Shape 2019’s SXSW by Voting For Civil’s Panels Today

Photo courtesy of Music Row

Ahead of 2018’s midterm elections, we’re giving you an opportunity to wear your “I Voted” sticker with pride.

Each summer, South by Southwest (SXSW) asks its community to submit session proposals via its Panel Picker. This year, people will have until August 30th to vote for their favorite submissions (and don’t have to be registered for the conference to vote). Here are a few of Civil’s submissions:

• Fixing the Media Business on Blockchain — This panel will feature those who were among the first Newsrooms to form on Civil, as well as those building the underlying technology to make a radically new funding model for journalism possible. (Featuring Matthew Iles, Civil’s CEO; Manoush Zomorodi, Host of ZigZag; Maria Bustillos, Editor-in-Chief of Popula; and Nguyet Vuong, Co-Founder and Lead Designer at Civil)
• The Media’s New Game: Revenue Roulette — This panel will discuss the implications of funding news in 2018 — including the challenges, the successes the kind of practical thinking news and media executives will need to push these organizations forward. (Featuring Dan Colarusso, Digital Executive Editor of Reuters; Nicole Bode, Head of Newsroom Sustainability of Civil; Mark Douglas, President & CEO of SteelHouse; and Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, Managing Editor of The Washington Post)
• The Battle of Local News vs. Disinformation — A movement is underway to revitalize local news across the country in an effort to better inform Americans, building relationships of trust between news organizations and their communities to shut out misinformation and disinformation. This panel will feature leaders in the local news vs. disinformation movement. (Featuring Vivian Schiller, Civil Foundation CEO; Craig Newmark, Founder, Craig Newmark Philanthropies; R.L. Nave, Editor-in-Chief, Mississippi Today; Steven Waldman, Co-founder and President, Report for America)
• Building a Blockchain Company is Damn Hard — Launching a token or building a blockchain are different parts of building a decentralized company, and many new entrants don’t understand what the transition to blockchain entails. This session will discuss the considerations and benefits of becoming a truly decentralized company. (featuring Rod McLeod, VP of Communications at Kin; Richa Vajpeyi, Marketing Director at Aion; Matt Coolidge, Co-founder, Brand and Communications Lead at Civil; and Mike Mason, Head of Ecosystem, Aion Foundation)
• Can Blockchain Save Publishing? — Blockchain is upending the supply chain of nearly every industry, including publishing. But will it hold? (featuring Sara Fischer, Media Reporter at Axios; Jarrod Dicker, CEO at Po.et; Vivian Schiller, CEO at Civil Foundation; Joon Ian Wong, Managing Director, Europe and Asia at Coin Desk)

If any of these sound interesting to you, please vote for them before August 30th. Thanks for voting, and feel free to share these panels with friends and family as well.

(More on SXSW’s submission process is here.)