Broadband Jungle Blog

Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation at AFI DigiFest 2009, a Gerber Rigler project

AFI DigiFest, Los Angeles, November 04, 2009:

Clips of out team presenting a proposed online strategy for engaging youth in a series of relevant environmental action challenges for the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.

Digital Hollywod Content Summit

Our Gerber Rigler Executive Consulting brainchild has hatched in collaboration with Digital Hollywood and is ready to fly:

The inaugural Digital Hollywood Content Summit takes place on Tuesday, May 5 at the Loews Hotel in Santa Monica during the Spring '09 conference of Digital Hollywood.

Click HERE for full agenda.

Tim Kring, creator of NBC's hit series "Heroes" will participate in a keynote conversation and various film, television and new media organizations are presenting panels.

Among them the AFI Digital Content Lab, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, ASIFA Hollywood, the IDA, the WGA and others about to come on board.

During a series of panels on Tuesday, May 5 we're planning to take content creators in our industry through the creative process: Development, Funding, Production, Distribution, Animation, Cause-driven social marketing, and the re-invention of the studio model for the new media age.

Summit Produced by: Gerber Rigler Producing and Executive Consulting for Digital Hollywood

Summit Pricing:
$135 regular, $95 for Affiliate members (Tuesday, May 5th Only)
Digital Hollywood Pass - Full - 4 Day Pass - Includes the Summit - $685 - Regular - $585 for Affiliate Members

To Register - Click Here.

Here's a quick tease for what's in store.

The Amazing Line-Up:
David Gale, SVP New Media, MTV Networks; Danila Koverman, Director, HBOlab at HBO; Alexis Rapo, Vice President, ABC Digital Media; John Gilles, Vice President Media & Entertainment, Method; Suzanne Stefanac, Director, AFI Digital Content Lab; David Norton, VP Brand Integration, Ladder Up Media; Mark Vega, Partner/IP Steward, Omelet; Josh Bycel, Co-Executive Producer, Psych (USA Network); Adam Armus, Co-Executive Producer, Heroes (NBC); Jacob Rosenberg, CTO Bandito Brothers; Laura Nix, Director/Producer, Felt Films; John Hamburg, Writer/Director, I Love You Man & Along Came Polly; Adam Drucker, Casting Producer, A&E’s Intervention, Amazing Race; Scott B, Director / Cinematographer, Vortex, LA Coroner; Eva Orner, Academy Award winning producer, Taxi to the Dark Side; Jeffrey Tuchman, Emmy & Peabody Award winning filmmaker, Jamison Tilsner,! Co-founder, The Streamy Awards; Adam Chapnick, President, DocWorkers; Scott Hamilton Kennedy, Writer/Director, The Garden; Rick Allen, CEO, SnagFilms; Peter Yared, CEO, iWidgets; Steve Savage, Co-principal, New Video; Eddie Schmidt, President of the board, IDA; Dave Vamos, Founder, Six Point Harness Studios; Aaron Simpson, Founder, Cold Hard Flash, Lineboil.com; Jorge Gutierrez, Creator “El Tigre,” Nickelodeon; John Andrews, SVP, Klasky Csupo, ka-chew!; Antranig Manoogian, President, ASIFA Hollywood; Glasgow Phillips, Writer, South Park, Kung Fu Panda; Micki Krimmel, Founder Sugar Packet, Inc, Mickipedia.com; Robert Bahar, Filmmaker, Made in LA; Melissa Fitzgerald, Actor & Filmaker, The West Wing, Voices of Uganda; Marc Morgenstern, Executive Director, Declare Yourself; Juan Devis, Director of Production, KCET New Media; Charles Annenberg Weingarten, Founder, Explore.org; Brian Sirgutz, President, Causecast

Presidential Redesign: Change has come to WhiteHouse.gov

YouTube embeds from the White House homepage? Obama's cracking new media team didn't lose a second and relaunched what appears to be a cleaned up and user-friendly WhiteHouse.org while the nation was watching the inauguration this morning.

Mark Hefflinger reports for Digital Media Wire:

"The official website of the president, Whitehouse.gov, experienced a dramatic makeover at 12 P.M. ET today, just as Barack Obama was being sworn in and giving his inauguration speech.

The redesign features some of the same interactive elements that were present on Obama's campaign website, including a place where people can sign up for email updates from the President and his administration, an "Agenda" section that lists the administration's positions on major issues, and a new White House blog."

Macon Phillips, Director of new Media (!!) for the the White House expands on the newly established  White House Blog: 

'A short time ago, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States and his new administration officially came to life. One of the first changes is the White House's new website, which will serve as a place for the President and his administration to connect with the rest of the nation and the world.

Millions of Americans have powered President Obama's journey to the White House, many taking advantage of the internet to play a role in shaping our country's future. WhiteHouse.gov is just the beginning of the new administration's efforts to expand and deepen this online engagement.

Just like your new government, WhiteHouse.gov and the rest of the Administration's online programs will put citizens first.'

According to Phillips, the White House's new media efforts will revolve around the following:
Communication, Transparency, Participation.

Sounds like any other successful social networking community out there trying to connect...
Fantastic to have not only Our Guy in office, but also to finally have our guys in the office.

TED Talks: Chris Abani

The mighty novelist and poet Chris Abani will leave you speechless.

This clip from a TED talk he gave this past February in Monterey introduces us to a master storyteller at the top of his art: In the talk, Abani skillfully sets us up for innocent expectations of his Nigerian childhood, feeds into them with cheerful stories about his beloved, opinionated British mother, only to gently tear us apart with tales of police brutality, teenage imprisonment and heart-breaking acts of kindness, often from complete strangers.

In Abani's own words:

What I've come to learn is that the world is never saved in grand messianic gestures but in the simple accumulation of gentle, soft, almost invisible acts of compassion. Every day acts of compassion.

Watch this clip on Telling stories of our shared humanity, or an older one on Learning the stories of Africa from the 2007 TED conference. Then have a good cry. Then go & buy the books.