MediaFutures Annual Meeting 2023
November 16 - November 17
MediaFutures is a centre for research-based innovation with the goal to develop responsible media technology, leveraging AI technology, for the media sector.
The centre is a consortium of the most important media players in Norway. The University of Bergen is the host of the centre. User partners include NRK and TV 2, the two main TV broadcasters in Norway, Schibsted, including Bergens Tidende (BT), and Amedia, the two largest news media houses in Scandinavia/Norway, as well as the world-renowned Norwegian media tech companies Vizrt, Highsoft and the global tech and media player IBM. The centre collaborates with renowned national research institutions including the University of Oslo, the University of Stavanger and NORCE, and works together with high-profile international research institutions.
This years Media Futures Annual Meeting will be held at November 16-17 at Media City Bergen, Norway, the 2023 Annual Meeting constitutes a forum for the exchange of scientific results and industry insights within the field of responsible media technology.
This year’s focus topic are Generative AI and the EU AI Act. In particular, we are interested in tackling questions related to as to what extent Generative AI and the EU AI Act will have an impact on the future of the media.
Following last year’s success, the 2023 Annual Meeting is expected once again to attract, and bring together Norwegian and international researchers, and industry practitioners with the intent of engaging in discussions on topics related to:
- AI Policy & Media Experiences
- AI Policy & Recommender Technology
- Generative AI & Content Production
- Generative AI & Media Interaction
- Generative AI & Large Language Models
Join us for inspirational keynote talks, prototype demonstrations, presentations held by our researchers, and industry partners, and poster session.
We are pleased to announce the following high-profile keynote speakers and experts in the field of AI: Ricardo Baeza-Yates and Esther Paniagua.
KEYNOTES
Ricardo Baeza-Yates, Director of Research, Institute for Experiential AI, Northeastern University
Ricaro Baeza-Yates is Director of Research at the Institute for Experiential AI of Northeastern University. Before, he was VP of Research at Yahoo Labs, based in Barcelona, Spain, and later in Sunnyvale, California, from 2006 to 2016. He is co-author of the best-seller Modern Information Retreival textbook published by Addison-Wesley in 1999 and 2011 (2nd ed), that won the ASIST 2012 Book of the Year award. From 2002 to 2004 he was elected to the Board of Governors of the IEEE Computer Society and between 2012 and 2016 was elected for the ACM Council. In 2009 he was named ACM Fellow and in 2011 IEEE Fellow, among other awards and distinctions. He obtained a Ph.D. in CS from the University of Waterloo, Canada, in 1989, and his areas of expertise are web search and data mining, information retrieval, bias on AI, data science and algorithms in general.
We are honored to have Ricardo Baeza-Yates as a keynote speaker at our Annual Meeting.
Ricardo Baeza-Yates
Abstract
Esther Paniagua, Columnist and author specializing in science, technology, and cybersecurity.
Esther Paniagua is an award-winning tech & society journalist and author. Esther is one of Spain’s Linkedin Top Voices in Technology & Innovation. She has been honored as one of the “Top 100 Women Leaders of Spain” and as one of the “100 Most Creative People in Business” by Forbes. Her outstanding contributions to science, technology, and innovation journalism have earned her numerous awards.
Her latest book, Error 404. Are you ready for a world without the internet? (Debate, 2021), has garnered critical acclaim. Originally published in Spanish, it has been translated into German (Hoffman und Campe) and into Italian (Einaudi). “Error 404” will also be available in Polish, Greek, Croatian, and Romanian soon.
Esther is highly sought after as a speaker on topics related to digital governance, tech ethics, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity. Additionally, Esther teaches AI Journalism at the Rey Juan Carlos University’s master’s degree program in Investigative Journalism, New Narratives, Data, Fact-checking, and Transparency.
We are thrilled to have Esther Paniagua as a keynote speaker at our Annual Meeting.
Esther Paniagua
Abstract
Thrive or die? The future of journalism in the AI age
Gradually and then suddenly, AI has erupted into the media landscape. As we navigate this transformative era, pressing questions arise: Can AI fulfill its promises of enhancing work efficiency, boosting audience engagement, generating substantial economic gains, and liberating journalists from repetitive tasks? Or does it pose a threat to the very fabric of journalism, within the backdrop of precariousness and content plundering?
