications management from Syracuse
University and an M.B.A. from the University of Rochester. In April
2008, Leichtman will run in his fifth consecutive Boston Marathon to
help raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
- Stacey Lynn Schulman is senior vice president
of Turner Entertainment Ad Sales Research, based in New York. Schulman,
one of the leading research professionals in the media and advertising
marketplace, works both at the company-wide level and with ad sales
teams at the various Turner channels. Schulman spent ten years working
for The Interpublic Group of Cos. in a variety of executive research
and marketing positions, most recently as president of consumer
experience practice for the company. While with the company, she also
served as executive vice president of Initiative, a media agency within
the Interpublic family, and played an integral role in Initiative's
exclusive research partnership with MIT, which resulted in breakthrough
research on a number of key industry issues, including consumer
behavior, interactivity, and media convergence. She began her career at
Katz Communications where she conducted programming and local market
research before moving on to CBS as a Senior Research Analyst. Schulman
is a former president of the Radio and Television Research Council
(RTRC) and is a member of the Media Rating Council (MRC). She has been
honored with numerous industry awards, including her selection as a
"Wonder Woman" in the cable industry by Multichannel News, a
"Media All-Star" by Mediaweek, and a "Media Maven" by Advertising
Age.
- Maury Giles is responsible for the creation
and
application of proprietary research and analytical tools as the as
Vice-President and Director of Accountability and Analytics at GSD&M Idea City. He directs a
group that provides consulting, design, and advanced analytics in the
areas of ideation, message and copy testing, media and marketing
strategy, channel and connections planning, and marketing return on
investment. At GSD&M Idea City, Giles has led the application of
non-traditional modeling techniques to media and marketing strategic
planning. He came to GSD&M Idea City from Wirthlin Worldwide
(acquired by Harris Interactive), where he held key positions in brand
positioning and strategy, communications assessment, and ROI metrics
and tracking. Giles is a David Ogilvy Grand Winner award recipient, the
highest accolade in market research excellence and has 12 years of
experience in the industry. He holds a B.A. in communication studies
and journalism from New Mexico State University.
- Jim Nail works as Chief Marketing and Strategy
Officer for TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony. He is a thought leader and
frequent speaker on how companies can tap social media like blogs and
social networks to gain consumer insight and develop stronger bonds
with influencers. He has an extensive background in integrated
marketing through his 22-year career that spans online marketing,
market research, brand advertising and direct marketing. Jim was an
analyst at Forrester for eight years, focusing on how marketing
strategies and tactics must adapt to technology-driven changes in
consumer media consumption habits. Prior to joining Forrester, he
helped launch Web advertising network AdSmart, where he served as
director of marketing. He spent 15 years planning and managing
integrated marketing campaigns at leading advertising agencies
including Ogilvy & Mather Direct, Draft Worldwide, Bates USA and
Hill Holliday. Jim is also a member of the Board of Directors of the
Word of Mouth Marketing Association.
Panel: Fan
Labor
- Mark Deuze holds a joint appointment at
Indiana University's Department of Telecommunications in Bloomington,
United States, and as Professor of Journalism and New Media at Leiden
University, The Netherlands. His most recent book, Media Work
(published in 2007 with Polity Press), analyzes the experiences of
media workers in the news, advertising, film, TV, and
digital games industries in the United States, the Netherlands, South
Africa and New Zealand. His Weblog can be found here.
- Catherine Tosenberger has an MA in folklore
from Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. in children's literature and
folklore from the University of Florida. Her doctoral dissertation was
on Harry Potter online fanfiction. She has presented papers on fan
cultures, folklore, and adolescent literature at a number of
conferences, and is a contributor to the National Public Radio program Recess!
Tosenberger is a longtime participant in a number of online fandoms,
including Harry Potter, House M.D., and Supernatural.
- Jordan Greenhall, co-founder and CEO of DivX until July 2007, grew the company from a
startup with a few employees into a recognized digital entertainment
company positioned at the center of multimedia convergence. He
currently serves as Chairman of the DivX Board of Directors. While
attending Texas A&M, Greenhall met fellow Aggies and DivX
co-founders Joe Bezdek and Tay Nguyen. A few years after graduating,
they reunited and together with Jerome Rota and Darrius Thompson they
founded DivX. Before DivX, Greenhall was Vice President at MP3.com,
where he developed and implemented the company's business and content
development model. He graduated from Harvard Law School magna cum laude
in 1997. In addition to serving the DivX Board, Greenhall also sits on
the board of directors to Eyespot, a service devoted to making
uploading, organizing and sharing video easier for people.
