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Hart House Changemakers: Confronting Information Poverty A Rights-Based Approach to Communication, with Lorenzo Vargas

John Monahan

Hello. My name is John Monahan and I'm the warden of Hart House, and your host for the Changemakers Series. Today, I'm thrilled to bring you a conversation with Lorenzo Vargas. Let's begin.

John Monahan 01:56

Most of us wish we lived in a more just and equitable world. And many have given careful thought to what constructive change might look like. But those who both think about, and then actively devote their lives and careers to effecting meaningful and sustainable change in the interests of justice and equity are relatively few and far between. They don't do it for fame or fortune. They do it because they see a need for change, and they respond to it. They are Changemakers, and that's what we've called our series. Changemakers is a series of fireside style chats with some of these rare birds, inspiring folks whose discontent with the status quo propels them to be the change that they want to see in the world.

Now, before we begin this evening's conversation with our special guest, I do want to take a moment to acknowledge that we are gathered here for this conversation on land that is the traditional territory of the Huron Wendat and the Seneca, and both the traditional and treaty territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit. This land is still the home to many Indigenous people from all across Turtle Island, and we are grateful to live, work, gather and create community together on this land. In addition, inspired by the example in the words of a colleague here at the University of Toronto, Professor Jill Carter, I'm also mindful that Zoom, the technology that brings us together this evening, has directed its corporate headquarters in San Jose, California. As Professor Carter has reminded us, that is the traditional territory of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribal Nation. And we who are able to connect with each other via Zoom are deeply indebted to the Muwekma Ohlone people as the lands and waters that they continue to steward now support the people, pipelines and technologies that carry our breaths, images and words across vast distances to others. And we are grateful.

The title of tonight's topic is Information Poverty or Rights-Based Approach to Communication, and I am thrilled to welcome Lorenzo Vargas to Changemakers. Tonight's conversation will explore issues amount- around democratizing access to media resources, and other sources of information as fundamental to creating societies where citizen engagement, economic prosperity, and systems of justice can thrive simultaneously, particularly in the global south. Lorenzo will be sharing his insights tonight from his work to ensure that those from marginalized and poor and excluded communities around the world have access to the technologies, and the means to make informed decisions about their own lives and communities. We'll also be touching on the global media landscape and how it can either support or hinder the attainment of those goals. First, let me tell you a little bit more about Lorenzo Vargas. He is a Communication for Development Specialist and a researcher on Citizens’ Media. A Colombian Canadian, he directs the Global Communication for Social Change Program for WACC, the World Association for Christian Communications, which supports grassroots sustainable development initiatives in several countries of the global south. WACC is a global NGO that builds on communications rights to promote social justice. Prior to his time at the WACC, Lorenzo worked with Mosaic Institute, an organization that I know something about as well. And there Lorenzo coordinated a series of campus based dialogues all across Canada that were focused on transnational conflict and diaspora led peacebuilding efforts. He holds degrees in International Development and Communication from York University and McGill University, and is currently pursuing his PhD in Communication and Culture at X University, which some of you may remember is Ryerson University. And there, Lorenzo is affiliated with the Global Communication Governance Lab. Lorenzo has written a number of publications, including Citizens Media as a Tool for the Local Construction of Peace in Columbia, Indigenous Community Media Aid Reconciliation in Canada, and his most recent publication, entitled, Expanding Shrinking Communication Spaces, which he edited with Phillip Lee.

Lorenzo Vargas 6:06

Hi.

John Monahan 6:32

Lorenzo, let's start at the beginning, with the title of tonight's event, Information Poverty. Can you explain what that term means to you, and why do you think it's something that we should all pay attention to?

