Convergence 2006 April 27-29, 2006 MIT

There Is No Box

In The Matrix, we learned that there is no spoon – only the idea of a spoon. Stuck in an old paradigm – shatter it. Let's stop talking about "thinking outside the box." There is no box! Let's rewrite the code of consumer relations and branded entertainment. What happens next is up to us.

Schedule

Thursday, April 27

MIT Museum.

2 pm – 2.20 pm.

Opening Remarks
Welcome address by Henry Jenkins (MIT) and Beth Coleman (MIT).

2.20 pm – 3 pm.

Session 1: Media in Transition
Looking back... looking ahead, with William Uricchio (MIT). We start the C3 conference with a conversation about the current moment of media convergence seen through the lens of earlier moments of cultural and technological transition: the advent of the printing press, the development of still photography, the telegraph, the telephone, the motion picture, broadcast television. How can we understand the future by looking to the past? Should we be trying to understand "disruptive technologies" or disruptive uses of technology? Are there recurring patterns in terms of the cultural, economic, and social responses to such transformative moments which can help us to understand contemporary media change?

3 pm.

An exploratory walk through the MIT Museum.

Bartos Auditorium, The Media Lab.

5 pm – 7 pm.

Session 2 (CMS Colloquium): Notions of Loyalty within Brand and Fan Cultures
Kevin Roberts, the worldwide CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi coined the term 'lovemarks' to describe consumer's passionate relationship with certain products, services and experiences. Key brands, he argues, inspire "loyalty beyond reason". What do anthropologists know about this kind of loyalty? And how might such insights inform business and marketing strategies? Why should companies adopt a collaborationist rather than prohibitionist logic in responding to their most committed consumers?

Ian Condry (MIT) will discuss the "dark energy" of the fans who translate and distribute the latest broadcasts of Japanese animated TV shows.  Fansub groups view their activities as an expression of their loyalty and devotion to anime culture, but critics see nothing but piracy and betrayal.

Why do some brands become cults and why does it matter? Robert Kozinets (York College, Canada) will discuss the consumer passion behind the success of such brands as Star Wars, ESPN, Disney, Wal-Mart, Volkswagen, Toys R Us, the Apple Newton and iPod, Nike, Starbucks, Quisp Cereal and, perhaps most improbably of all, the Burning Man brand.

Moderator: Henry Jenkins (MIT).

R&D Pub, The Stata Center

7.30 pm – 9 pm.

Opening Night Reception


Friday April 28

Tang Center (Building E51), Room 315

9 am – 9.30 am.

Breakfast

9.30 am – 10.30 am.

Session 3: Changing The Way You Think of Us
Newsweek recently asked us to consider who put the "we" in Web. Tim O'Reilly has argued that the next wave of successful companies will be those who understand how to "harness the power of collective intelligence." We (whoever we are) now live at a moment when everyday consumers can archive, annotate, appropriate, and recirculate media with ease. How should this change the way your company does business? Shenja van der Graaf (London School of Economics) discusses how web 2.0 is impacting content creation, delivery, marketing, and consumer relations, identifying some of the pioneering companies playing in this space and the best practices which keep them ahead of the game.

Q & A Moderator: Joel Greenberg (GSD&M).

10.30 am – 11.30 am.

Session 4: Of Brands and Sailing Ships
Market places are fragmenting.  Consumer taste and preference is relentlessly dynamic.  Marketing models are now increasingly various, contested, and, sometimes, panic driven. Building brands that can withstand these stress factors is not easy.  In this presentation, Grant McCracken offers us a "sailing ship" model of the brand.

Q & A Moderator: Todd Cunningham (MTV Networks).

11.30 am – Noon.

Coffee & Conversation Break

Noon – 1 pm.

Session 5: Niche Try!: Minority Taste, Minority Politics
Long Tail economics depends on targeting ever more precise niches of consumers. But how well do media companies know the people who are consuming their products? And how can they align their interests with those of their consumers?

