TEDxUIllinois 2011: The Medium is the Message

Last week, I was in Champaign, IL for the second annual TEDxUIllinois, sponsored by the University of Illinois College of Media, the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Study, and the Knight Chair in Investigative and Enterprise Reporting – the latter in the form of my co-organizer, Brant Houston. The theme this year was “The Medium is the Message,” which was appropriate considering the sponsors, and the fact that Marshall McLuhan would have turned 100 this year. Here was the lineup:

Speakers include Argonne National Laboratory battery and transportation researchers Jeff Chamberlain and Don Hillebrand; Brant Houston, Knight Chair for Investigative and Enterprise Reporting, College of Media, University of Illinois; Larry Ingrassia, Business Editor for The New York Times; Rob Kennedy, President and Co-COO, C-SPAN; Will Leitch, Author and Contributing Writer for New York Magazine; Greg Lindsay, Author and Contributing Writer for Fast Company; Dr. Lisa Nakamura, Professor of Media & Cinema Studies, College of Media, University of Illinois; Lee Rainie, Founder and Director, Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project; Dr. Christian Sandvig, Associate Professor of Communication, Media & Cinema Studies, Library & Information Science, and Research Associate Professor at the Coordinated Science Laboratory, University of Illinois; Joseph Squier, Associate Director, School of Art & Design; Professor, Art & English, College of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Illinois; and John Tolva, Chief Technical Officer for the City of Chicago.

I’ll be posting my own talk in this space as soon as the video’s ready, but in the meantime read The Daily Illini’s somewhat breathless coverage, courtesy my friend Carolyn Lang:

The atmosphere was kinetic as speakers and guests streamed into Beckman Institute on Sept. 15 for the second annual TEDxUIllinois. The event’s theme was “The Medium is the Message,” and the resonance that the topic had with the audience became obvious as smart phones, laptops and iPads glowed in the dimly lit seats of the auditorium. I couldn’t help but recall the policies of so many classes of putting laptops and phones away to “give full attention.” At TEDxUIllinois, this could not have been farther from what was expected…