Journalism's ideals meet Silicon Valley's tools in this three-day, conceptual mashup. The news is now driven by rapidly changing technology. It's time for journalists to get up to speed, and explain their needs.

NewsTools2008 is a flexible, three-day convening that will offer journalists, technologists, entrepreneurs and funders a chance to explore ideas, form partnerships, develop projects, outline systems and businesses for sustaining "journalism that matters."

NewsTools2008 limited to 200 participants. This Journalism That Matters event is organized by the Media Giraffe Project, with the support of Yahoo! Inc., the Roy S. Park Foundation, other donors and a growing list of collaborators: http://www.mediagiraffe.org/wiki/index.php/Jtm-sv-collaborators

LOCATION: Domain Hotel
Sunnyvale, CA

DATES: Wednesday, Apr 30, 2008 , 2:00 p.m. through Friday, May 2, 2008, 5p.m. (optional attendance, Saturday, May 3)

Discounted, early-bird registration is now open for "NewsTools2008.org" set for April 30-May 3, 2008 at the Yahoo! Conference Center in the heart of Silicon Valley.

NewsTools2008 begins Feb. 15 for registered participants with pre-event online collaboration . . . includes the three-day convening April 30-May 3 . . . and follow-up study of post-event applications.

WHAT TO EXPECT:

a. Break-out sessions -- some called in advance, some on the fly – to update, exchange and build.

b. Share insights on how the concept and practice of journalism must adapt to search and social networks, crowdsourcing, diverse, fragmented audiences and digital, participatory politics.

c. Explore business models, management practices, audiences/communities, journalism approaches and ethical guidelines enabled by the new technologies.

d. Cross-silo exchanges that open channels . . . create alliances . . .frameworks . . . deploy technologies . . . and establish or re-engineer organizations for producing "news that matters."

e. Current-awareness briefings on the 5-10 technologies most likely to disrupt - and reinvent - journalism, news . . . democracy.

f. An upate on "JTM-Next Newsroom" and other projects

g. News about the latest experiments in non-profit and citizen journalism and the technologies they need.

h. JournaTech Expo -- Companies, organizations and individuals show and discuss their ideas, products and services during a half-day expo on Saturday, May 3. Co-organized by Northern California Society of Professional Journalists.

NewsTools2008 is hosted by the Journalism That Matters Collaborative, the Media Giraffe Project at the University of Massachusetts, the Northern California
Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), Yahoo! Inc. and is supported in part by the Roy S. Park Foundation and other donors.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:

-- New Journalism Platform Entrepreneurs: Tool builders for journalists, citizens and communities to do journalism processes

-- The Tech Community: Programmers, user -experience experts, social-network innovators, web 2.0 entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and angel investors

-- Civic activists, alt-media practitioners, journalism reformers

-- "New Media Pioneers": Heavy users of Web 2.0 for journalistic purposes, The "Pro-Am's", vloggers, news-blog writers, (+ more)

-- "Traditional" Journalists: editors, publishers, new-media managers

-- Local Online Entrepreneurs: Operators and planners of citizen-journalism initiatives serving communities.


LIKELY INQUIRY/ACTION:

-- Strip away the legacy platforms and processes and ask: What remains of journalism that is needed to support participatory democracy and community?

-- Spend an afternoon and evening on April 30 describing those core values and elements. Then join two more days of discussion -- and practical design/build workshops -- with technologists.

-- Tap Silicon Valley's best tools -- off the shelf and invented on-the-fly -- to put journalism's values and elements in practice in new ways.

SCHEDULE SUMMARY:

NewsTools2008 will begin with registration at 2 p.m. on Wed., April 30 at the Yahoo! Inc. conference facility in Sunnyvale, Calif. The program will begin at
3 p.m. and run through dinner and an after-dinner seminar-discussion ending at approximately 8:45 p.m.

Thursday's schedule will begin with continental breakfast at 8:30 p.m. and run through 5:30 p.m. After a one-hour break, we'll resume at 6:30 p.m. with dinner and a seminar-discussion ending approximately 8:45 p.m.

Friday's schedule will begin with continental breakfast at 8:30 a.m. and run through 5 p.m., after which participants will be encouraged to continue collaborations during "on your own" dinner or evening activity at the conference hotel or elsewhere.

Saturday's optional schedule will open with continental breakfast and a day-long collaboration with the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists including a morning JournaTech Expo and afternoon breakout panels, ending at 5 p.m.

Lunch is included on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. A van shuttle will operate at strategic times between Yahoo and the conference-designated Domain Hotel.

The registration fee of $295 through Feb. 18 ($395 thereafter) covers all sessions, as well as all meals (except for Friday night).

WHY YOU SHOULD REGISTER EARLY:

We want to make sure we don't have too many journalists, or too many technologists or too few other folks. Because we an only accommodate 200 participants in NewsTools2008.org, we're treating conference registration as an application process. So the earlier you register the more certain you are of not having your registration fee (minus a $25 processing fee) returned for lack of space.

The early-bird registration fee of $295 is a one-third discount over general registration post-March 1. The $295 covers all days/events atNewsTools2008.org and the companion one-day Society of Professional Journalists "meetup" -- including Wednesday and Thursday dinner, Thurs.-Sat. lunches, and Thurs.-Sat. continental breakfast. Friday dinner you're on your own to network (or work) after an hors d'oeuvres reception.

DIVERSITY STIPENDS:
We are setting aside a portion of each regular participant's registration to provide partial fee waivers to participants who, for financial reasons, might not otherwise be able to attend NewsTools2008.org. Students and representatives of small non-profits are among those who may apply.

If you believe you might be eligible for a stipend, chose that option when registering and the NewsTools2008 team will be in touch with you to discuss your circumstances. You must register and pay a $25 application fee to be considered for a stipend.

MORE INFO AND REGISTRATION NOW:
http://www.mediagiraffe.org/wiki/index.php/Jtm-sv or: http://www.newstools.org/

DOWNLOAD A PRINTABLE VERSION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT:
http://www.mediagiraffe.org/pdf/jtm-sv-invite.pdf

DOWNLOAD BACKGROUND ON JOURNALISM THAT MATTERS:
http:/www.mediagiraffe.org/pdf/jtm-sv-background.pdf