Information is global, social, and exponential, and does not need to conform to a certain platform in order to be effective. 

Those were themes emphasized by industry-leading speakers from AT&T, Coca-Cola, Georgia Tech, Google, HP, Turner Broadcasting System and other entities who converged for FutureMedia Fest 2010 held by Georgia Tech October 4-7. 

Keynote speaker Michael Jones, Chief Technology Advocate for Google, spoke about globalization and equality in media technologies and used Google’s own, much criticized approach to search engine optimization as an example of the ideology he espoused.

"If search engine optimization works, [Google has] failed...no publisher should have to do anything to get to the front of the Library of Congress Card Catalog.”

Another key theme was the impact of future generations on digital, social, and mobile media. Glenn Lurie of AT&T, a panelist for the Game Changers forum, offered a vivid example: that of his 14-year old daughter who, he explained, in one month, used only 37 minutes of her phone voice minutes, but sent more than 8,000 texts. 

The importance of content and innovation were other prominent themes.  Self-evident at every session was that the digital media world is still in a nascent stage.  Ian Bogost, Director of the Digital Media Graduate Studies program in the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture (LCC), in one vivid stroke summarized the state of FutureMedia. While moderating the Future of Gaming Panel, Bogost was asked what he would want to be remembered as in 25 years, when they write a history of game design. He responded, as an "explorer...a crazy person, hacking with a machete at the wilderness".

Georgia Tech’s pace-setting analysis of megatrends was summarized in the “FutureMedia Outlook” which was presented during the conference by Renu Kulkarni, Executive Director of FutureMedia at Georgia Tech. The multimedia publication distills six megatrends that will have pervasive impact on the future of media: Data Tsunami, True Personalization, Content Integrity, Multimedia Assumed, Mixed Reality, and Collaboration. The FutureMedia Outlook is accessible via the FutureMedia website – http://www.futuremediaglobal.com.

LCC faculty were instrumental in shaping the conference and included Bogost, Rebecca Burnett, Director of the Writing & Communications Program, and Digital Media professor Janet Murray. LCC and the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs participated in the research demos at Technology Square Research Building.

Story by Lauren Langley, Master's Student, Digital Media Program with contributions from fellow students Jayraj Jog and Chris Gonzalez.