Highlights from the Open Video Conference

by Laura DeNardis | June 20, 2009 | workshops and symposia | 3 Comments

Congratulations to Open Video Conference organizers Elizabeth Stark, Leah Belsky, and Shay David for producing an extraordinary gathering this weekend in New York to explore the future of online video and new media.

This conference explored business models, legal systems, and technical architectures for open Internet video that promotes democratic freedoms, free culture, open innovation, and participatory rather than passive consumption.

Highlights of the conference include:

Staggering Number of Participants

More than 800 people attended the conference in person, and thousands more attended via live video streaming and on twitter (#openvideo) and Facebook.  One  interesting aspect of the conference was its bringing together of such a diverse group including media activists, new media entrepreneurs, academics, educators, and content producers.

Keynote Addresses

The two-day conference included rousing keynote addresses by Yochai Benkler, Jonathan Zittrain, and Lizz Winstead, the co-founder of Air America Radio and co-creator of the Daily Show.

Sponsors

Mozilla, RedHat, Intelligent Television, LiveStream, see3, Pond5, Level(3), Sunlight Foundation, Akamai, and Safe Creative.

Organizers

Co-organized by members of the Yale ISP, iCommons, Kaltura, and the Participatory Culture Foundation.  Partners  included Harvard’s Berkman Center, the Information Law Institute at NYU School of Law, Creative Commons, Free Press, Columbia University’s Center for New Media Teaching and Learning, the Telematics Freedom Foundation, Big Think, The Workbook Project, Magnify.net, FGV Law School in Brazil, and Public Knowledge.

Presentations by Internet Video Entrepreneurs

Various panels featured the work of video entrepreneurs including: Mike Hudack, CEO of blip.tv; Avner Ronen, CEO of Boxee; Jennifer Taylor, Flash Product Manager at Adobe; Shay David, co-founder of Kaltura; engineers from Sun Microsystems; and Nikhil Chandhok, Senior Product Manager of YouTube.

Online Video Activism and Politics

Keynote by Amy Goodman, host and Executive Producer of the news program Democracy Now to discuss independent and citizen journalism; panel on the future of public media; panel on transmedia activism, creating a cross-media platform for social issue campaigns; and many other issues.

Fair Use Discussion

Anthony Falzone, the Executive Director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford Law School and Corynne McSherry of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Anyone interested in learning more about the conference is invited to explore openvideoconference.org.

Congratulations again to the Yale ISP organizers and partners and a special thanks to Perry Fetterman, Adi Kamdar, Lea Shaver, Nick Bramble, and other members of the Yale ISP for their contributions at the conference.  The ISP will be developing policy papers/primers as a follow-up to the conference and will be continuing our efforts to advance a global Open Video Alliance (OVA).

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