***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***    January 25, 1999
 

MEDIA FOR NEW MILLENNIUM AT CONFERENCE

The upcoming New Media conference at UVic will not only feature the latest in communications technology, but will use that technology to deliver its message. The three-day event Feb. 21 to 23 will showcase leading-edge projects and trends in new media communications. The first conference of its kind, New Media is a joint presentation of B.C.’s post-secondary institutions, the provincial ministry of advanced education, training and technology and other interested organizations.

Technologies on display and in use include web casting, the broadcasting of pre-recorded audio or video over the web, and video streaming, the broadcast of a live audio/video signal on-line.

“Web casting and video streaming will not only carry the conference content to a wider audience beyond UVic, but will demonstrate the actual technologies involved,” says conference chair Dr. Martin Segger. “Convergence of broadcast, cable and Internet media is happening now and that is what our sessions will focus on.” Selected conference events will be broadcast on the Internet.

Convergence in the mass media will be discussed at a plenary session featuring speakers from CBC, Shaw Communications, KCTS TV Seattle, RealNetworks and MEMEX and chaired by Jim Nicholl, former general manager of CHEK-TV and vice-president of BCTV, Vancouver Island operations. Provincial advanced education, training and technology minister Andrew Petter will discuss the new skill sets necessary in the age of new media and Stuart Culbertson, deputy minister and chief information officer, Information Science and Technology Agency, will talk about the province’s new media and technology strategy.

Other sessions focus on education in multimedia, the business of new media, distance education and distributed learning, web site design and virtual museums and galleries. The conference opens with a tour of UVic’s state-of-the-art Centre for Innovative Teaching and features a delegates’ tour of the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit at the Royal B.C. Museum. Victoria arts specialist Ed Oscapella, former executive director of the B.C. Internet Association, is assisting Segger in organizing the conference.

The conference is designed for media specialists, content users and providers and others interested in the future of new media. Conference partners include: UVic, UBC, Camosun College, BCIT, Royal Roads University, the province of British Columbia, Information Science and Technology Agency, BC Tel, and Department of Canadian Heritage, Government of Canada. Register on line at http://www.maltwood.uvic.ca/nmc/

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Media contact:  Dr. Martin Segger, Director, Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery at    (250) 721-8298 or msegger@uvic.ca