- Elizabeth Osder leads product and programming
for Buzznet.com as senior vice president
of audience. Prior to joining Buzznet, she was Sr. Director of Product
at Yahoo!, responsible for local, search, and social media products for
Yahoo!'s global news and information sites. Osder's work at
Yahoo! Media Group was preceded by her role as Director of Product
Development for Yahoo! Search Marketing (YSM). Since the early 1990s,
she has been an editor, producer, and consultant for publications,
broadcasters and online services, starting with BBS's and early
online services. Osder served as global managing partner for
iXL/Scient's Media & Entertainment Practice, Director of Product
Development and Content Development Editor for New York Times
Digital, and Executive Producer for Advance Internet. She began her
career as a freelance photojournalist and photo editor for the
Associated Press. Osder is a founding board member of the Online News
Association and has taught in the graduate Journalism programs at USC
Annenberg, Columbia, and NYU. In 2001-2002, she was awarded a John S.
Knight Fellow at Stanford University where she studied technologies and
communications. Osder holds an M.A. from The University of Missouri
School of Journalism and a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College.
- Raph Koster, president of Areae Inc., got started in virtual worlds
back in the days of the text MUDs in the early 90s, working on LegendMUD. He was creative
lead on the original Ultima Online
and lead designer for UO Live and Ultima Online: The Second Age
while working for ORIGIN and Electronic Arts. He then went on to be
creative director on Star
Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided, for Sony Online
Entertainment. From 2003 to 2006, he served as Chief Creative Officer
at Sony Online. Koster is also the author of the acclaimed book A Theory of Fun for Game Design,
and somehow finds the time to write constantly on his popular blog.
Panel: Advertising
and Convergence Culture
- Mike Rubenstein is an Art Director at The
Barbarian Group, where he has worked for the past five years, working
on a number of web campaigns and broadcast materials including shorts
of Space Ghost Coast to Coast, commercial spots for Super
Deluxe.com, and most recently a music video for the band Freezepop. He
previously worked at Arnold Worldwide and graduated with a BFA in New
Media from Emerson College in 2002.
- Baba Shetty is chief media officer at Hill
Holliday, where he oversees the work of connecting consumers with brand
ideas across all channels, branded entertainment, and all digital
marketing capabilities. Hill Holliday media and digital clients include
Liberty Mutual, Chili's Grill and Bar, CVS Pharmacy, and
Dunkin' Donuts. Shetty's career has spanned many
aspects of business strategy, including brand management and consumer
research. Prior to Hill Holliday, he led interactive marketing at
Fallon Worldwide. Before Fallon, Shetty was a research director and
principal analyst at Forrester Research here in Cambridge. While at
Forrester, Shetty advised clients on a variety of interactive topics,
including Web site design best practices, digital marketing, and CRM.
His research and perspective have been featured in publications
including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fortune,
and Business Week, and he has appeared as a guest commentator
on the television network CNBC. Shetty also spent a decade in
client-side marketing, most recently at BMW's North American
headquarters. While at BMW, he served as director of marketing
communications, managing all U.S. advertising, direct marketing, and
database marketing. Shetty was a member of the team responsible for the
"GoldenEye" launch of the Z3 roadster, and was involved
in the inception of the BMW Films project.
- Tina Wells, CEO of Buzz Marketing Group,
earned her B.A. in Communication Arts graduating with honors from Hood
College in 2002. Currently a Wharton School of Business
student for marketing management, Wells continues to create innovative
marketing strategies for numerous clients within the beauty,
entertainment, fashion, financial, and lifestyle sectors. She has
worked with clients including: St. Martins Press, SonyBMG, And1, Sesame
Workshop, and Time Inc.; Tina's long list of honors
include Essence 40 Under 40 Award, Billboard's 30 Under
30
Award, and AOL's Black Voices Black Female
Entrepreneur's Award, just to name a few. She is currently
working on a book series aimed at tween girls, and is prepping for the
launch of BuzzMG's new trendsetter site, buzzspotter.com. Wells
resides in Southern New Jersey with her vast collection of shoes.
