School of Journalism to host summit on digital diversity
LAWRENCE – The University of Kansas School of Journalism and Mass Communications will co-host a digital diversity summit with the Online News Association Dec. 3 as part of the Diversity in Media class. The student-led summit will run from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in 100 Stauffer-Flint Hall and will focus on emerging issues in contemporary journalism, including neutrality, media consolidation, broadband access in rural America, the role of citizen journalism in the Arab Spring and comic journalism.
The diversity summit will open with introductory remarks from Simran Sethi, associate professor of journalism, who teaches the Diversity in Media class. Sethi, who regularly utilizes social media as a teaching tool in her classes, says one goal of the diversity summit is to highlight the different platforms and opportunities that exist for storytelling.
“Opportunities for storytelling are unprecedented,” Sethi said. ”We no longer need to rely on legacy media to share information or connection with one another. This evolution is particularly salient for diverse constituents who are marginalized or left out of mainstream discourse.”
Jeanne Brooks, community engagement manager for the Online News Association, added, “Access to information and an informed public are essential to a healthy democracy. We’re delighted to be part of the University of Kansas’ efforts to bridge the digital diversity divide, not only in the areas of ethnicity and gender, but across age, technology platforms and public policy.”
The diversity summit will be streamed live on the School of Journalism’s website at journalism.ku.edu and will be live-blogged on Twitter through the hashtag #digdiv. Twitter participants will have the opportunity to ask questions directly to speakers. One Twitter participant will be picked at random to receive a complimentary annual membership to ONA. For detailed schedule information, visit here or contact Sethi through email or on Twitter.