Check out and vote on the proposed PBS panels for SXSW 2013. The annual conference in Austin, Texas, brings together leading minds in film, interactive content, and music.
We encourage PBS fans to vote for their favorite PBS-sponsored panels. Click on the Thumbs Up in the upper-left corner of the page. You must register to vote. All it requires is an email address. And be sure to leave comments!
Bringing a Punk Rock Perspective to PBS
YouTube is where all the cool kids are. (Well, some might argue the coolest kids are on Vimeo, but they are all certainly online.) The creator class of the online video world is this generation’s punk rock stars – stripped down, authentic, sometimes in your face, and in some ways a closed community to outsiders. And perfect for public media. Find out how PBS is tapping into that talent pool to attract the next generation of public media supporters, and why a PBS sensibility is such a good fit for online video.
Building Audience through Transmedia Documentaries
More and more documentary filmmakers have been using transmedia storytelling to reach new audiences and communicate in a more engaging way. Consequently documentary filmmakers rarely function ‘just’ as filmmakers. But often act as creator and multi-format producer, moving between platforms and rushing to build apps, interactive websites, games, and social media. Likewise, audiences expect to access content on a variety of platforms and make use of rich interaction (many of which involve them as active participants). But technological innovation is not simply a more-is-better proposition. Making choices of what to develop, how to develop it, and how to attract new audiences are all key questions. This panel brings together filmmakers and funders to explore both the practical and ideal applications of transmedia--its potential and pitfalls. Including Jim Dunford, Series Manager, WGBH's American Experience, a TBD independent producer of a PBS documentary, and Jeff Hardwick from the NEH.
Cats vs. Causes: How to Make a Digital Difference
It’s both an exciting and daunting time for filmmakers creating short documentaries that incite social change. There are more platforms for distribution but the challenge is getting noticed in a world where animals, cute kids and internet memes get all the views. As a filmmaker, how can you better leverage digital platforms to deliver impactful stories to the widest audience?
Democracy Games: Civics for the Digital Age?
Peter Sagal of NPR's "Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me!" and host of a new PBS series, Constitution USA, moderates a panel on reinvigorating the dreaded civics lesson through gaming. More Americans can name the Three Stooges than the three branches of government. Fewer than half can name a single Supreme Court justice. Clearly, there’s a gap in civics education. But how to breathe life into a subject that most members of the digital generation find dry and abstract? Sagal will talk to panelists Gene Koo of iCivics, and to game developer Dan Norton of Filament about how games can be used to convey civics in action, requiring players to engage in complex decisions around government and showing the effects of different choices. How does a game developer turn the three branches of government or the Bill of Rights into a game that kids will actually want to play and learn from? Can values and ethics be part of game design? And does any of this lead to more participation in democracy?
How to Keep Working Parents In – and Innovating
Tech innovation is a pervasive theme at SXSW. But innovation is not born out of technology; it comes from people. The challenge for established companies and start-ups is keeping working parents in, instead of dropping out, as they give birth to the next generation of digirati. The time is right for a tech-talent revolution, and the media and tech industries are uniquely positioned to lead that revolution. Join Sara DeWitt, Vice President, PBS KIDS Interactive, for a solutions-driven discussion about why career and family don’t have to be mutually exclusive and how the media and tech industry can help redefine what “having it all” means for a future of tech innovators. DeWitt will lead a panel, among them Lisa Belkin, Senior Columnist on Life/Work/Family at The Huffington Post, set against the backdrop of a hot debate involving some of the industry’s most senior women executives, from Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.
PBS' Digital Evolution
Throughout its 40-year history, PBS has been a pioneer- taking television content to new heights, bringing audiences to the edge of the universe and back, and encouraging generations of children to imagine the vast vistas of the world around them. The media landscape has changed dramatically since PBS was founded, and PBS has evolved to meet the needs of today's digitally savvy consumers. PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger will share how PBS is finding even greater resonance and impact--both nationally and in the communities it serves-- by embracing new methods of reaching audiences through multi-platform digital video distribution, learning tools for digital natives in the classroom, and educational media resources that are on the cutting-edge of innovation.
Something, Something ... Social Local Mobile
Social local mobile ... you may be able to say it five times real fast, but can you make it happen? Join in an engaging conversation with product, technology and promotion leads from PBS Interactive and local stations to discuss what it really means to be local in a mobile world. Hear about SoLoMo adventures with household content names like Downton Abbey, as well as unsung stories from around PBS' nationwide network of community-engaging stations. Share your thoughts for how it should be done, and hear new ideas about how to get it done.