- Faris Yakob is a senior strategist and the Digital
Ninja at communication strategy agency Naked Communications. After
graduating from Oxford University, Yakob fell through management
consultancy and journalism before landing in communications planning.
As a strategist he has worked on brands such as Coca-Cola, Orange,
Sony, Yahoo!, and Virgin Mobile, in Sydney, London, and New York and
helped some of them win some awards. As Digital Ninja, he helps midwife
digital ideas at Naked. Yakob writes about brands, media,
communications, technology, and that for a variety of publications
including the Financial Times and writes a blog called Talent Imitates, Genius Steals,
one of the top 5 advertising blogs in the UK. He was recently awarded
the President's Prize for best paper for his vision of the
future of brands by the Institute of Practioners in Advertising (IPA).
He sometimes talks about this sort of thing at conferences and
univesities. Yakob is proud of being a geek and has been reading comics
and playing games for more than two decades. However, he still feels
odd about writing about himself in the third person.
- Bill Fox is senior vice president of Fidelity
Communications and Advertising, the internal advertising agency for
Fidelity Investments, which is the largest mutual fund company in the
United States, the No. 1 provider of workplace retirement savings
plans, and one of the nation's leading online brokerage firms.
In this role, Fox is responsible for driving the creation and
production of targeted communications for Fidelity's myriad of
businesses. He is charged with delivering Fidelity's message to
both institutional clients and retail investors across a broad range of
mediums--from print and interactive to podcasts, audiovisual
productions, and Fidelity publications. Prior to Fidelity, Fox worked
for external agencies and has extensive experience managing
international advertising. He has worked and lived in Asia for seven
years and Latin America for five.
Panel: Cult
Media
- Danny Bilson has supplied 165 hours of
original large-canvas television episodes and pilots for major
Hollywood studios through his production company, Pet Fly. Bilson and
co-writer Paul De Meo created and executive produced these various
series, while Bilson directed pilots and key episodes. Their work
includes The Flash (Warner Bros./CBS), Human Target
(Warner Bros./ABC), Viper (Paramount/NBC/First Run
Syndication), The Sentinel (Paramount/UPN), as well as film
such as Trancers and Zone Troopers, the latter of which
Bilson directed. The team wrote the screenplay for Disney's The
Rocketeer and contributed drafts for Paramount's The Italian Job
and have more recently been working on the screen story for DC Comics
character Sergeant Rock with Warner Bros. He also directed an
episode of the reality series On the Road in America and the
action unit of Dukes of Hazard 2. Bilson and De Meo also work
in comics, most recently relaunching The Flash for DC and
releasing the original graphic novel Red Menace. Bilson has
also worked in video games since 1999, serving as co-producer of
Electronic Arts' The Sims. As VP of Intellectual Property
Development for EA, Bilson provided creative direction, concept design,
story, and scripts for franchises such as , James
Bond 007, and Medal of Honor. After leaving EA, Bilson has
focused on developing transmedia stories and serves as a faculty member
at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts,
where he leads the interactive fiction section.
- Jeff Gomez is the CEO of Starlight Runner
Entertainment, a content development and production studio based in New
York City. An expert in the field of transmedia development and creator
and producer of highly successful fictional worlds, Gomez exponentially
increases the value of intellectual properties by preparing them at
early phase to be extended across a wide variety of entertainment
platforms. He has written and produced elaborate trans-media universes
(including content such as feature and episodic animation, video games,
comic books, novels, and web portals) for 20th Century Fox, The
Coca-Cola Company, The Walt Disney Company, Acclaim Entertainment,
Mattel, Hasbro and Scholastic. Gomez has worked on such properties as Turok,
Dinosaur Hunter, Magic: The Gathering, Buffy
the Vampire Slayer, Hot Wheels, Pirates of the Caribbean,
Disney Fairies, and Coca-Cola's Happiness
Factory.
- Jesse Alexander is a co-executive producer and
writer on Heroes, NBC's epic saga that chronicles the
lives of ordinary people who are discovering they possess extraordinary
abilities. He is also an executive producer on the exciting new Heroes
spinoff, Origins. Previously, Alexander was an executive
producer on ABC's Alias, alongside college friend J.J.
