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Rebooting Rockwell's America:
A PUBLIC SYMPOSIUM / September 11-13, 2009 / Stockbridge, Massachusetts
News, values, cafes and the new pamphleteers --
Sustaining democracy through civic engagement
New roles for journalism -- and the net -- in fostering participatory democracy and community
The America of Norman Rockwell's mid-20th-century illustrations was rich with simple truths and sometimes hard choices. In that world, we respected authority, and the flag. We were asked to embrace justice, equality and tolerance. The country editor personified the Four Freedoms at the grassroots.
On Sept. 11, 2001, it was as if the last vestiges of Rockwell's stoic, insular, yet generous nation had been torn asunder, and a new, darker period of fear engaged. A buy-now-pay later ethic has brought some of our most valued journalism institutions to the brink. Now even the country editor works with bits and bytes alongside type and ink. Yet innovation abounds on the Internet, and we find new ways to connect and circulate. If Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter have taught us anything, it's that we may hunger for the constancy of community more than ever.
"Rebooting Rockwell's America," will pause for three days to consider the roots of American community, freedom, democracy -- and the journalism which protects each. We'll consider how a generation of virtual pamphleteers -- in cafes, schools, clubs and meeting rooms -- may be helping point us to common ground in physical places. And now there is the promise that these places will be digitally united across a world that grows smaller, faster, more diverse and more precious by the year.
Can we reboot Rockwell's America in a digital age? Do we want to? Join us Sept. 11-13 to consider the options -- and tools.
WHERE WE'LL GATHER -- OUR SPONSORS
"Rebooting Rockwell's America," is a initiative of the Norman Rockwell Museum, and most of the sessions and breakouts will be hosted at the 00,000-square-foot museum in Stockbridge, Mass., the heart of the Berkshires, one of America's premiere cultural destinations. Four co-convenors are at the forefront of studying America's new news and community ecologies. They are the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism, the Media Giraffe Project at the University of Massachusetts and the Journalism that Matters collaborative and the Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State University.
THE PROGRAM: TALKS, BREAKOUTS, IDEA SESSIONS
Historians, authors, scholars, journalists, technologists, volunteer and citizen jouranalists and new local media entrepreneurs will seed our talks and conversations. We'll work toward some fresh insights on the capacity of the social-media technologies to create and nurture real communities . . . to sustain the values and purposes of journalism in service of democracy. Our goal is to tap the wisdom of each participant, to trade examples of journalism that matters and journalism that works. Among topics we'll consider:
- The Journalists Creed --
Starting with a reception, dinner and evening program on Friday, Sept. 11,
