Media Democracy Day Workshop and Event Schedule

Below is the fabulous line up for the day!

Opening Plenary: 9:20-10:20, Plenary Room

Welcome, Elder opens day at U of T International Student Centre, 33 St. George St.
Then the Citizen Journalism panel. Featuring Dale Mugford (Bravenewcode and matthewgood.com), Michael Tippett (NowPublic? ), Michelle Langlois (rabble.ca), Leanne Allen (CBC Radio/Online called Citizen Janes) and Roz Allen (therozblog.com). Moderated by Lisa Rundle (CBC Q).

Workshop Block 1 10:30-11:2 0

Plenary Room: Thinking About Anti-oppression and Alternative Media: From Intent to Practice. Even alternative media can have power dynamics that exclude many people. By looking at dynamics of power and privilege, this workshop will look at relationships of oppression that often ignore and neglect the voice, participation and leadership of marginalized communities. This workshop will look at how relationships of oppression (whiteness, male privielge, transphobia, heterosexism, poor-basing, ableism and ageism) not only exclude people, but reinforce systemic oppression that isn’t that different from corporate media. By looking at empowerment and voice, this workshop will also provide space for tangible practices to address oppression. Facilitated by Sharmeen Khan (Upping the Anti and OPIRG-York)

Piano Room Space A: Effective media coverage of the recent changes to Ontario’s Human Rights system. Recently, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) closed its doors to individuals filing complaints. As of July 1, 2008, people who believe they have been discriminated against have to file application directly with the Tribunal (HRTO). Presented by Claire Hanlon-Budziak (Human Rights Advisory Services) TO BE CONFIRMED

Piano Room Space B: Documentary film-making. Resourcing sharing for documentary filmaking. Facilitated by Liisa Schofield (OpirgTO and filmmaker), Malinda (Be:Collective) and Carmelle Wolfson (independent filmmaker)

Food Room: Latin American Issues in the Media. Lisa Makarchuk, Co-chair of Free the Five Cultural Committee will present on Breaking Down Media Barriers: the Case of the Cuban Five. News about the First International Festival of Resistance Poetry in Honour of the Cuban Five to take place in Toronto April 24-30, 2009, will be exhibited. Alex Grant from Hands Off Venezuela will present a class analysis of mainstream media and what indy media should be doing to counter this. There will also be a discussion on the Hands Off Venezuela campaign. Bio: Alex Grant is the National Coordinator for Hands Off Venezuela Canada. HOV is an international solidarity campaign in defence of the Venezuelan Revolution that is present in over 30 countries. Formerly, Alex was the president of the TA Union at UBC, CUPE Local 2278, which defied back-to-work legislation to strike against tuition increases. Alex is also a member of the editorial board of Fightback.

Workshop Block 2 11:30-12:30

Plenary Room: Beyond CBC-Pravda and media blackouts: Finding the real news about Canada’s war in Afghanistan and the homelessness crisis”. This workshop provides alternative media makers and activists with an opportunity to share sources of information and for strategizing about doing a better job of disseminating alternative information about the war and the homelessness crisis. Presenters: Derrick O’Keefe (rabble.ca, StopWar Vancouver)and Andrew Mindszenthy (TDRC, Housing not War)

Piano Room Space:Reporting on poverty. This workshop considers the lack and or twisting of coverage relating to human rights issues and processes relating to Canada’s compliance both domestically and at the UN,and how the govt violates treaties by suppressing the info. Presented by Josephine Grey, Low Income Families Together

Food Room: Investigative Research on the Web: Skills for Activists and Independent Journalists. Deep digging research can be highly useful for reporting and activist campaigns. Learn skills and tools used by investigative journalists, private eyes, and hackers for doing in-depth internet research. This workshop will cover a variety of subjects including: how hackers and investigators use search engines search; How to refine searches in creative ways using syntax; Effective ways to use alerts to get information sent to you; how to find deep web information; finding info on website with the who-is database; and will look briefly at internet forensics. Presented by Tim Groves (Tim Groves collaborates with activists and journalist on a variety of investigative research projects. His roots are in researching abandoned buildings for activist groups interested in squatting, but since then he has developed wide range of other investigative skills. He also helps uncover and promote little know Toronto history through the Missing Plaque Project.)

Lunch time : 12:30 - 1:30

Food room: Lunch Served

Workshops Block 3: 1:30 - 2:20

Plenary room: Open Source and New Media: Opportunities and Challenges. Darren Alexander will discuss the concept and implications of the OPEN SOURCE movement (including its relevance to issues of P2P filesharing and net neutrality) and the revolutionary media+communication potentials being explored via new WEB 2.0 applications. Presented by Darren Alexander

Piano Room: Indigenous Solidarity 101. A workshop on decolonization for supporters and allies of Indigenous peoples in Canada. Presented by Corvin Russell (EnJOI? )

Food Room: The Free Press on Campus. The movement to launch free presses on university campuses. Facilitated by Rebecca Granovsky-Larson (Ryerson Free Press)

Workshop Block 4: 2:30 - 3:20

Plenary Room: Podcasting 101. A how-to podcast 101 Workshop. Presented by Meagan Perry (rabble.ca)

Piano Room: Left punditry: doing and presenting political analysis. This workshop is for the rogue opinionated radical, or (better) the activist with an organization working on some aspect of communication. With Justin Podur (zmag.com and killingtrain.com)

Food room: Campus Community Radio in Canada. The discussion will focus on: the history of community campus radio, it’s function in today’s media landscape, the difficulties this type of media is facing and its future. The objective of this workshop is to address current problems and hopefully come up with possible solutions and strategies to reclaim and rebuild “community” radio in this country. Facilitated by Carmelle Wolfson and Susy Alvarez

Workshop Block 5: 3:30 - 4:20

Plenary Room: On-Line Video 101. An activist video training workshop. Presented by Tor Sandberg (rabble.ca)

Piano Room: Geeks versus Gatekeepers: How to Save Canada’s Open Internet. By Matt Thompson (Free Press, Savethenet.ca)

Food Room: Strategy Session: next steps for MDD Toronto. Facilitated by Kim Elliott (rabble.ca)

Closing Plenary 4:30 - 5pm

Plenary room: Maude Barlow (Council of Canadians) introduced by Sharmeen Khan

Action Introduced by Stuart Trew, t-shirts and flyers distributed

5:30pm - 7pm Action! Speaker’s Corner, University & College

8pm Doors open at Steamwhistle Roundhouse 255 Bremner Avenue

8:15 Keynote panel:Emerging Media, finding common ground, making change. A Roundtable discussion with Maude Barlow (Council of Canadians), Linda McQuaig (author), Jessica Yee. Moderated by Duncan Cameron (rabble.ca)

9pm-midnight: Concert! LAL, Mraya, KoboTown