Click on the Video Below and Sample a Session from a previous Digital Hollywood event. For Additional Video Sessions, Click Here Digital Hollywood Monday, October 29th 3:45 PM – 5:00 PM Track III: User Generated Media & Social Networks Personalized Media Platforms – Widgets, User Generated Media, Personalized News, Blogs & PodCasts Within the world of the Broadband, Social Networks, TV, the Set-Top, Mobile and PVR experience, searching for content, making accessible the content and at the same time, offering an advertising and marketing experience is our challenge. Everything from blogging and Podcasting to Interactive TV is altering the user experience completely. The industry is finding a ready audience with an ever growing demand for better content and a better and a completely personalized experience. With the massive amount of content and technology being thrown at the consumer, navigating through that experience is not only difficult, it can be off-putting. We have entered the world of integrated user experience – the post-TiVo generation of consumers and viewers who are watching and listening to new forms of content on new platforms of technology. Venu Vasudevan, Ph.D., Director, Mobile Platforms, Applications Research Center, Motorola Labs, Motorola, Inc. JD Lasica, founder, OurMedia.org/Partner, Outhink Media/President, Social Media Group Eric Newman, General Manager, Pluck Leonard Brody, co-founder & CEO, NowPublic Jason Oberfest, Managing Director, Product Strategy, Los Angeles Times Interactive Chris Adams, founder, Orbit Media Group Shelly Palmer, Managing Partner, Advanced Media Ventures Group LLC and President of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Moderator Venu Vasudevan, Ph.D., Director, Mobile Platforms, Applications Research Center, Motorola Labs, Motorola, Inc.: Venu Vasudevan oversees Mobile Platforms research at Motorola Labs developing next generation platforms and services for Motorola's vision of Seamless Mobility. His team conducts research in media delivery architectures and mobile interactive entertainment. Their work led to Motorola's "Liquid Media" technology and related subsequent "follow-me" media innovations showcased at CTIA, CES and other venues. Venu has over fifteen years of architecture and strategy experience in the telecommunications and enterprise spaces, including past experience as the Database and Network Management Architect on the Iridium satellite communications system. Venu holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Ohio State University. Eric Newman, Vice President & General Manager, Portal Solutions, Pluck Corp.: Eric Newman is a pioneer in social media technologies and a frequently tapped expert on the new media platforms and strategies that foster successful web properties. Sharing perspectives on user-generated content, information syndication, blogging, social networking, and RSS, Eric has served as a source to major media outlets and frequently speaks at industry events on the topic Eric has a history of delivering successful embedded solutions for leading Internet and software companies. Prior to joining Pluck, Eric ran product management for data integration provider Pervasive (PVSW). He previously served as vice president of marketing at Powered, a provider of embedded internet marketing solutions. He was also director of portal solutions at AskJeeves (ASKJ) and served in various management roles at Lotus/DataBeam and Convergys. Eric earned his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and his undergraduate degree in Marketing and Management Information Systems from the University of Cincinnati. Leonard Brody, NowPublic’s CEO, is one of Canada’s most respected young technology entrepreneurs. He has helped in raising millions of dollars for startup companies, been through one of the largest internet IPOs in history and has been involved in the building, financing and/or sale of four companies to date. Much critical acclaim has followed him in his endeavours. At Onvia Canada (where he was part of the initial executive) the company was voted Canada’s number one startup in 2000 and subsequently closed a $240 Million NASDAQ IPO. At Marqui (where he was Chief Advisor) the startup was rated as the best new internet company in the country in 2003. Jason Oberfest, Managing Director, Product Strategy, LA Times: As Managing Director of Product Strategy for Los Angeles Times Interactive, Jason Oberfest is responsible for product design and business development for the existing LA Times Interactive properties (which attract 7.9 million unique visitors and serve over 83 million page views monthly) as well as for a new suite of forthcoming products. At Los Angeles Times Interactive, Jason has been responsible for improving customer loyalty and other key audience metrics while also boosting advertising effectiveness. Jason led a 2006 Phase I redesign of LATimes.com, which resulted in a 279% increase in monthly page view rate growth and a 52% increase in monthly unique visitor growth. Jason has also played a key role in growing cost-per-click advertising revenue by 243% and online display ad revenue by 73%. In late 2005 Jason designed and developed The Envelope.com, a new entertainment industry awards website which served 23 million page views during the 2005-2006 awards season. Prior to joining the Times in May 2005, Jason served as a consultant to AOL, leading the design and development of many online products including AOL Shopping, AOL Search, and AOL Travel search. He has also worked with clients including Sony, Viacom and A&E Television Networks on the design of numerous media and commerce properties. J.D. Lasica is one of the world's leading authorities on citizens' media and the revolution in user-created media. A writer, strategist, blogger and consultant, he is the co-founder and head of Ourmedia.org, president of the Social Media Group and a partner in Outhink, a company that enables social media and distributed video production. His book about the personal media revolution is Darknet: Hollywood's War Against the Digital Generation (Wiley & Sons, May 2005). Author Lawrence Lessig said of "Darknet": "There are few who see the future clearly, and even fewer who can explain what they see. This brilliant, beautifully written book sees, and explains." Shelly Palmer, Managing Partner, Advanced Media Ventures Group LLC: Palmer is the President of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, NY (the organization that bestows the coveted Emmy® Awards). He is the Vice-Chairman of the National Academy of Media Arts & Sciences an organization dedicated to education and leadership in the areas of technology, media and entertainment. Palmer also oversees the Advanced Media Technology Emmy® Awards