#paleyic

Slate's Future Tense blog has a story about how the LA Times was able to publish the first news report about Monday's earthquake in Los Angeles thanks to Quakebot, an algorithm written by LA Times journo-programmer Ken Schwenke that automatically transforms USGS data into story form...and, sadly, does not look like the robot hunched over a laptop in the Shutterstock photo above. 

Kudos to Slate's Will Oremus for not fomenting the kind of robots-are-putting-journalists-out-of-work hysteria that tends to arise when companies like Narrative Science and StatSheet come up. "If anything," writes Oremus, "helpers like Quakebot might save a few journalists’ jobs by freeing them to focus on the type of work that can only be done by a local reporter, on the ground, with a brain."

Narrative Science CTO and Cofounder Kris Hammond gave an awesome presentation -- and used nearly every inch of the stage! -- at the 2013 Paley International Council Summit: The Data Overthrow. Here's the video:

LOS ANGELES, September 15, 2011 - Grupo PRISA, one of the leading Spanish and Portuguese-language media group, and the Paley Center for Media, the premier nonprofit forum for the media industry, announced today that they will partner for a special gathering of the Paley Center’s International Council, a traveling, independent forum dedicated to providing common ground for the global media industries. The summit, which PRISA will host in Madrid, Spain, in April 2012, will focus on the future of the news and information industry worldwide. The announcement was made at the 2011 International Council summit, a three-day conference currently being held at the Paley Center’s location in Los Angeles.

“Technology and social media have ushered in unprecedented access to news and information, even enabling anyone with a smartphone and an Internet connection to become a journalist,” said Pat Mitchell, president and CEO of the Paley Center for Media. “But these forces have also disrupted the industry in ways that challenge the capacity of the press to be a vital democratic institution. The Paley Center’s International Council is the ideal forum to address these critical issues. And with its broad international reach and celebrated history as a champion of press freedom, PRISA is the ideal partner and host.”

“It is indeed a great honor for PRISA to work with the Paley Center for Media in organizing the next International Council to be held in Madrid next April, “said Juan Luis Cebrián, CEO of Grupo PRISA, from the International Council summit in Los Angeles, where he spoke about the emerging market for news and information in Latin America. “This is a unique forum where top experts from around the world will debate the future of media and its relationship to technology and social media”.

The date and location of IC2012 Madrid will be announced in the coming weeks. For more information about the Paley Center’s International Council, including live video from the summit in please visit www.paleycenter.org/IC.

About PRISA

PRISA is the world’s leading Spanish and Portuguese-language media group in the fields of education, information and entertainment, thanks to its multi-channel offer of high-quality products. Present in 22 countries, it reaches more than 50 million users through its global brands El País, 40 Principales, Santillana and Alfaguara. As market leader in general-interest press, free-to-view and pay TV, spoken-word and music radio, education and publishing, it is one of the world’s most profitable media groups and possesses an extraordinary portfolio of assets. Its presence in Brazil and Portugal and among the growing Hispanic community in the US has given the group an Ibero-American dimension and has opened up a potential global market of 700 million people. For more information, please visit www.prisa.com.

About The Paley Center for Media's International Council

Created in 1995, the International Council brings together the chief executives of the world's most important media companies. The role of the Council is to advance the exchange of ideas among these leaders in global media, entertainment, and communications, and to foster a community among them. This is accomplished through both informal and organized discussions on a wide range of critical issues that will define the media and its role in society for generations to come. Past meetings have been held in Rome, Berlin, Madrid, Paris, London, Vienna, Beijing, Cape Town, Montréal, Istanbul, New Delhi, Bangalore, California's Silicon Valley, and New York City. For more information, please visit www.paleycenter.org/IC.

About The Paley Center for Media

The Paley Center for Media seeks to preserve the past, illuminate the present, and envision the future through the lens of media. With the nation’s foremost public archive of television, radio and Internet programming, the Paley Center produces programs and forums for the public, industry professionals, thought leaders, and the creative community to explore the evolving ways in which we create, consume, and share news and entertainment. Founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, a pioneering innovator in the industry, the Paley Center advances the understanding of media and its impact on our lives in an era of unprecedented change.  For more information, please visit http://www.paleycenter.org/.

Media Contacts

Carrie Oman

Paley Center for Media

212.621.6785

[email protected]

Eric Lindbom

Edelman for the Paley Center for Media

323.202.1419