Girls In Tech

Want to get a start in journalism?  Wish you could launch your own website based on your latest big idea and get $12,00o funding to get it started?  Check out New Women’s Media Entreprenuers (NMWE).

NMWE is a unique initiative addressing opportunity and innovation, recruitment and retention for women in journalism by spotlighting their ingenuity and entrepreneurial abilities. Pilot projects will show what can be done. Research will tell what more then to do.  Additionally, an awards program and summit will showcase women’s creative ideas.

So, where does the $12,000 in funding come in?

J-Lab, The Institute for Interactive Journalism and the McCormick Foundation are seeking to fund four women-led projects that will rock the world of journalism.

We will fund individuals who have original ideas to create new websites, mobile news services or other entrepreneurial initiatives that offer interactive opportunities to engage, inspire and improve news and information in a geographic community or a community of interest.

The McCormick New Media Women Entrepreneurs program will give one-time funding of $12,000 to women who have the vision, skills and experience to launch a new venture. These can be solo ideas or team projects spearheaded by women.

The deadline for applications is Monday, April 4 (which we realize is tomorrow, but wanted to pass this on for anyone out there who already has an idea percolating!) For more information, please visit www.newmediawomen.org .

Tags: journalism, new media, NWME, Women Entrepreneurs, women in technology
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Being a digital strategist and content producer working in Entertainment Media, I constantly find myself in LA for business. During my visits I am continuously impressed by the limitless number of film events taking place on any given night of the week. And I think, “Of course, it’s Hollywood”, but a part of me always wonders why San Francisco couldn’t do the same since we are on the forefront of using emerging technologies as a narrative platform in game and content development.

Last week, while covering Digital Hollywood in Santa Monica (more posts on this event later), I was thrilled to learn about a new film event, The 2010 New Media Film Festival featuring The Best in New Media Storytelling: What’s New, What’s Next, taking place this week-end, November 5-6 at the VizCinema (1746 Post St, cross street Geary Blvd) in San Francisco.

Why am I excited about this? It’s a quintessential San Francisco style event that focuses on the innovative use of technology in the art of storytelling and showcases creators from outside and within the Bay Area. Furthermore The New Media Film Festival premiered in Los Angeles in June 2010 with great success enabling the producers to bring this same event to San Francisco with an expanded forum and line up of industry executives & content creators. Last the event is produced with support from both LA and SF creative organizations — the Producers Guild of America, NATPE, IAWTV and San Francisco Writers Conference, San Francisco Film Commission & San Francisco Film Society.

The New Media Film Festival brings together Industry Professionals and Content Creators across Film, TV, Games, Publishing, Mobile, Web and Tech for two days of dynamic programming including panel discussions, Q&A, networking, mini-workshops, demos, and film screenings from Sundance, Cannes, Los Angeles and World Premieres as well as the best local SF Bay Area talent working in new media in these categories: Web Series, Shot on RED, Animation, Documentary, Feature, SRC-Socially Responsible Content.

SESSIONS INCLUDE:

• New Dialogue, Voices & Avenues and Finding Where You Fit In
• Challenges & Victories of Producing Content That Can Change the World
• Television Academy of Arts & Sciences Presents: The Future of TV
• Monetizing The Crowd: Crowd Sourcing, Crowd Funding & Fan Building
• Storytellers & Coders Unite: Creating Content for Mobile, ePublishing, iApps, iPad, Games, Interactive TV & Web

In addition, attendees will get the opportunity to meet and speak with:

• Award winning game, film, book, show, web series & app creators such as Will Wright, Creator of Bar Karma on Current TV and original designer for “The Sims” games series which, as of 2009, is the best-selling PC game in history and Jaime Wilkinson, Producer, “Star Wars: Uncut” (2010 Primetime Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media – Fiction).
• Panelists from the Producers Guild of America-Northwest (PGA-NW), Writers Guild of America (WGA), IndieGoGo, San Francisco Film Society, Red Planet Studios, Movieset.com, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, TV.com, Code and Theory, Creative Convergence, Select Services Films Inc., Larsen Pomada Literary Agency, Manic D Press, Red Wheel/Weiser Books/Conari Press, Women’s National Book Association SF Chapter, AuthorsTeam, Credit the Edit, Flingo.tv, Unity Technology, Babelgum.com, Sharethrough, Tongal, Motorola, Magnicode and more!

Event Details:

Register: http://bit.ly/newmediaff
Location: VizCinema at 1746 Post St. (at Geary) in SF
Dates: Friday, Nov 5 & Saturday, Nov 6
Time: 9AM – 7PM & 7PM – Midnight
Website: www.newmediafilmfestival.com
Program Details: http://www.newmediafilmfestival.com/newmediatickets.php

It’s not too late to get tickets to this event. Visit, http://www.eventbrite.com/event/871483631 to purchase your tickets. As an added bonus, The New Media Film Festival is offering Girls in Tech readers a 30% discount off any of the passes using discount code goldengate30.

See you there!

Tags: Cross Platform Storytelling, Digital Content, Film, Film Festival, Hollywood, Narrative platforms, new media, Transmedia
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In escaping from the geek-dom of the Geeks on a Plane journey for a bit, the group headed over to the “Newseum” in DC’smuseum district. Coming from a communications and journalism background, I was ecstatic to discover the cool archives and exhibits that this unique and recently remodeled museum had to offer (even though I originally thought that the “Newseum” was all things new, rather than the history of news, newspapers and the evolution to new media).

The thing that struck me the most, was the fact that most museums are very historical in nature – whether the museum is showcasing art, artifacts or historical treasures. A lot of the exhibits at the Newseum revolved around news and incidents (mostly negative, unfortunately) that happened during my 32 years of life. Living through some of these landmark moments made me feel in touch with the world and current events and OLD!

During our VIP tour, the group had the opportunity to check out the broadcast studio, the server room and the primary control and programming station (full disclosure: we all turned into kids again).

Here is a little more information around the museum. I highly recommend it next time you visit DC!

Newseum Blends High-Tech With Historical

The Newseum — a 250,000-square-foot museum of news — offers visitors an experience that blends five centuries of news history with up-to-the-second technology and hands-on exhibits.

The Newseum is located at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., on America’s Main Street between the White House and the U.S. Capitol and adjacent to the Smithsonian museums on the National Mall. The exterior’s unique architectural features include a 74-foot-high marble engraving of the First Amendment and an immense front wall of glass through which passers-by can watch the museum fulfill its mission of providing a forum where the media and the public can gain a better understanding of each other.

The Newseum features seven levels of galleries, theaters, retail spaces and visitor services. It offers a unique environment that takes museumgoers behind the scenes to experience how and why news is made.

“Visitors will come away with a better understanding of news and the important role it plays in all of our lives,” said Newseum Executive Director and Senior Vice President Joe Urschel. “The new Newseum is educational, inspirational and a whole lot of fun.”

Tags: DC, Geeks on a Plane, new media, Newseum
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We are gearing up for tonight’s ‘The Road to Development: Women Leading the Charge‘ panel and in addition the Santa Cruz Chapter of Girls in Tech is excited to announce our August event:

New Media: Who is Today’s Modern Woman?

Please join us in welcoming a few of the women who are shaping the way we are seen in the media today.

This event will be a panel on how new media is painting the modern woman. The panel will be a great opportunity to share experiences and inform others of what it’s like being a female in the new media world.

Speakers for this months event include:

*Eileen Rivera, Revision 3

*Neha Tiwari, Neha Tiwari Pvt. Ltd. & Rad on the Web

*Irina Slutsky, Geek Entertainment TV

*Sarah Austin, Pop17

*Kirsten Sanford, TWIS – This Week in Science

Mary Duan, Reporter for the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, will be moderating the panel.

The event will be held on Friday, August 28th from 7 – 9 PM at NextSpace.

Please RSVP here: http://git.eventbrite.com

Tags: geek entertainment, irina slutsky, neha tiwari, new media, pop17, rad on the web, sarah austin, women
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As a member of the Screen Actors Guild, I was relieved when the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) approved a tentative new deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on April 19, 2009 as the SAG national board of directors voted 53.38%-46.62%   After the most recent Writers’ strike that shut down Hollywood, nobody in Los Angeles wants a strike, though many are still not happy with the terms for New media.

If you’re not an actor or writer in Hollywood, it is probably difficult for you to understand the importance of residuals, or payments made to the creator of performance art for subsequent screenings of the work, as the majority of members of the Screen Actors Guild or the Writers Guild take in middle-class incomes to support their families. As more of scripted content moves from regular TV/Cable viewing to the Internet with the powerhouse Hulu taking online viewing to the next level, it is not yet clear how performers will be compensated in the future.

Here are  few highlights of the new agreement:

- New media structure that tracks those achieved by other industry unions

-Jurisdiction on all derivative, made-for new media productions on all high-budget, original, made-for-new media productions plus on low-budget original, made-for-new media productions; plus on low-budget original new media productions that employ at least 1 covered performer

- Residuals for ad- supported streaming of feature films and television programs

24 days for first season or series

17 days for second and subsequent seasons for series

SAG mailed out ratification ballots on May 19 to vote on the theatrical agreement by June 9, 2009.  I just got my ballot in the mail, and with the union still divided, everyone in Tinseltown will be holding their breath.

Because let’s be real here, with the state of California and the Nation’s Economy, no one wants a strike.

Tags: girls in tech, new media
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