University of Texas at Austin to host 17th International Symposium on Online Journalism
AUSTIN, Texas – March 22, 2016 - More than 400 media executives, journalists, and scholars from around the world will attend the 17th International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ), a program of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the Moody College of Communication at The University of Texas at Austin.
The conference will be held at UT’s Blanton Museum of Art’s auditorium at the Smith Building April 15-16, 2016. Registration is open online, but seats are limited and likely to fill up. A full schedule for the days’ activities can be found here.
The price to attend the symposium is $120 for professionals and general public, $60 for professors and staff, and $40 for students. Sponsors include John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Google, Dallas Morning News, the Moody College of Communication and Univision News.
ISOJ offers a unique blend of academic research along with insightful perspectives from online journalism industry leaders from over 50 countries. Dozens of journalists and executive speakers from both traditional and new media companies such as Buzzfeed, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, Guardian, ProPublica and NBC Universal will attend the conference.
"We did it again," said professor Rosental Alves, founder and director of the Knight Center, who created ISOJ in 1999. "We have put together again a very strong program to maintain ISOJ's tradition of anticipating trends and discussing some of the most important issues of the moment in the struggle of journalism to adapt to the digital era.”
The opening keynote speaker will be Kinsey Wilson, editor for innovation and strategy and executive vice president for product and technology at The New York Times. Kinsey previously has worked for NPR and USA Today before joining The New York Times team as well as being selected by Nieman Lab as one of the 13 most influential media executives in the United States.
Other keynote speakers include Yoani Sanchez, founder and director for Cuban digital news site 14ymedio and Kara Swisher, co-founder and executive editor of technology news site Re/code.
A special panel during the symposium will feature top leaders from five of the most successful and important nonprofit journalism organizations in the United States. They will discuss strategies for sustainability and the increasingly important role of nonprofit journalism in the U.S. media landscape. This panel will include Joaquin Alvarago from Reveal/Center for Investigative Reporting, Peter Bale from the Center for Public Integrity, Bill Keller from The Marshall Project, Evan Smith of The Texas Tribune and Richard Tofel from ProPublica.
This year’s symposium features panels on new bots, virtual reality, activism and journalism, women entrepreneurs, distributed content, advertising and ad blocking, the state of online journalism around the world and academic research on the industry.
Prior to the start of ISOJ on April 15, there will be two events open to participants (registration is required for both) on Thursday April 14. Amanda Zamora, senior engagement editor at ProPublica and the Engaging News Project from the Moody College of Communication will lead a daylong workshop on techniques for improving engagement with readers. Also on Thursday, there will be an event hosted by Hacks/Hackers, which will promote collaboration between journalists and developers. Hacks/Hackers Connect will focus on how to build successful enterprises and news media products using processes that are common in startup companies, accelerators and entrepreneurial journalism programs.
For more information, visit the ISOJ website.
About The University of Texas at Austin Moody College of Communication
One of the nation's foremost institutions for the study of advertising and public relations, communication sciences and disorders, communication studies, journalism and radio-TV-film, The University of Texas at Austin Moody College of Communication is preparing students to thrive in an era of media convergence. Serving more than 4,700 undergraduate and graduate students, the Moody College is nationally recognized for its faculty members, research and student media. For more information about the Moody College, visit moody.utexas.edu.
Contacts: Rosental Alves, 512-471-6851 Lauren Phillips, 512-471-2182
