We are tremendously excited to share that Michael Wesch is giving a keynote address at Open Video Conference 2010.

Dubbed “the explainer” by Wired magazine, Michael Wesch is a cultural anthropologist exploring the effects of new media on society and culture. After two years studying the implications of writing on a remote indigenous culture in the rain forest of Papua New Guinea, he has turned his attention to the effects of social media and digital technology on global society.

Dr. Wesch is not only a fascinating speaker, with deep insights into the budding online video culture—he’s also a talented videographer. His videos on culture, technology, education, and information have been viewed by millions, translated in over 15 languages, and are frequently featured at international film festivals and major academic conferences. If you haven’t already seen The Machine is Us/ing Us, we strongly recommend you spend the next few minutes watching and be amazed. Or visit his YouTube channel to watch his illuminating talks (especially An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube, presented at the Library of Congress in 2008).

Wesch has won several major awards for his work, including a Wired Magazine Rave Award, the John Culkin Award for Outstanding Praxis in Media Ecology, and he was recently named an Emerging Explorer by National Geographic. He has also won several teaching awards, including the 2008 CASE/Carnegie U.S. Professor of the Year for Doctoral and Research Universities.

We can’t wait to hear what Dr. Wesch has to share at this year’s OVC. For updates on the Open Video Conference, including agenda and speaker announcements, please visit http://openvideoconference.org.

Have a great idea for OVC? Want to give a talk? Visit http://openvideoconference.org/proposals.

This year’s Open Video Conference is October 1-2 in New York City. We’re pleased to announce that independent filmmaker Saskia Wilson-Brown will be giving a talk on the future of the film festival.

Saskia has served as co-director of Los Angeles’ fiercely independent Silver Lake Film Festival, and as a programmer, film juror, advisor and panelist for organizations such as Slamdance, Gen Art, NewFest and IFP. At Current TV, she was head of filmmaker outreach and development for the participatory television and web programming initiatives. She also contributes to the WorkBook Project’s New Breed and Filmmaker Magazine as a guest writer.

Today, she supports DIY filmmaking by producing events and educational initiatives around new models in filmmaking—including most recently the OVA/Workbook Project Filmmaker Summit at Slamdance, the TEDActive Innovation Lab, and special film programs like 2009’s Ultra Fabulous Beyond Drag. Her recent projects include helping develop a crowd-sourced fundraising campaign for the Yes Men and exploring unique distribution models with OpenIndie. Finally, she conceived of and runs a roving guerilla screening series called Cinema Speakeasy, which she currently runs from Los Angeles.

Saskia will join a host of other speakers to discuss the future of filmmaking, fundraising, and independent distribution at Open Video Conference 2010.

Have a great idea for OVC? Want to give a talk? Visit http://openvideoalliance.org/proposals.

We are now accepting proposals for panels, presentations, workshop sessions, demo sessions, and other programming for the next Open Video Conference in New York City. Join us and over 1000 participants during our groundbreaking two-day conference and take part in the discussions that are driving the future of the online video medium.Travel funding is available. Visit http://openvideoconference.org/proposals/ to make a submission. (more…)