Lorenzo Vargas 07:47

Thank you. Well, first of all, I'd like to thank you and thank Hart House for the invitation, as well as to also echo your, your Land Acknowledgement. I think that's something that's really important as we in Canada move towards meaningful reconciliation. Now, your question around what communication information poverty is, to me, it's all about power. It's about in society who has the power to shape public agendas, who has the power to determine what issues are paid attention to, what issues are ignored, whose voices are heard, whose voices are not heard. And for real people in the real world, you know, if you ask many poor people, there's many studies have, who have looked at, that have looked at this- the manifestation of poverty is often yeah, you don't have enough money or you don't have proper housing or you don't have proper employment. But a lot of it actually is about having no voice, having a sense of not being heard, of feeling voiceless, or feeling powerless, or feeling like you have no space or avenue to share your concerns, like your voice doesn't count, as well as feeling like you don't have access to information about what's happening in the world. You know, its a complex world out there, you're trying to get by, but you can't access media, you don't, you're not represented in the media. There's, you know, the things that they're talking about on the news are not really what, you know, matter to you, where you live in your everyday life. So to me, that's, that's an essential element of human dignity- feeling heard, feeling seen. And if I look at an example, because I always like thinking about examples, I think of the, Mexico for example, which is a country in which the organization that I worked for, WACC, is heavily involved. And it's a country where there's, you know, high rate of media concentration, there's a few media houses, most of which are owned by a few wealthy families, many of which are connected to the political class and to business interests.

John Monahan

Right.

Lorenzo Vargas

So there's really not that much space for grassroots communities to express their views to be seen, to be heard. And those groups that are in power use media to shape public agendas, to shape public debate. And also you don't have spaces for Indigenous languages, for example, to be you know, everything’s in Spanish. So if you're an Indigenous person, let's say in the State of Chiapas, Mexico, your voice is not heard. Of course, there's a lot of issues around sexism in Mexico and, and the violence against women, as well as violence against journalists. So all of these issues combined, lead to a context in which, for the everyday person that's experiencing marginalization or social justice issues in Mexico, it's really hard for them to have their voice heard.

John Monahan 10:23

So it goes way beyond just representation. It goes way beyond just seeing people in the media, whether social or mass media that look like you, or come from your background, it goes to the actual means of creating messages, emitting messages. An actual infrastructure issue as opposed to a representative-representation issue. Is that, is that right?

Lorenzo Vargas 10:50

Precisely. Yeah. If the way I think about it is, I think about the communication information system as a public good. And much in the, in the way we think about natural resources or, you know, things that are considered public commons, that we will have to protect, but that actually, because of the way the world works, is driven by profit, and is driven by power. But really, if you think about telecommunications infrastructure, electromagnetic infrastructure, which is what allows us to communicate, to share, to send radio waves, that's actually a public good, much like water. So it's about who really controls the means of communication, the means to create meaning to create knowledge and, and to ultimately shape public agendas, which of course, has a clear impact on policy making.

John Monahan 11:41

And having heard you say that, I'm better understanding the subtitle of tonight's topic, which is one that you chose, which is a rights-based approach to communication. So I infer that what you're saying is that having access to these means of communication and media, that's not a privilege.

Lorenzo Vargas 12:04

Precisely, yeah. So when we look at the, the rights based approach to communication, of course, we have to start with Article 19, of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, which is, of course, the right that speaks about freedom of expression and access to information. And of course, that is the starting point. But then there's other issues like media representation, right. Like is, for example, your particular community, or your gender community represented fairly in a balanced way on the media, in the media. Do you have access to, you know, is the media transparent and pluralistic, you know, is it governed in a way that that you can actually engage with. Is it democratically controlled, is it all controlled by the state or the army. Like, there’s countries for example like Egypt, where a lot of the media is actually controlled by the army, which is really the state. So the starting point, of course, is freedom of expression. But what we're really saying is that there's a number of other rights that we have to look at, in order to enable that freedom of expression to be meaningful, otherwise, you end up having people who are really powerful, and whose right to freedom of expression is, ends up being way louder, so to speak, than the right to freedom of expression of a poor, marginalized Indigenous person, for example, who has no platforms. So it really is about power.

John Monahan 13:18

So in the midst of, of that nest of issues, what does most of your work look like? What is the actual work that you do in, in Mexico or in Jordan or Burkina Faso? What does that work look like? What do you actually contribute to this issue area?

Lorenzo Vargas 13:42

Yeah, I mean, I think for me, the starting point is to understand that there's people out there who are already doing a lot of work in, the in the area of media and communication, and democratization of, of the systems. So my role in particular at WACC entails providing technical support, and helping to mobilize financial support, so that these initiatives can actually take place in the global south. And of course, these are issues that are connected to democracy, participation, and therefore, are sometimes highly sensitive in those particular countries. So also for example, there's situations where activists are being targeted and attacked and so on, so it's also sort of providing that overall support to many of these organizations trying to build networks of solidarity among them. And we do work in different, under different themes. So for example, we have a whole program on migration and communication rights, which is all about how migrants.

Lorenzo Vargas 14:57

Experiences and so on. We are also now doing work on climate change and communication, as well as, in well, select digital rights, digital justice, you know, the democratization of data, which, of course, is what drives the systems nowadays. As well as, we have a program on Indigenous rights as well, and a big one on gender justice, which is about a woman being represented in a balanced and equitable way on, in news media.

John Monahan 15:24

So we're gonna, we have some pictures that we're gonna look at in a few minutes, that give us an idea in a few countries of the kinds of projects that you're involved in. But just backing up for a second, this series is called Changemakers because we are interested both in the change that needs to happen, but also in the people that have taken up the challenge to actually try to affect that change. People that often have options, I know you have options. You could be working in an investment bank, or, or I don't know, a travel agency, I have no idea. You could be a translator, but yet you choose to do the work that you do with WACC, and pursue the studies that you're pursuing for your PhD. What is about this set of issues that has attracted you? Is there something personal about it, that compels you to this work?

Lorenzo Vargas 16:30

Yeah, so I guess my own personal journey is that I grew up in Colombia, moved to Canada as a teenager, and was always keenly aware of the fact that, you know, there were really two main media organizations in the country. And they were both basically saying the same thing

John Monahan 16:47

Within which country?

Lorenzo Vargas 16:48

In Colombia, in Colombia growing up. And really the, the, the social issues in the country were not really being resolved, and I saw clearly that, you know, and later on, I came to Canada, I had a chance to reflect about this, that, you know, this media groups are really just representing the interests of people who are in power, of business elites. And that, really, it's quite difficult for everyday people to have their voice or their concerns heard, whether it was around access to health, or access to education, and so on. And it made me realize that when, cause when I was studying International Development, you know, you can look at education systems for healthcare systems or institutions. But actually in Development, there's a lot of immaterial and cultural elements that are reproduced through media that actually contribute to under development, or poverty or exclusion or undemocratic practices. So I was interested in the immaterial side of development, you know, it's easy to think about, you know, let's build schools or let's build hospitals. But how about we reform the, the system that enables us to choose what we focus on or what we don't focus on? What, what policy issues are important, and what policy issues aren't? So that's really what, what made me think about development from a media and communication point of view.

John Monahan 18:10

And I know that in your current role with WACC, you have global responsibility for your program, right?

Lorenzo Vargas 18:16

That's right. Yeah.

John Monahan 18:18

That's a, that's a big territory.

Lorenzo Vargas 18:21

Indeed, yes.

John Monahan 18:22

It's a big, big sales territory, if I can call it that. But it also gives you a really interesting perspective to presumably be able to, to study and analyze and compare and contrast how different countries, different regions are doing with respect to the democratize-democratization of access to information, and the means of communication. So I'm curious to know, from where you said, are there particular countries of the world that are doing this better than others, places where you think there is something really interesting for other countries to observe and to learn from?

Lorenzo Vargas 19:06

So maybe I'll give an example from a developed country, and an example from the global south. So I'll begin with the example from the developed countries. So for example, one of the things that is happening in Australia now, and it's still, it's an ongoing conversation, is around the regulation of social media platforms and the ways in which the government of Australia is trying to redirect some of the ad revenue that social media platforms generate, such as Facebook and Google, towards public service journalism. As we all know, the media and journalism sector has been decimated over the past 20-25 years as a result of the rise of digital communications, because a lot of the advertising revenue that used to go to media houses now goes to tech giants. So there's a need to regulate all that process, you know, those funds, to find a way to redirect those funds to media organizations that are doing public service journalism in the interest of the public good. And I think that's something that Canada should also, should also be considering in order to ensure the viability of our media sector. And then an example, perhaps from the global south- there's many countries in Latin America, for example, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, that actually enshrined the right to communication in their constitution. So over the past 20 years, and have moved to reform the telecommunications laws. For example, in the broadcasting sector, what they've done is that, you know, let's take a country like Argentina. You know, it used to be controlled, I think 80% of it was controlled by the private sector, and the state would highly politicized process. But essentially, what happened is that they said, okay, we're going to redistribute this, the telecommunications infrastructure and the spectrum, so that 33% of it goes to the private sector, 33% goes to the public sector- so public broadcasting, much like we have the CBC here or the BBC in the UK, and then 33% would go to the community sector, to citizen led efforts. And a percentage of that within the citizen led efforts would go to Indigenous communities. Of course, that is fraught with issues, and it's not an easy thing to do, of course, because many of these organizations that were private media did not want their, the government to basically take away they’re, they’re

John Monahan 21:27

Invested in,

Lorenzo Vargas 21:27

Exactly.

John Monahan 21:28

Yeah.

Lorenzo Vargas 21:28

So it's, and of course, there were interests in parts of governments to keep getting re-elected, to get some citizen groups to support this initiative. So of course, this was a, this was a highly politicized process. But the overall objective of equitably distributing media resources, particularly broadcasting spectrum was, to me, quite revolutionary.

John Monahan 21:49

And so you said, those frameworks have been in place for a couple of decades.

Lorenzo Vargas 21:55

They've been in place for about 10 years, not even 10 years, yeah.

John Monahan 21:58

So, have they taken root? Are they now part of the communications culture in those countries? So clearly, there are private interests, perhaps also government interests that would maybe like to, to turn back the clock? But is, is it working? More than it's not working?

Lorenzo Vargas 22:20

It's a good question. I think it changes from country to country. This country is where, for example, Argentina, in 2015- 2016, there was a government that was like, that was more right leaning, so they sort of dismantled some of these things. And I think last year, there was a government that was elected that was more left leaning, so then reinstated some of these things. So it, it sort of goes, and it's like a pendulum, it goes back and forth. And one of the issues with this is, of course, funding, you know, like, if you're gonna have a citizen led media sector or community media, community radio stations, community television stations. You need funding. But then you need to create an avenue for that funding to, to come to be, and so it's either going to come from the state, which means that mistake can end up using that funding to manipulate that sector.

John Monahan 20:04

Of course.

Lorenzo Vargas 23:04

Or its gonna come from advertising. But then you end up running through the same issues where you have advertising revenue that's controlling the agenda of this media organization. So it's still an experiment. But for sure, it's interesting, because it's an issue that managed to mobilize a lot of civil society organizations in, in Argentina and places like Ecuador, places like Uruguay. So I'd say it's a process that the activists down there are still struggling towards.

John Monahan 23:30

Okay, so you've talked about Australia, you've talked about Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia. Didn't hear you mention Canada. But I'm curious to know how Canada is doing in your assessment. I know that you work primarily in the global south, but how is Canada doing with respect to communications democracy, if I can call it that?

Lorenzo Vargas 23:54

Right. I mean, it's not, I mean, it could be better, but could be worse. So I mean, we have great things, we have a public broadcasting system that, of course, has been underfunded, and then of course, again, with political changes in Canada- so there's more funding going to things like the CBC or APTN, or, or TVO, and what have you, so. But to me, there's a few issues in Canada, the first one being media concentration. If you, if you look at news media, in Canada, there's really a few corporations like Bell, Rogers or Capricor that control a lot of the media and the news that we consume. So there's not a lot of diversity, I would say in, in with the exception, of course, of the CBC in news media content in Canada, so that's something that perhaps should be, anyway. Activists, I'm sure in Canada are working on that. But also to me is the issue, again, of media viability. You know, it's the same thing that I mentioned about Australia. You know, you have institutions that are essential for democracy, media and journalism, but that are basically not viable financially. The financial model that under, that for many, many years, allowed journalism and public service journalism to, like the New York Times or The Guardian, to exist, is being undermined by digital technology that, as I said, takes away ad revenue and funding from this, this organizations and gives it to tech giants. And one of the consequences of that, of course, is the disappearance of many local media outlets. You know, across Canada, you see that, of course, in the big cities, we have the Global and Mail, the Toronto Star, the

John Monahan 25:34

But community newspaper has virtually disappeared

Lorenzo Vargas 25:37

Exactly, exactly. So we have this news deserts, where at the local level, it's really hard to know what is happening. And all you have is content that's being sent in from Toronto or from Montreal or from Calgary, and so on. So, to me, that's, that's a big issue. And it's an issue that over the next few years, I think we'll continue to as, as we struggle with, you know, the impact of, of digital technologies on democracy and elections and so on, that I think is going to continue to grow.

John Monahan 26:07

How fundamental a problem do you think that is for a country like Canada? As we speak tonight, we're now in day two of a new session of parliament, we're reminded that, you know, democracy is ever marching, ever forward in this country. Do you think that the communications landscape in Canada is supportive of enhancement to Canadian democracy? Or does it create more challenges than it does support?

Lorenzo Vargas 26:44

I mean, what I can say is that, in Canada, like in many other countries, there's a high degree of concentration of media of digital power in the hands of just a few corporate actors. So you have actors, most of which are actually not in Canada, but there are a lot of them, are American corporations that actually have a lot of influence on, on, on-or digital infrastructure, digital, on data in Canada. So, I mean, I think that, as I said, maybe into the future, that's something that Canada, like the US, was thinking of doing. We need to find ways to, to break up monopolies of tech giants, to also foster a domestic, domestic alternatives to some of these organizations, some of these private companies, as well as to foster public alternatives to tech giants. For example, we have Facebook and Twitter, which are, you know, big corporations, and, you know, have played important roles in many, in many countries, in terms of democracy and so on. But they're not transparently managed. We have all these issues with fake news, misinformation, disinformation online. So we need to find a way to perhaps think about a public alternative, you know. Can we think of a Canadian public Facebook or public Instagram, much like we have, you know, public broadcaster, like the CBC? That's a policy innovation that could be, you know, and, or a system that pays people for their data. Because right now, we're paying for all the services, through our data and compromising our privacy. So I think as time goes by, and a civil society becomes more aware of some of the perils of having too much power in the hands of corporate actors, when it comes to digital technologies, we'll begin to see some evolution in that, in that regard.

John Monahan 28:29

And is that advocacy happening here in Canada? Are there actors that are advocating for those sorts of public decisions to be made?

Lorenzo Vargas 28:39

Yeah, there's groups like Open Media, for example, out of Vancouver that's doing a lot of this work. And there's groups in Quebec as well that are, that are pushing this forward. I would say it's probably not an issue that's made the Canadian mainstream, you know, we're, that's one of the challenges with this kind of work, that it's a bit for some people might seem a bit esoteric, or a bit abstract

John Monahan 28:59

Kind of a little bit surface, right?

Lorenzo Vargas 29:00

Yeah, exactly. But it's hard to mobilize people who are interested in health or reconciliation, and so on, to think about media structures, because it's sort of, it's like a superstructure, you know, we don't really think about it, we just sort of go about our days.

John Monahah 29:15

Right.

Lorenzo Vargas 29:15

But it really does affect policy, you know. Whatever is being covered in the media, whatever is being, being, being, whatever is receiving attention, in many ways is what ends up being responded to by politicians and policymakers. So

John Monahan 29:31

And whoever controls the levers, whoever is,is writing the copy or issuing the, the messages that is going to largely determine how the conversation is being held.

Lorenzo Vargas 29:46

Precisely. Precisely. Yeah.

John Monahan 29:50

Yeah. So you, do you think that during a time like the one we're living in now, you know, a year and a half or more into a, an existential global crisis, the COVID 19 pandemic- or you might also talk about the climate crisis and other existential crisis- so existential crises squared. Is this an easier time? Or a more difficult time to raise awareness about the, the challenge of information poverty?

Lorenzo Vargas 30:29

Right. Well, we can talk about climate change and COP in a second. But thinking about the pandemic, you know, we saw just how absolutely critical media infrastructure was to get the messages out there about, you know, how to not get infected with COVID, You know, how coverage is transmitted, and so on. And of course, how many people who, who, people who were excluded or who were left behind- so Indigenous communities, people who speak minority languages who could not access this information. As well as how absolutely dangerous, unchecked, if left unchecked, the internet can be when it comes to misinformation and disinformation around vaccines, around you know, this idea that COVID is a hoax, the Chinese Hoax, all these nonsense that is spreading like wildfire, often by malicious actors that have an interest in this. And also, we saw how absolutely critical for our mental health, for our belonging, for our connection to society's media and communication are, right? Like, because of Zoom, because of social media, because of media, we were able to see what was happening, we were able to see, connect with, with loved ones. So I think, it really, I mean, in the work that we were doing, we really saw this organizations on the ground, or a lot of community radio stations, for example, that were like doing really hard work to translate public health messages into local languages to really reach the people who are in remote communities with the message around COVID-19. So in a sense, it became more tangible during the pandemic. But to me, the critical issue here is, continues, to be misinformation, and just how complicated the digital space is becoming.

John Monahan 32:15

So let me play devil's advocate for a second, I'd love you to push back at this. So you talked about disinformation/ misinformation. One might imagine that the more people that are able to create their own messages, the more likely that there will be a cacophony of messages in the marketplace, if I can call it that, marketplace of ideas. And it will be even harder to ascertain what the actual truth capital T is. So is that an argument for the centralization of media resources, perhaps, by the state or one or two deeply trusted corporate actors, rather than spreading access to the means of communication?

Lorenzo Vargas 33:09

I think it's a great question. It's a question that all of us, who are in the space of media scholarship and media activism, ask ourselves. Cause you know, 10 years ago, when the Arab Spring took place, everybody was praising social media, Facebook, how the Egyptian revolution was sort of organized by these, all these activists online. So I think, from the point of view of social organizing, and communities coming together, there's a lot to be said, for, for digital technology that decentralize that power. But the downside to that, and it's almost, it's hard to reconcile the two, is how do you then handle things around truth, facts, which is something that we need, and it's one of the reasons why we need public service journalism? It’s one of the reasons why we need institutions to play this role to, to check facts and non facts. So it goes back to the role of journalists in this, in this role, in this you know, as people who are, have this responsibility, or moral responsibility with society to, to advance truthfulness, to advance inclusion, to look at different opinions, different, different voices. But it's an issue that I think is not resolved- that balance between a fully open communication system- which of course I advocate for, but also one that doesn't perpetuate lies, or, and so on, and I think a lot of that is related to creating more transparent systems. So on the one hand, it entails you know, holding corporations to account, like we're seeing all these things that we're seeing with Facebook, who's the company that's being said, well, that's being told, “well, you have to really up your game when it comes to detecting fake news”. Not just in English speaking countries, but because that's actually one of the main issues. They have a lot of factual fact checkers in English speaking, in the English speaking world. But there was a case study about Ethiopia, how there was rampant misinformation around civil war that's happening there now. And this, Facebook, simply didn't have enough fact checkers, or enough people were able to see what was true or what wasn't true. So we have to hold those corporations to account. But we also have to empower civil society to play a more active role in being a watchdog.

John Monahan 35:22

Right.

Lorenzo Vargas 35:23

So that we're able to keep power in check.

John Monahan 35:27

Right. And, and just because media resources might be concentrated in, in certain countries in the hands of a state actor, that is no, certainly no guarantee that you're going to be receiving truth.

Lorenzo Vargas 35:35

Oh yeah.

John Monahan 35:46

That you're going to be hearing facts, right? Because that's, you know, you're just creating a scenario where people will be applying their own agendas to the distortion of that information. And, you know, governments are not inherently more honest than some actors.

Lorenzo Vargas 36:04

Absolutely, absolutely not, yeah.

John Monahan 36:06

You mentioned climate, or I mentioned climate, we're gonna get back to it. So, COP26 is now in the rearview mirror. You know, the world's leaders came together with civil society for, what some argue, is a last ditch effort to affect substantive progress on the climate emergency. What would you say is the specific relevance of your approach to media democracy to that climate emergency?

Lorenzo Vargas 36:33

I mean, it's great that you asked me this question, because that's actually what my PhD dissertation will be about. But in essence, what we see with climate change and climate injustice really, is that the communities that are most affected by climate change are the communities that have contributed, contributed the least to this crisis. They are often rural communities in the global south whose emissions are far, far lower than, let's say, your emissions are, my emissions here in the, in the global north. And those are the people who are going to be most affected by natural disasters by,

Lorenzo Vargas 37:05

Who haven't really contributed much to this crisis more. So there's two things in that regard. The first one is visibility. You know, we need those voices to be seen to be heard, we need those narratives to be to be seen in, in global spaces, you know. One of the complaints with COP is that it's state actors and there’s private actors, private sector actors, and there's some space for civil society. But really, the voices of people who are affected by climate change are not there. And also the people, the voices of people who are at the forefront of the struggles to keep oil in the ground, to fight back against extractivism, which, in my opinion, are actually the most effective struggles at this point, given the ongoing failure of corporations and government to actually tackle emissions. These corp, these comp, these communities, often Indigenous communities, grassroots communities that are fighting to keep extractive industries out, are actually, those voices are not being heard, you know, in the global media. And those communities are already experiencing communication information poverty, you know, they're often already marginalized, already living in rural areas, already having, already have limited access to technology, or disconnected. So that's one element.

John Monahan 38:32

It’s kind of a condescension towards those voices when the, when they do emerge, when you do hear from grassroots or communities or Indigenous actors talking about extractive industries, you'll often hear some condescension

Lorenzo Vargas 38:48

Right.

John Monahan 38:39

That tries to drown out their voices saying, “well, they just don't get it. They don't understand progress”. And I, is that, is that part of what you're talking about?

Lorenzo Vargas 38:58

Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, in, in many countries around the world, let’s say Indigenous communities, are often represented as people who are backward, who are holding back development, who are holding back progress, when really, like, Indigenous communities are actually protecting protecting forests, protecting water resources, protecting ancestral lands, and crucially, hold critical, traditional and Indigenous ecological knowledge

John Monahan 39:25

Right.

Leonardo Vargas 39:25

That could be used for adaptation at the local level. So, in fact, that's one of my main interests these days, is the notion of traditional ecological knowledge, knowledge that is sort of not accepted by western science as one, but that is still valid for those communities and can complement western approaches, or more, more traditional approaches to combating climate change.

John Monahan 39:49

Okay, we have some pictures, I think, from some of the projects that you've worked on. So I just wanna, for the sake of our viewers, I just wanna give them an opportunity to see some of the, the images that you've shared, and give you just a minute to tell us what the work entailed in each of those places. Do we have those slides on the screen? Okay, so looking first, I think this is in Mexico, is that right? So this is a project where you work with a network of Indigenous broadcasters to set up a new radio station. Tell us a little bit about that work.