Abrams. Abrams then enlisted Alexander as a co-executive producer on
ABC's Emmy award-winning drama Lost. Other past
projects include the film Eight Legged Freaks, starring David
Arquette, and Sony Playstation's Apocalypse video game,
featuring Bruce Willis. His first professional job as a writer was
creating a new opening sequence for Pamela Anderson's Barb Wire
at Dark Horse Entertainment. A self-admitted "fan boy from way back,"
this Santa Barbara native began his career creating Super-8 movies with
his Star Wars action figures. Alexander studied film at Sarah Lawrence
College, New York University, and the American Film Institute.
- Gordon Tichell is the EVP of Business
Development for Walden Media, a motion picture production company
specializing in family entertainment. In this role, he oversees
Walden's education, outreach, and interactive initiatives,
working with teachers, museums, and national organizations to develop
supplemental educational programs and materials associated with its
films and the original events and/or novels that inspire them. Over the
last 10 years, Tichell has also worked for USA Films, PolyGram Filmed
Entertainment, and Working Title Films. Currently commuting between
Walden's Los Angeles and Boston offices, he has developed a
very strong yet antagonistic relationship with the Boeing 757.
Opening comments from:
- Henry Jenkins is the Director of the MIT
Comparative Media Studies Program and the Peter de Florez Professor of
Humanities. He is the author and/or editor of nine books on various
aspects of media and popular culture, including Textual Poachers:
Television Fans and Participatory Culture, Hop on Pop: The
Politics and Pleasures of Popular Culture and From Barbie to
Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games. His newest books include Convergence
Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide and Fans, Bloggers and
Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture. Jenkins recently developed
a white paper on the future of media literacy education for the
MacArthur Foundation, which is leading to a three-year project to
develop curricular materials to help teachers and parents better
prepare young people for full participation in contemporary culture. He
is one of the principal investigators for The Education Arcade, a
consortium of educators and business leaders working to promote the
educational use of computer and video games. He is one of the leaders
of the Convergence Culture Consortium, which consults with leading
players in the branded entertainment sector in hopes of helping them
adjust to shifts in the media environment.
- Joshua Green is the Research Manager of the Convergence Culture Consortium
at MIT, where he is also a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Comparative Media Studies program. Green
leads a team of researchers exploring the changing media landscape and
the ramifications of convergence and participatory culture for content
production, advertising and branding practice, and the way we
understand media audiences. Before coming to MIT, he worked as a
researcher in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and
Innovation at QUT in Brisbane, Australia. He has published work on
participatory culture and the relationship between producers and
consumers, television scheduling strategies, the history of Australian
television, and the construction of the cultural public sphere. He is
currently preparing work on the formation of the participatory audience
and television branding in the context of participatory culture. Green
holds a PhD in Media Studies from the Queensland University of
Technology.
- Jonathan Gray is Assistant Professor of
Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University. He is author of Watching
with The Simpsons: Television, Parody, and Intertextuality
(Routledge, 2006) and Television Entertainment (Routledge,
2008), as well as co-editor of Fandom: Identities and Communities
in a Mediated World (NYU Press, 2007) and Battleground: The
Media (Greenwood, 2008). He also co-edits the academic journal Popular
Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture, and
is co-author of the new blog, The
Extratextuals. Gray's current book project is about the various
forms of hype, synergy, transmedia extensions, merchandising, fan
productions, and so forth that surround and create film and television
as we know them.
- C. Lee Harrington is Professor of Sociology
and Affiliate of the Women's Studies Program at Miami
University. Her research interests include television studies, fan
studies, and sociology of law. With Denise Bielby, she has co-authored Soap
Fans: Pursuing Pleasure and Making Meaning in Everyday Life (1995)
and co-edited Popular Culture: Production and Consumption
(2001). With Jonathan Gray and Cornel Sandvoss, she has co-edited Fandom:
Identities and Communities in a Mediated World (2007). Harrington's
work appears in sociology, communications, and inter-disciplinary
journal outlets. Her current research projects focus on issues of aging
in soap opera and media framing of death row inmates who elect
execution.
- Jason Mittell is Assistant Professor of
American Studies and Film & MediaCulture at Middlebury College. He
is the author of Genre and Television: From Cop Shows to Cartoons
in American Culture (Routledge, 2004), and essays in a number
of journals and anthologies. He is currently
writing a textbook on television and American culture, and a book on
narrative complexity in contemporary American television. He writes
informally about television on his blog, JustTV.
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