Jtm-sv-program

Tentative approach to program

We're creating a conceptual mashup in which journalists from diverse perspectives will identify what they think is required to sustain news. We will create a setting where technologists and entrepreneurs can participate and respond with design/build ideas for tools and systems.

We're four months out and won't settle the format until a month before the event.

Journalism That Matters background

This approach -- linking journalists with a constituent group with a focus on a paticular task -- is simlar to five other convenings around the country as the Journalism That Matters collaborative, the most recent at The George Washington University in August. There our focus was on journalism and education, because we deliberately chose a time and venue alongside the annual convention of the Association of Educators in Journalism and Mass Communications (AEJMC). There are links to that event below my sig, and video here:

http://www.archive.org/details/JournalismThatMatters_DCSessions

Valley, Yahoo roles

The news business is now being driven more than anything by technology, and that's why it is vital to do this event in Silicon Valley and to seek to involve the leadership of the VC, entrepreneurial and technology/developer communities.

Yahoo has agreed to provide the conference facility for free as their sponsorship. Their motivation is to be seen as a convenor and participant in a dialog about the future of journalism and participatory democracy.