IPI, Hacks/Hackers, address digital challenge in Joburg

The International Press Institute is to host a symposium on digital media, with speakers including the founder of Hacks/Hackers, in Johannesburg on Monday.

Leading into the International Press Institute (IPI) April 12 to 15 World Congress in Cape Town, IPI’s News Innovation Platform (IPI-NIP) will host a one-day symposium on digital media, focusing on sustainability, on Monday in Johannesburg.

The event, titled ‚”ChallengeSSS of the New Age‚”, will take place at the 54 on Bath hotel and will include three components: ‚”Sustainability‚”, ‚”Security‚” and ‚”Self-Regulation‚”.

It comes just months ahead of IPI’s World Congress, which will mark 20 years since IPI held its historic 1994 World Congress in Cape Town on the eve of South Africa’s first free, multi-racial elections. This year, IPI members and others from around the world will return to South Africa to celebrate the anniversary and to inspect the state of media freedom. Registration for the World Congress is available here.

At Monday’s event in Johannesburg, the ‚”Sustainability‚” portion will feature an interview with Burt Herman, co-founder of Storify and founder of Hacks/Hackers. The ‚”Security‚” component will include a workshop on digital security for journalists, facilitated by Danny O’Brien, international director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The ‚”Self-Regulation‚” portion will feature a panel discussion on online media regulation, moderated by award-winning journalist Gwen Lister, with the participation of veteran media practitioners from Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa.

More than 100 journalists have registered to attend ChallengeSSS of the New Age. They will be joined by a number of winners of IPI’s News Innovation Contest, a project funded by Google.

Viewers can watch the Jan. 20 event live through a Google+ Hangout On Air and join the conversation onTwitter using the hashtag #ipinip. More information about the event is also available on the IPI-NIP website,www.ipinewsinnovation.org, and on Facebook.

The Johannesburg event follows a successful IPI-NIP event in September at the offices of The Guardiannewspaper in London, where several winners of the News Innovation Contest shared their projects live with approximately 100 people present in the audience and with viewers around the world via a similar Google+ Hangout On Air.

The Vienna-based IPI is a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists from more than 120 countries around the world. Founded in 1950, it is dedicated to furthering and safeguarding press freedom, protecting freedom of opinion and expression, promoting the free flow of news and information, and improving the practices of journalism.

IPI-NIP is an effort to initiate and promote a dynamic media stakeholder dialogue on the topic of digital innovation and sustainability, with the experiences of IPI’s News Innovation Contest winners being central to that process.

*