I attended the afternoon sessions for day one of the  Media 140 conference in Sydney today as a live blogger/twitterer and have  been consolidating my thoughts. Here’s a summary of the speakers that resonated for me in the afternoon sessions:

Julie Posetti (a.k.a. @julie_posetti) did a nice job of chairing the panels – a warm and friendly style

John Bergin (a.k.a. @theburgerman) displayed a splendid vocabulary and deep insights into the interplay between traditional media platforms and new media platforms.  He noted that the “the act of speaking should not be privileged over the act of listening”and that “passive news consumption is all but extinct”.  Wish he’d been able to share his thoughts for longer.

Bronwen Clune (a.k.a. @bronwen) discussed the changing nature of a journalist’s place in the world, admirably encapsulated as: “journalists – the audience formerly known as the media” (and she wore some fabulous red shoes ;)).

Leigh Sales (a.k.a. @leighsales ) talked about the how she approaches having an active social media presence and some of her techniques for balancing personal and work personas online, noting a simple rubric “if in doubt, leave it out” (she also wore some extremely funky white shoes 😉 ).

Stilgherrian (a.k.a. @stilgherrian) spoke about his puzzlement as to what journalists actually do, and noted that “90% of what journalists and bloggers do overlaps”. He pondered the decline of the 19th century style “media factories” and the rise of “social media” and did not mention #goats at all. The full text of his talk is available here.

Kudos to the ABC and to all the sponsors for a very thought provoking conference so far. Overall the logistics of the conference were great – well organised plus a nice venue with good parking & transport nearby. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings.

Still pondering why none of the men wore interesting shoes or clothing & was delighted to finally meet @wolfcat in real life.

#media140