Media opportunities at new media conference

Members of the media are invited to attend all sessions of the conference on New Media at UVic Feb. 21 to 23. Accreditation is easy: simply apply through the conference website at http://www. maltwood.uvic.ca/nmc/ or apply at the registration desk at the University Centre on Feb. 22. The conference opens with a tour of UVic's new Centre for Innovative Teaching at 6 p.m. on Feb. 21. Media members are invited to join conference delegates and UVic President Dr. David Strong to view the University's newest building and a showcase of innovative projects and research.

Media members are invited to meet conference delegates and conference opening speakers including the Hon. Andrew Petter, Minister of Advanced Education, Training and Technology, and Stuart Culbertson, deputy minister and chief information officer, Information Science and Technology Agency, at an informal conference reception on Feb. 22 at 10:30 a.m. in the Maltwood Gallery. Accredited media are also welcome to attend a reception at the Royal B.C. Museum at 6 p.m. that night which includes a tour of the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit, a demonstration of a live webcast of the exhibit and an 8 p.m. showing of the IMAX film Everest.

Conference presentations and discussions about new media include: convergence in mass media, education in multimedia, designing effective web sites, real vs virtual heritage in the arts and intellectual property rights. The conference is fully subscribed. Interest is particularly high among people in communication businesses, web design and development, and distance education, and among those in government and organizations who must monitor, harness and advance new media in their administrative and educational roles. Over 100 post-secondary students are attending the conference through a special bursary program. Many of them are using the conference as both an educational and networking experience.

New media has been described as being "interactive, connected and digital." It is a unification, or convergence, of various technologies to provide completely new methods of information delivery. Advances include video streaming, which broadcasts video live over the internet and provides viewers with the option of interacting with the video they see. All conference sessions will be broadcast, live or through web casting (broadcast of pre-recorded material) through the conference website where the full conference program is posted.

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