Humanistic researchers have developed rich theoretical frameworks for understanding and representing how tastes, styles, and cultural identities emerge from our lived experiences and change in response to larger technological, social, cultural, and economic shifts. Hugo Liu (MIT) explores ways that we can operationalize those understandings, building new tools and models which can help companies and consumers better understand how taste operates.

A strange fusion of niche marketing and internet activism, affinity portals are cashing in on online communities. These affinity portals certainly offer a variety of resources that empower their patrons as consumers, but what role do they play in empowering their patrons as citizens? Can these commercial sites advance the political interests of historically marginalized communities? John Campbell (Annenberg School of Communication, University of Pennsylvania) asks whether good politics equals good business. Could empowering citizens be the key to insure long-term consumer loyalty?

1 pm – 2 pm.

Lunch Break

2 pm – 3.30 pm.

Session 6: I'm Getting Desi: The Globalization of Media
American television flows East and Asian media flows West. But what does it all mean? How can we predict what content works and what doesn't as we move into a global media marketplace?

Dawson's Creek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, even The West Wing sells in markets around the world, but are people in those markets watching "American television"? How do local stations localize these shows for their markets and why? What role do audiences play in reshaping the meaning of these series? An Australian researcher, Joshua Green (Queensland University of Technology) tells us what it means to watch American series from an Australian perspective.

Bollywood is entering the western market in a big way. South Asian films now make almost as much money in North America and the United Kingdom as they make in India. Aswin Punathambekar (University of Wisconsin, Madison) tells us how and why Bollywood Inc. is now a major player world-wide. Based on an extensive study, which combines historic, economic, and ethnographic perspectives, Punthambekar tells us how Bollywood got this far and how it can take the next steps and reach an even broader audience.

Q & A Moderator: Laurie Baird (Turner Broadcasting).

3.30 pm – 4 pm.

Coffee & Conversation Break

4 pm – 5.30 pm.

Session 7: Doing Business in Multiplayer Game Worlds
Okay, you've heard the stories – some of the massively multiplayer game represent some of the largest economies in the world. Some people are earning their living by selling virtual real estate. Others are spending more time on their second life than they spent on their first. So how can your company collect some of those gold coins? If advertising involves turning products into "the stuff that dreams are made of," what can games teach us about consumer fantasies and desires? Who should you be trying to pitch – the gamers or their avatars? How can you sell stuff in Alphaville if you don't even live there? Join us for a frank discussion about the challenges and opportunities of marketing and branding within MMOPRGS with David Edery (MIT), Paul Hemp (Harvard Business Review), Ilya Vedrashko (MIT) and Chris Weaver (MIT).

Moderator: Henry Jenkins (MIT).

5.30 pm – 7:00 pm.

Session 8: Closing Brainstorming
A free flowing brainstorming, led by Beth Coleman. What insights did you get from all of this? How can you put these ideas into action? What's next for C3? What questions are driving your business nuts? And what can we do about it?

(Optional)

Evening Entertainment
If you're up to it, MIT has a thriving entertainment scene, right here on campus. On the evening of April 28, you can take your pick from a performance by the University Choir of Lausanne, Switzerland, a street style breakdance session by the MIT breakdance and hip hop culture group Imobilaire, a film screening of Inside Deep Throat, or live music at the grungy Thirsty Ear pub. Let us know if any of these tickles your fancy.


Saturday April 29

Stella Room, Rogers Building (Building 7) Room 337
One of MIT's most distinctive rooms, the walls of 7-337 are covered with 'Loohooloo', an acrylic on fiberglass wrap-around installation by the artist Frank Stella, that is over 10 feet high and 97 feet long, and projects up to 46 inches from the wall.

9.30 am – 10.30 am.

Networking Breakfast
Informal breakfast and networking session.

Maps

Here are links to the MIT maps of the different locations to help you navigate your way around the campus.

Key Phone Numbers

Here are some key telephone numbers you should have:

  • Evan/Gene at the CMS headquarters (Building 14N, Room 207): 617 253 3599
  • Parmesh cellphone: 617 899 6495
  • David cellphone: 919 619 1159
  • Geoff cellphone: 301 996 8464
  • Ilya cellphone: 617 459 0748
  • Ivan cellphone: 301 602 6755