“Learn to use your own mind” – went a popular slogan in the historical period of enlightenment.

For optimists, digital media currently could follow very much the same direction: digital audicences decide when, where and what to watch. Users generate and share their own content in unprecedented numbers, and community driven platforms compete with tradtional professional content providers in new and challenging ways. The web as a global medium is providing tools for a global approach in intercultural communication and education, with exciting perspectives for democracy and sustainability building.

But the new framework is tricky for all the players in the game: while traditional public service media need to drammatically redefine and sometimes reinvent their roles, the question is whether audiences are medialiterate enough to fully make use of the empowering potential provided by digital media.

Are we ready for a new  enlightenment?

BaKaFORUM 2011 will show and discuss the best and most innovative cross-media productions in education and societal media. We will analyse the most successful strategies of traditional public service media in meeting  the challenges of digital convergence, and we will experience the most innovative teaching methods and ways to pedagogically use digital media in class.

If you would like to suggest a topic or project for a presentation, please do not hesitate to send your ideas to Programme Manager Markus Nikel at nikel@bakaforum.net