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Amy Webb
The Future of Communications
Right now, the iPhone 4 seems cool: it takes HD video. Video conferences with someone halfway around the world. Lets you play virtual critic in an augmented reality environment, leaving floating geo-tagged restaurant notes all around your city. As exciting as these features may seem, we're just at the beginning of a major shift in the way we communicate. New tools being developed at MIT enable Twitter users to think-publish their tweets. A fabric that can listen (and react!) to voice commands has already been prototyped. We're all very excited about the iPad, but a microthin retractable tablet that streams content without wires is currently being tested. This invigorating five minute Ignite talk will showcase the cutting edge of communications technology and will ask attendees to question how these devices might forever change human interactions: the words we choose, our sentiment, our ability to relate to each other.
About Amy Webb:
Amy is an author, speaker and futurist, adapting current and emerging technologies for use in communications. She has spent more than 15 years working with digital media, founding several web-based companies and now advising various startups, journalism associations and media groups as well as Webbmedia's clients all over the world.
She began her career as a reporter/ writer with Newsweek (Tokyo) and the Wall Street Journal (Hong Kong) where she covered emerging technology, media and cultural trends. She has contributed to the New York Times, NPR, Economist, Philadelphia Inquirer and many publications and broadcast shows. Her work has been recognized with awards/nominations from Webby, Editor & Publisher, Investigative Reporters & Editors, Society of Professional Journalists, W3 and IAVA. She has a M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and holds a B.A. in political economics from Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. She also earned Nikyu Certification in the Japanese government-administered Language Proficiency Test and speaks fluently.
Amy serves on the Board of Directors for the Online News Association, the Knight-Batten Advisory Board, the Advisory Board for Temple University’s Journalism Program and the Advisory Board for the International Center for Journalists. She is one of the Knight News Challenge judges. Amy is also a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (Interactive Media Peer Group) and serves as a judge for the Emmy® awards. She has been on the adjunct journalism faculty at University of Maryland, Temple University, Tokyo University and University of the Arts. She is a featured speaker at media conferences around the world and appears regularly on broadcast radio and television shows.