This talk aims to unravel the complex web of AI’s -and more specifically LLM’s- impact on journalism, scaling automatic content generation and the proliferation of deepfakes in an already ‘infoxicated’ ecosystem. By exploring both utopian and dystopian scenarios, we seek to 1) provide insights into the potential futures that media and journalism face and 2) provide proposals, from an ethical and responsible media perspective, to ensure that Journalism thrives (and does not die) in the AI age.
PRELIMINARY PROGRAM
Day 1: Media City Bergen
| 09:00 | AI Policy Workshop |
| 12:00 | Registration |
| 13:00 | Welcome Adresse by Christoph Trattner, UiB Vice-Rector Pinar Heggernes, and, MCB CEO Helge O. Svela |
| 13:15 | Keynote Ricardo Baeza-Yates |
| 14:00 | Break |
| 14:15 | Keynote Esther Paniagua |
| 15:00 | Break |
| 15:15 | Panel on Generative AI & AI Policy |
| 16:00 | Demo & Poster Session |
| 17:30 | Demo & Poster Awards |
| 20:00 | Conference Dinner |
Day 2 (Internal): Scandic Ørnen
| 09:30 | Info and announcements |
| 09:35 | Work Package Presentations 1-3 |
| 10:50 | Break + Group Photo |
| 11:10 | Work Package Presentations 4-5 |
| 12:00 | Lunch |
| 13:00 | University – Industry (UI) Collaboration Paper Presentation |
| 13:20 | University – Industry (UI) Collaboration Panel Discussion |
| 14:05 | Break |
| 14:25 | Introduction to World Cafe |
| 14:30 | AI/UI/Policy World Cafe Session 1 |
| 14:50 | AI/UI/Policy World Cafe Session 2 |
| 15:10 | AI/UI/Policy World Cafe Session 3 |
| 15:25 | Summary |
| 16:00 | End |
CALL FOR DEMOS & POSTERS
We invite students from all areas of media studies, information sciences, informatics and other related fields to submit poster and demo abstracts for our Annual Meeting on 16-17 November.
MediaFutures is a centre for research-based innovation at the Department of Information Science and Media Studies, University of Bergen, located at Media City Bergen.
The centre is a part of the Norwegian Research Council’s Research-based Innovation scheme. MediaFutures, in cooperation with industry partners from news media and media technology research topics such as media experiences, recommender technology, content production and analysis, content interaction and availability, and Norwegian language technology. The goal is to develop responsible technological solutions to meet societal challenges such as fake news, echo chambers and political polarization. Read more about the centre at www.mediafutures.no/about.
The MediaFutures Annual Meeting, which will take place on November 16 -17 at Media City Bergen, constitutes an excellent opportunity to showcase your research project and/or plans to both academic and industry representatives.
The demo and poster session will take place on-site at the Media City Bergen Atrium – more details to come. The presenters of the demos and posters will be given the opportunity to pitch their posters.
Submission requirements:
Students submit short abstracts (max 300 words). All demo and poster proposals will be handled electronically and must be submitted to office@mediafutures.no by 23:59, AoE (Anywhere on Earth) on October 1st, 2023. The submissions will be reviewed by an expert committee.
Relevant Content & Topics:
We invite submissions for posters and demos that align with the centre’s activities on responsible media technology and innovation. This year, we are particularly interested in how these themes intersect with Generative AI and AI Policy. Core topics of interest are:
- Understanding Media Experiences
- User Modeling, Personalisation & Engagement
- Media Content Production & Analysis
- Media Content Interaction & Accessibility
- Language Technologies for the Media
Poster format:
- Students submit abstracts no longer than 300 words and should give a brief description of the content and objective of the poster or demo.
- The abstract is to be submitted in Font Size 12, Arial and in PDF format.
- If accepted, the submitter of the abstract will be invited to create a physical poster.
- The poster size is maximum A0 portrait format (width: 84,1 cm, height: 118,9 cm), and the poster should be readable at a 1-meter distance. Small text should be avoided (minimum font size 14). A poster template will be provided.
- A short pitch (maximum 60 seconds) will be given at the beginning of the demo and poster session.
- The posters will be made available digitally to conference participants. Please note that it is the presenters’ responsibility to ensure that presenting a demo or poster at the conference does not infringe any Intellectual Property rights and will neither hinder them nor their co-authors to publish and/or commercially exploit the contents/results in the future.
- Presenters who wish that their poster is deleted after the conference are asked to contact the poster committee at office@mediafutures.no.
- Further guidelines and instructions on how to prepare the demo or poster and pitch will be sent to all accepted presenters in a separate email.