Next Media Conference

April 12th, 2019


The Next Media Conference brings together creatives and futurists who are shaping the field of communication. Come and learn firsthand the ways today’s emerging technologies will affect how we communicate tomorrow. The conference has something for everyone, whether you are a designer, developer or enthusiast. Learn how AR, VR, MR, AI, biometric sensors, and spatial computing will impact us and will enter the mainstream essentially changing how we communicate, organize ourselves, and interact with the world around us.
The Next Media conference is hosted by the University of Miami School of Communication in Coral Gables, Florida on April 12th, 2018.

 

Featured Speakers

Julieta Aguilera

Julieta Aguilera

Immersion and scientific visualization

What can Virtual Reality and Scientific Visualization tell us about understanding climate change? Immersive, sensory-rich media and interactive models of cosmic scale position us in space to explore relationships. And even though space may seem obvious (we live in the world, moving through space in order to sustain ourselves and life around us), the notion of reality is not necessarily the same for different people. In fact, reality itself is mostly in our heads as we navigate space noticing the effects of our actions and building models of the world in three dimensions and over time. These are spatial and temporal models, not too different from the models that astrophysicists build to understand the Universe we are immersed in at grander scales. The sensory understanding of the world, both experiential and mediated, is a form of literacy that is now required in order to personally and collectively understand and act on the consequences of human influence on the planet: climate change.

Sarah Hill

Sarah Hill

Sarah Hill is the CEO of StoryUP XR and an interactive media tech professional with 25 years building successful platforms. Her company, StoryUP, makes “Healium”, the world’s first VR/AR channel controlled by a brain-computer interface and heart rate. Hill is a former interactive TV news anchor/Journalist for the NBC, ABC, & CBS affiliates in Missouri. A national Edward R. Murrow, NAB Service to America, National Sigma Delta Chi, and 12 time mid-America Emmy award-winning storyteller, she spent decades reporting about the world’s negativity and trauma in 5 continents. She started working with AR filters during live TV newscasts in 2011. Hill creates with a variety of XR inputs including BCI, heart rate variability, and respiration trackers. She’s passionate about the transition of storytelling to ‘story living’ and XR’s effect on wellbeing. An alum of the Missouri School of Journalism and former adjunct faculty, her reporting has taken her team around the globe capturing stories about the human spirit in the Amazon, UAE, Congo, Guatemala, Zambia, and China. StoryUP’s roots are in virtual travel for Veterans. In 2015, Hill’s team built a program called “Honor Everywhere”, that uses Virtual Reality to allow aging Veterans the opportunity to see their WWII, Vietnam, Korea, & Women’s Memorials. A professional prankster, don't eat her powdered donuts.

Mike Pell

Mike Pell

The Age of Smart Information

By combining Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR), we are fundamentally transforming the very nature of information, and the myriad ways we communicate with each other about anything, and everything. Deceptively powerful and stunningly beautiful, this monumental leap forward in conveying information effectively has always been right there in front of us, waiting to be unlocked, hiding in plain sight. All it took was the convergence of human ingenuity, artificial intelligence, and the rise of a medium capable of magic. Join this session to learn more about how we are all helping to launch The Age of Smart Information.

Johanna Pirker

Johanna Pirker

The Future of Learning - A world without distractions

In this talk, Johanna Pirker talks about the power of virtual reality technologies to support learners, especially in the digital age full of distractions. She reviews decades of research to explore different VR learning applications and shares new concepts of learning using the example of the award-winning environment “Maroon” to explore how VR can and should be used to support learners.

James Powderly

James Powderly

Design and engineering leader with a 16-year career creating empowering platforms and innovative experiences on two planets and across an improbable set of domains, including space robots, graffiti, assistive technology, architecture, DIY, fashion, viral media and spatial computing. In 2012, he began working on wearables and AR/VR projects at Samsung Electronics in Seoul. And since 2015, he has worked at XR startup Magic Leap leading user interaction and experience design for the Magic Leap One device, the LuminOS and a suite of spatial computing apps, like the Helio browser, Gallery, Camera and Avatar Chat.

 

Schedule

The Next Media conference has concluded. Here are some photos from the event

 

Transportation

Parking is available at the Paiva Parking Garage at the University of Miami:

5615 Pavia St,Coral Gables,FL, 33146

Airports

Miami International Aiport (MIA) is 25 minutes from the conference, and Fort Lauderdale International Airport (FLL) is 55 minutes by car.

Driving

Parking is available on the University of Miami's campus. Visitors can use the Pay by Phone app.

Public Transport

The conference is a 10 Minute walk from the University Station stop .

Organizers

Special thanks to: