MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing

Presidential elections are considered decisions on politicians’ virtues and reflections of public values. On an ongoing basis, polling data and snap punditry engorge the body politic between elections. Taken together, these judgments on leadership and partisanship – on statecraft and stagecraft – lie at the core of democracy today. Tucker Eskew explores the permanent campaign of the last ten years. What is “message discipline” in an era of atomized opinion leadership – a necessity or a fool’s errand? Are the parties inevitably devoted to different styles of communication, and is this era’s favored approach inextricably the domain of the new Administration? Can unfettered dialogue, as an expression of freedom, be a pure benefit to society, or is “Fire!” being texted in a crowded coffee house? Consistent with his conservatism, Eskew will have firm answers to some of these and other questions. Reflecting his consulting firm ViaNovo’s “new ways”, he welcomed dialogue on all.

Presidential elections are considered decisions on politicians’ virtues and reflections of public values. On an ongoing basis, polling data and snap punditry engorge the body politic between elections. Taken together, these judgments on leadership and partisanship – on statecraft and stagecraft – lie at the core of democracy today. Tucker Eskew explores the permanent campaign of the last ten years. What is “message discipline” in an era of atomized opinion leadership – a necessity or a fool’s errand? Are the parties inevitably devoted to different styles of communication, and is this era’s favored approach inextricably the domain of the new Administration? Can unfettered dialogue, as an expression of freedom, be a pure benefit to society, or is “Fire!” being texted in a crowded coffee house? Consistent with his conservatism, Eskew will have firm answers to some of these and other questions. Reflecting his consulting firm ViaNovo’s “new ways”, he welcomed dialogue on all.

Claude Mussou, INA France

Pelle Snickars, Swedish National Archive

Richard Wright, BBC Research and Information

Moderator: William Uricchio, MIT and Utrecht University

Gavin Grant, Small Bear Press

Jennifer Jackson, Donald Maass Literary Agency

Robert Miller, HarperCollins

Bob Stein, Institute for the Future of the Book

Moderator: Geoff Long, MIT

Claude Mussou, INA France

Pelle Snickars, Swedish National Archive

Richard Wright, BBC Research and Information

Moderator: William Uricchio, MIT and Utrecht University

Gavin Grant, Small Bear Press

Jennifer Jackson, Donald Maass Literary Agency

Robert Miller, HarperCollins

Bob Stein, Institute for the Future of the Book

Moderator: Geoff Long, MIT

Mary Bryson, University of British Columbia

Marlene Manoff, MIT Libraries

John Durham Peters, University of Iowa

Thomas Pettitt, University of Southern Denmark

Moderator: James Paradis, MIT Writing and Humanistic Studies

Mary Bryson, University of British Columbia

Marlene Manoff, MIT Libraries

John Durham Peters, University of Iowa

Thomas Pettitt, University of Southern Denmark

Moderator: James Paradis, MIT Writing and Humanistic Studies

John Miles Foley, Univ. of Missouri

Lisa Gitelman, Harvard Univ.

Rick Prelinger, Prelinger Archives

Ann Wolpert, MIT Libraries

Moderator: Peter Walsh, Andover Newton Theological School

Jessica Clark, Center for Social Media (American University)

Ellen Hume, Center for Future Civic Media (MIT)

Persephone Miel, Media Re:public and Internews Network

Respondents: Dean Jansen, Participatory Culture Foundation

Jake Shapiro, Public Radio Exchange (PRX)

Moderator: Pat Aufderheide, American University