UC Santa Barbara’s Carsey-Wolf Center for film and media studies will host a day-long conference about the digital distribution revolution tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. in the Pollock Theater.
Presenters include executives from companies such as Warner Brothers, Walt Disney Studios, Microsoft, Sony Pictures Entertainment and the Directors Guild of America. The scholars, policy critics and industry professionals will discuss diverse aspects of media distribution.
Joshua Green, project manager of the Media Industries Project at the Carsey-Wolf Center, said the conference — which is co-presented by the Arthur N. Rupe Chair in the Social Effects of Mass Communication — will be the first major event of the center’s Media Industries Project.
“Focusing especially on digital media, globalization and creative labor, the project provides independent analysis of key trends and developments in media culture,” Green said. “The conference will discuss new technologies for distributing media and opportunities and challenges these new options present both for companies and for consumers.”
The conference features three separate roundtable discussions: “Technologies of Digital Distribution” at 10 a.m., “Digital Strategies of Media Conglomerates” at 11:45 a.m. and “Compensation and Creative Labor” at 3 p.m. According to a press release, the digital media conference will be the first and only of its kind, making the event unique to the Carsey- Wolf Center.
Carsey-Wolf Center Executive Director Richard Hutton said the center focuses on introducing innovative advances in film and media to the campus community.
“Essentially, Carsey-Wolf is a center that develops and runs programs and initiatives about film, television and new media here at UCSB,” Hutton said. “In our efforts, we teach, do research and offer programs to the public.”
Associate Director Cathy Boggs said she thinks the digital media symposium considers the effect of contemporary technology on economics and employment.
“The changes of media landscape not only affect how we receive our entertainment, but will alter a major portion of our economy and future jobs,” Boggs said. “Students who attend [“Net Worth: Media Distribution in the Digital Era”] will gain ideas for how to take advantage of these changes in their own lives and careers.”
Hutton said he encourages anyone who is interested in the future of technology to attend the conference, which is free and open to the public.
“Almost all information and entertainment flows through media and is influenced by it, which means that everyone has a stake in the decisions that are being made,” Hutton said. “The conference is addressing issues that, directly or indirectly, affect us all.”
Advance registration for the conference is available online at www.carseywolf.ucsb.edu or by calling (805) 893-4637.
