10 Social Impact Sessions for March 10
The Forrest Four-Cast: March 10, 2019
You’ll fine some of the most intriguing and thought-provoking content for SXSW 2019 within the Social & Global Impact Track, which occur at the newly renovated Line Hotel (111 E Cesar Chavez), just 2 blocks southwest of the Austin Convention Center.
Listed in chronological order, ten sessions within this track for Sunday, March 10 that we are particularly excited about are as follows:
2019 SXSW Community Service Awards
The 20th annual, FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC event celebrates the spirit of community in Austin and SXSW. Six individuals and six organizations will be recognized for their qualities of community, compassion, care, education and positive energy that the late SXSW Multimedia co-founder Dewey Winburne brought to his tenure at this organization. Join us for a light brunch reception, and to hear the stories of these outstanding honorees. SXSW badge is not needed to attend this free and open to the public celebration of some of the best aspects of today’s technology ecosystem.
11:00 am in the Onyx Ballroom
The Dark Side of Tech: Surveillance and Propaganda
For repressive regimes, frontier technology can mean new ways to gain and maintain power. Will big data and artificial intelligence liberate or surveil? Join the Human Rights Foundation, Uighur linguist and police state survivor Tahir Imin, Buzzfeed News tech editor Megha Rajagopalan, and foreign affairs reporter Melissa Chan for a conversation on how super apps, facial recognition, movement analysis, DNA mapping, fake video, and other cutting-edge technologies are used to control, surveil, and promote state propaganda in China — and what that means for the rest of the world.
12:30 pm in the Topaz Ballroom
Building Authentic Movements in the 21st Century
In an age when movements are as common as a tweet, the struggle to ensure their authenticity, value and commitment to the people are unclear. This blurriness is not just a detriment for the dissemination of the message the movement aims to carry but can cause extreme harm to the folks it intends to serve. But how does someone or a group of people create a movement that is relevant, impactful and authentic?
2 pm in the Onyx Ballroom 1
Missing and Exploited Children: Paradigm Solutions
A missing child is a vulnerable child in need of protection. The longer they are missing the greater the possibility that they might be trafficked, sexually exploited, or abused. ICMEC’s Global Missing Children’s Network (GMCN) recently launched the “GMCNgine.” An innovative, intelligent platform that integrates and searches a vast array of global data sets, looking for matches and other clues to quickly resolve missing children cases — a system as tireless in its efforts to help locate missing children as are the loved ones who search for them.
2 pm in the Topaz Ballroom
Don’t @ Venice: Instagram is Killing Bucket Lists
Ever see that perfect shot on social media and think, “Wow I want to go there”? Yeah — and so did everyone else. And little by little, we’re ruining these picture perfect destinations. This panel will deep dive on the issue and discuss who is responsible, what can be done — and needs to be done — to save these picture-worthy (or not) places.
3:30 pm in the Topaz Ballroom
The Global Voices of #MeToo
The #MeToo movement rocketed to prominence when women across industries and geographies shared stories of their abuse and discrimination. While much attention has been paid to the high-profile women who sparked the cultural reckoning, the most vulnerable women — on farms, and in fields, hotels, and homes — remain in the shadows, even as #MeToo has taken root across the globe, from India to Ecuador to South Korea. For decades, CARE® has led innovative programs that lift women’s voices, give women choices, and empower women workers to ignite transformational change. As part of the Make #March4Women campaign, CARE is demonstrating how to break down barriers that marginalize women around the world. This panel, featuring international leaders and activists, will kick off the campaign.
3:30 pm in the Onyx Ballroom
Deepfakes: What Should We Fear, What Can We Do
As more sophisticated, more personalized, more convincing audio and video manipulation emerges how do we get beyond apocalyptic discussion around malicious deepfakes and other AI-manipulated synthetic media? Focused on WITNESS’ collaborations with technologists, journalists and human rights activists (wit.to/Deepfakes) we’ll explore state-of-the-art usages and potential solutions (wit.to/DeepfakesSolutions) and how we fight the dark side of a faked video + audio future.
5:15 pm in the Onyx Ballroom
A Mile Deep + 1” Wide: The Rise of Vertical Media
Publishers today are struggling to identify diverse revenue streams and consistent sources of audience amid sobering valuations. As the Internet becomes increasingly long-tail and scale becomes a commodity, vertical media brands delivering passionate audiences are having a moment. In this session, Co-Founder, Mike Rothman, will shed light on how Fatherly, the digital media brand for dads, redefines success in a tumultuous media landscape.
5:30 pm in the Onyx Ballroom
Divorce à la Facebook: Kids Trapped in the Middle
Ginger Gentile investigates stories of families affected by divorce in her feature documentary, Erasing Family. She discovers a whole world of parents and children who went through the divorce courts and are hurt by this system. They take to social media instead, vent frustrations and seek justice. Children of divorce are using social media to reach judges and asking why they can’t see their mom or dad. Abusive text messages from bitter exes go viral. Such posts have power in court proceedings and even create virtual mobs. On the other end, some use social media to search for and reunite with families estranged after divorce. This talk features real posts & tweets to illustrate how divorce impacts us all, and how we can make separations within families a healthier experience.
5:30 pm in the Onyx Ballroom
Treating Abused and Exploited Children: What Now?
The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children’s Global Health Coalition brings together healthcare leaders to address the impact of sexual abuse and exploitation on a child’s physical and mental health. Currently the GHC advocates for international medical codes specific to sexual exploitation and developing training programs for healthcare providers and child-serving professionals. The goal to increase the number of adults who understand this issue and are competent to intervene.
5:45 pm in the Onyx Ballroom
Hugh Forrest serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW, the world’s most unique gathering of creative professionals. He also tries to write at least four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts often cover tech-related trends; other times they focus on books, pop culture, sports and other current events.