which he created in 2003 to honor outstanding achievements in the science and technology of advanced media. Along with his contributions to the advancement of television, Palmer is a pioneer in the field of Internet technologies. He is the inventor of Enhanced Television used by programs such as ABC’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Monday Night Football. In 2004, ABC's Celebrity Mole Yucatan received an Emmy® Award in the category of Enhancement of Original Television Content. It was Palmer who led ABC’s team of advanced media professionals and spearheaded the award-winning project. Palmer is a popular speaker and moderator at technology and media conferences hosted by industry organizations and top tier colleges and universities, like: The Consumer Electronics Show (CES), The National Association of Broadcasters Convention (NAB), The National Show presented by the National Cable Television Association (NCTA), Telecom presented by the United States Telecom Association, Digital Hollywood, iHollywood, DV Expo and ITV Europe. He is a guest lecturer at the MIT Media Lab, Stern Graduate Business School at NYU, The Columbia Institute for Tele-Information (CITI) at Columbia University, The Graziadio School of Business Management at Pepperdine University, The Digital Content Lab at the American Film Institute and other top tier colleges and universities. Over the last two decades, Palmer has enjoyed a highly distinguished career as a composer and producer. His professional vitae includes years of experience in television production and musical composition. He created and produced HotPop, a teen lifestyle and music show airing on Starz/Encore’s WAM! As a prolific composer, Palmer was the recipient of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP's) 12th Annual Film and Television Music Award for ABC’s hit series Spin City. He was also recognized the following season in the category of “Most Performed Television Themes.” Palmer's music credits include the theme songs for Live with Regis & Kelly, Rivera Live and MSNBC as well as the digital debut of the "real" cat singing the classic “Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow.” Palmer is the host of Media 3.0 with Shelly Palmer a weekly business news series. A graduate of New York University’s School of the Arts, he is the author of one of the most popular television business news blogs, www.Media30.com, a weekly columnist for the Jack Myers Report, The Huffington Post and a technology commentator for CNN.com. His book Television Disrupted: The Transition from Network to Networked TV(www.televisiondisrupted.com) about the technological, economic, and sociological forces that impact the future of television, media and entertainment is is available on www.amazon.com. For more information, visit www.shellypalmer.com. Chris Adams is a nationally recognized new media pioneer, entertainment industry executive and social entrepreneur with nearly twenty years of experience in creating and developing partnerships, programming and relationships between and to the benefit of media, entertainment and online brands. As a media strategist, Chris works with clients to create and execute on partnerships and initiatives that have deep impact and measurable outcomes. To achieve greatest possible success, Chris focuses on the intersection of media and audience - helping to bring brand visibility to consumers, reach the greatest constituency possible and create multi-platform initiatives that engage and excite individuals. Current clients range from Comcast, the largest cable and broadband company in the US to HBO to Glam.com, the number one site for women to film icons, to Facebook.com, one of the fastest-growing internet companies on earth, for which he helped to create and is producing “Facebook Diaries,” the first-ever hybrid user-generated video/reality TV show to be distributed across a multi-platform including on Facebook.com, Ziddio.com, Comcast VOD and linear television. Past clients include: Amazon.com, Lycos.com, Stonepath Partners and many others. Prior to launching his own consulting company, Chris co-founded Participant Productions in 2004 with Jeff Skoll, eBay’s first President. Participant’s vision is to create entertainment that inspires audiences to make social change. In this capacity, Chris developed and executed on the business plan, was intimately involved in finding and hiring all initial executive personnel and managed the company overall. Participant’s first slate of movies -- Syriana, starring George Clooney and Matt Damon; North Country, starring Charlize Theron; Good Night and Good Luck, starring David Strathairn and George Clooney, and the documentary Murderball – were nominated for an unprecedented 11 Academy Awards. Chris also proudly identified and helped to develop former Vice President Al Gore’s Oscar-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. In addition to the above-mentioned films, Chris developed and was the Executive Producer for Participant’s first feature: American Gun starring Marcia Gay-Harden, Forrest Whittaker, Donald Sutherland, Linda Cardelini, Nikki Reed and Tony Goldwyn. In addition to his work in media, Chris provides his clients with years of experience as a nationally lauded filmmaker, social entrepreneur and business/strategic development executive. Straight out of film school at the age of 25, Chris wrote, produced and raised money for the short film, The Middle Passage, which went onto win 9 Best Picture Awards at various film festivals around the country and was in competition for the 1995 Academy Award nomination. As a writer, Chris has been published in The Washington Post, The Denver Post, Triathlete Magazine, SPORT Magazine and wrote on Columbia TriStar’s hour-drama The Net (distributed by USA Network). He leveraged this experience into a robust consulting career performing business development and marketing services for Amazon.com, Lycos.com, Pop.com and other online companies in the late 1990’s. He went on from there to help start the wireless application development company, Xpherix which sold to Remoba in 2005. Chris serves on the Board of Directors for The Young Storytellers Foundation, which is dedicated to developing literacy, self-expression and self-esteem through the art of storytelling. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Chris graduated from the University of Denver, Denver, Colorado with a double major in English literature and mass communications with a minor in political science. He received his MA from USC’s School of Film and TV and his MFA/PhD from USC’s School of Professional Writing where he pursued his degrees concurrently. Chris lives in Los Angeles with his wife Sharon and their son, Cooper and is an avid surfer.