Keynote Speakers Confirmed for MDD 2012!
RICARDO DOMINGUEZ AND DR. SUNERA THOBANI CONFIRMED AS KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
VANCOUVER, B.C. – Media Democracy Days 2012 (MDD) is pleased to announce that both Ricardo Dominguez and Dr. Sunera Thobani have been confirmed as keynote speakers for Media Democracy Days 2012, taking place November 2-3 in downtown Vancouver.
Ricardo Dominguez is the co-founder of The Electronic Disturbance Theater (EDT) and an Associate Professor in the Visual Arts Department at the University of California San Diego. EDT is a group that works to blend technology in pursuit of social change, with projects that create new means for acts of civil disobedience. These projects include, Virtual-Sit-In technologies for non-violent online resistance, and, more recently, the Transborder Immigrant Tool, a GPS-based cell phone safety net tool for those crossing the Mexico/U.S border. For more information feel free to consult http://visarts.ucsd.edu/~gd2/faculty/ricardo-dominguez.
Dr. Stuart Poyntz, Programming Advisor for MDD, is enthusiastic about welcoming Mr. Dominguez to Vancouver. “We’re thrilled to bring in Ricardo this year. His approach to social justice work melds the world of art and activism in a way that is certainly edgy and thought-provoking, and will definitely ask all of us how we too might push the boundaries of our activism and citizenship.”
Dr. Thobani is a Professor of Women and Gender studies at the University of British Columbia and frequently writes and speaks and speaks issues of gender, race, and the media. Dr. Thobani is deeply committed to social justice work, and, notably, has served as the President of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC) where she worked to make the politics of anti-racism central to the women’s movement. Additionally, Dr. Thobani regularly works with community organizations and strives to forge alliances between social justice movements and the academy. For more information consult http://www.ws.arts.ubc.ca/bios/bio_sunerat.html.
“Dr. Thobani has worked to challenge misrepresentations of gender and race in the media, and further the movement for democratic media in an increasingly globalized and conflicted world,” said Dr. Kathleen Cross, MDD Chair. “We are very pleased she has agreed to add her important voice to our event”.
The School of Communication at SFU, OpenMedia.ca, and the Vancouver Public Library, Central Library are pleased to host both speakers, with Dr. Thobani’s opening keynote scheduled to take place Friday, November 2nd at SFU Woodward’s Goldcorp Centre for the Arts and Mr. Dominguez’s on Saturday, November 3rd at the Vancouver Public Library Central Library. Admission to all MDD events is free.
This year MDD is featuring an expanded two-day event from November 2-3, 2012. The weekend activities include:
- A Friday evening opening keynote from Dr. Thobani, followed by a film screening (film title TBA) and question and answer session. This frevent takes place at the SFU Woodwards Goldcorp Centre for the Arts in Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema.
- A Saturday afternoon opening plenary from Ricardo Dominguez, followed by an afternoon of panel discussions that will take place in the VPL meeting rooms from 12 pm to 5pm.
