24/7: A DIY Video Summit

Members of this community might be interested in checking out "24/7: A DIY Video Summit," which is taking place in Los Angeles on February 8-10, 2008. Full info at http://www.video24-7.org/. From the summit's website:

We are in the early stages of a fundamental transformation in how we create, share and view dynamic visual media. This transformation is enabling a new media ecology that can support widespread amateur video creation, and peer-to-peer and many-to-many distribution to audiences both large and small. Although it is clear that there is tremendous demand for user-generated and bottom-up forms of digital video, it remains unclear how best to support these creative projects, what the implications are for artistic practice and how to build bridges between old and new media.

24/7: A DIY Video Summit will bring together the many communities that have evolved around do-it-yourself (DIY) video: artists, audiences, technology providers, academics, policy makers and industry executives. The aim is to discover common ground, and to chart the path to a future in which grassroots and mainstream, amateur and professional, artist and audience can all benefit as the medium continues to evolve.

This three-day summit features:

Screenings of DIY Video
On February 8 and 9, there will be screenings of DIY video that are open to the public. These will feature curated programs on design video, activist documentary, youth media, machinima, music video, political remix and video blogging. The video program will culminate in an evening program and reception on February 9 that will draw from all of these video genres. Free Speech TV General Manager Jon Stout is part of the curatorial team and will be presenting a screening called "Breaking Conventions, Building Movements: Forty Years of Activist Media."

Academic Program
Registered attendees will have access to the academic program on February 8 and 9 that features panels on The State of Research, The State of the Art, DIY Media: The Intellectual Property Dilemma and DIY Tools and Platforms. Featured speakers include Yochai Benkler, John Seely Brown, Joi Ito, Henry Jenkins, Lawrence Lessig, and Howard Rheingold.

Workshops and Birds-of-a-Feather Meetings
On February 10, the day will be devoted to practical and hands-on workshops for registered attendees on topics such as intellectual property, media creation, distribution and new-media design tools. Attendees will also have the option of organizing their own birds-of-a-feather meetings to connect with other attendees.

24/7: A DIY Video Summit is presented by the Institute for Multimedia Literacy, School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California.

http://www.video24-7.org/