FOOD FOR THOUGHT: October 21st EVENT

To register for a Food for Thought event, click here.

The New Media Landscape

with Kathy E. Gill, UW Department of Communication

Rita Hibbard, InvestigateWest editor

Sara Lerner, KUOW reporter and announcer

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's shift from a physical broadsheet to an online news source is a local example of the way the media industry is changing rapidly.  Blogging is on the rise, the news cycle has gone from evening deadlines to 24 hours, and through modern technology people are able to engage in information dissemination and consumption in a method unimaginable 50 years ago.
How did media evolve to its current state?  What will it look like five years from now?  What do the changes mean for journalists and the news connoisseur?

The Center for Women and Democracy is pleased to welcome a panel of local journalists to address media today.

Kathy E. Gill is a senior lecturer for the University of Washington's department of communications.  She specializes in the study of human-computer interaction in the context of digital media. In particular, she is interested in the non verbal language of objects, interaction design, and web site usability. Research questions she asks include: How do we achieve (and measure?) effective online communication? How do variables such as monitor size and resolution affect understanding? She teaches graduate courses in the Digital Media Master's Program.

Rita Hibbard is currently the executive director and editor of InvestigateWest, an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to the art and craft of investigative and narrative journalism.  Rita led the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's newsroom and directly supervised its investigative team, propelling the P-I to national recognition while changing the staff focus from dead-tree to Web-first. As the P-I's assistant managing editor for news, she led investigations that won numerous prizes including the 2009 Polk Award for Military Reporting, the 2009 Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting Award from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and the 2008 Edgar A. Poe Award given by the White House Correspondents' Association.

Sara Lerner is an announcer and reporter for KUOW 94.9 FM, Seattle's NPR station.  Sara's reporting covers a range of subjects, from the Dalai Lama's Seattle visit, to local controversies about racy coffee shops, to uniquely Seattle events like bicycle pie jousting. In 2008, her story on King and Pierce counties' last days to vote in person brought her a national award from Public Radio News Directors Incorporated for spot news coverage. In 2009, Sara was awarded a KUOW Program Venture Fund grant which supported her four-part documentary on human trafficking in Washington state. Sara continues to produce stories for NPR and radio shows such as "Studio 360" and "Voice of America."

Join us October 21st from 6:00 p.m.– 9:00 p.m. at the Women’s University Club, 1105 6th Avenue in downtown Seattle. The cost is $40 in advance or $45 at the door.

To register for a Food for Thought event, click here.