by 
The Convergence Culture Consortium, in conjunction with the Comparative Media Studies program, will host the Futures of Entertainment Conference at MIT on Nov. 17 and 18.
Free and open to the public, the event brings together forward-thinking scholars, critics and industry executives to discuss issues regarding media convergence, transmedia storytelling, user-generated content and participatory culture.
“This conference is intended to create a space where representatives from across all forms of media can sit down together and talk about some of the core concerns reshaping the future of entertainment,” said Henry Jenkins, CMS director. “Many of these conversations right now occur in commercially run conferences which are very expensive and not open to the public.”
Speakers include The Long Tail’s Chris Anderson, DC Comics’ Paul Levitz, Flickr’s Caterina Fake, Warner Brothers’ Diane Nelson, Big Spaceship’s Michael Lebowitz, television scholar Jason Mittell, social networking researcher danah boyd and representatives from MTV Networks, the Cartoon Network, Bioware and others.
According to C3 Research Director Joshua Green, the conference registration has been swift since opening as word has spread about the event.
“I think this will draw a wide and fairly diverse audience,” he said. “We’ve received some interesting queries from industry folks, so I would anticipate the audience being a mixed academic and industry crowd.”
Tackling Transmedia Trends
Surya Yalamanchil, a brand manager for Procter & Gamble, has registered to come to Cambridge for the two-day event.
“My interest in the C3 conference was sparked because all of the topics cover a critical theme: how changing consumer trends are creating as many threats as opportunities to today’s marketers,” he said. “Those companies that look deeply at these trends and really understand what’s driving them are in the best position to evolve with the landscape–and not be forced to simply ‘adjust’ later.”
Jenkins said that he hopes potential member companies can gain a sense of the unique atmosphere of CMS and C3 through the tone and discussions that take place at the conference but also that it provides substantial educational benefit to CMS students and interested scholars.
“Our work in C3 is intended to help the media industry rethink its relations to consumers,” Jenkins said. “The key themes of this event are ones we have been exploring through our research, and this event will allow our students to hear firsthand from some of the key movers and thinkers who are shaping the futures of entertainment.”
Alex Chisholm, founder of Ice Cub3d Studios and a scheduled speaker on transmedia properties, said he hopes to address how to redefine the business models of mainstream media to support transmedia storytelling.
“There are so many opportunities to create rich, compelling and highly engaging experiences across media in our media-convergent world,” he said. “Unfortunately, we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg.”
Aside from the transmedia properties section, other planned panel topics are television futures, user-generated content, fan cultures and not the real world anymore (focusing on virtual spaces).
“From its very inception, CMS has been a center for conferences and events designed to bring together people across different media sectors and across different communities impacted by media change,” Jenkins said.
Even though Futures of Entertainment is free, seating is limited and registering on the conference website ensures a seat at the conference. If registration exceeds capacity, registration will be closed.
