Live blogging the We Media conference in Miami

I will update this as often as I can between sessions. I will try to give my perspective on the conference from someone with a foreigner-francophone-Madagascar-centric point of view. Not too surprising right ?

02/26/2008
15:00
I am currently at the airport in Indianapolis, bummed because I missed the cut-off time for check-in by 5 minutes.
Since I have way too much time right now, I figure I will give you a bit of background on the conference.
So what is the We Media conference all about ?
From the horse's mouth:
" We Media connects individuals and organizations from across industries who believe the power of media, communication and human ingenuity should be applied to innovate in business AND to make the world better through media"


02/27/08
8:00 am
The opening session is on the way.
“ We Media at the tipping point”
Andrew Nachison and Dale Peskin, Co-Founders, iFOCOS

It looks like I was not the only one having infrastructure trouble yesterday:
A major power outage in Miami, the day before the conference....wow....
The word blackout is being used by some...which should be painfully familiar to people in Madagascar.
Is this the global village or what... A very interesting discussion is taken place about what can be done when such power outages occur. Where do we get news ? What kind of news do we need ? Is content the key word or access and connection is king ?
The emphasis on the need for news only radio and consumer generated radio....Isn't that what karajia was all about in Madagascar before it got shut down ?
Miami and Madagascar, very similar in a lot of ways....
I really like that one discussion that will not be addressed was the debate between Journalistic information or non-journalistic...The key is whether the information matters or not. The source does not really matter.
Ok , stay tuned for more. I might have photos upoladed very soon.
There was an awesome use of the thriller song ( 25th anniversary) as background to the power outage presentation...I hope it will be online soon.
8:30 am

Keynote Conversation I | Print is Dead
With Jeff Gomez, author, Print is Dead and Roger Black, Principal, Danilo-Black

Jeff Gomez is onstage....emphasis on internet interactivity, feedback mechanism and filtering the information..something that cannot be done with print medias. There is still no viable alternative to print media in Madagascar but the fact that you can participate on a radio show back home makes that media platform much more appealing that just passively reading a newspaper. Again, I believe there is room for both, especially back home but it is good to assess the strengths and weaknesses of medias.
9:00
Rebuttal with "Print Reincarnated"
I will direct you to the we media blog for a detailed report on why books and print are not really going away.

9:50 am The Power To Change The World

Darya Shaikh, Executive Director of OneVoice with the money quote of the session so far: "if you don't piss people off, you are not doing your job" Given that she is dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, that is quite a bold statement.
Now Katrin Verclas of MobileActive is on stage. She illustrates the power of text messaging. I think Joan would wholeheartedly agree after her cyclone Ivan effort.
She explains that it is the most direct link between the real world and the digital world.

Jean Marc Coicaud explains what United Nations University is: He explains that they are the first UN agency headquartered in Asia (Tokyo). I just got that part because I am fascinated with the lovely French accent.