Lorenzo Vargas 40:33

Right. So in Mexico, we're quite involved with the Indigenous Communication Movement. And that entails in practice, really, two things. First, enabling Indigenous broadcasting, that it's actually, especially that the community broadcasts, and that's controlled by the community themselves. And also to advance this idea of what's now called Community Telecommunication Networks. So there's communities that are too far, too remote, or maybe just not profitable enough for big telecoms to go in and provide internet connectivity. So there's all these Indigenous communities that are creating their own community managed telecommunication infrastructure, which is fascinating.

John Monahan 41:11

That’s amazing.

Lorenzo Vargas 41:11

And this particular project is a group that's based in Mexico City but that's connected to other groups, especially in the southern states of Mexico. And what they did is that they came up with their own ade in Mexico transmitter for their radio stations, so that these communities don't have to pay, you know, $10,000 to import transmitters and antennas from China, or from the US or from Europe or from Germany, but they can actually use Made in Mexico transmitter, which, transmitters, which reduces the price for them to actually be able to set up their own radio station.

John Monahan 41:46

Amazing. Alright, let's move on. We have a picture from Burkina Faso. And I understand that in Burkina Faso, WACC partnered with Zoo Africa Volonterre on a project to mobilize local traditional ecological knowledge, your area of research, as an adaptation mechanism to address climate change. Tell us what this project entailed and what your role was.

Lorenzo Vargas 42:11

Right. So this is a project that just started. We just done negotiating a contract with them a few months ago, a couple months ago. But it's a very innovative project because it's around enabling people who are peasants, or people who are working in the fields, rural communities really, to capture systematized, traditional ecological knowledge. You know, how are they adapted to climate change? What, how are they, you know, innovating in the ways, the way they plant their crops? How are they innovating in the, in the ways they store their grains? How are they using that knowledge to adapt to climate change? So this is a project that is seeking to set up a network of citizen journalists, people who are working in their own community to, A, highlight environmental degradation issues, and, B, raise awareness about traditional ecological knowledge and mobilize it so that other communities can also benefit.

John Monahan 43:10

Amazing. We're gonna put one more picture up on the slide up on the screen. This one is from Jordan. And if I'm not mistaken, this is a project that took place last year, in the midst of the pandemic, and had to do with creating space for the voices of Syrian refugees living in Jordan. Tell us about that work.

Lorenzo Vargas 43:34

Yes, so Jordan has a, an interesting media system, cause over the past few years, they have moving, they have been moving more and more towards allowing community broadcasting, or citizen efforts, citizen led communication efforts. So WACC has been involved for many, many years now. There's, I think, three or four grassroots community radio stations in Jordan. Most of them are in Amman, but of course, there's other, others, in other, in other parts of the country. And since 2015, of course, 2014, there's been a lot of migration of people from Syria to Jordan. And this, as is sadly often the case, there’s been discrimination against them. So this was a project that sought to create a platform for the Syrian community to, A, see itself represented and connect to you know, it's a platform for them to be engaged in dialogue with each other, but also to begin to shape public perception around what it means to be Syrian and Jordan.

John Monahan 44:34

Amazing. Lorenzo, we want to take some questions from our, our viewers. Before we do that, just to wrap up, now you're the first Changemaker, you're making history tonight. We thought it would be interesting for, for folks, and hopefully fun as well, If we always kind of wrap up our conversations with some, what we call a speed round of questions. So don't spend too much time thinking about them, because then that wouldn't be speedy. But we just kind of wanna get your first thoughts that reply to a few questions. And as we do that, I just want to encourage anyone that is viewing, if you have any questions that you'd like to ask, put them in the chat. And we'll be, we'll take them as we can, as we have time. We'd love to broaden this conversation beyond the music room at Hart House to include everybody who was watching us in real time. So ready for the speed round?

Lorenzo Vargas 45:35

Let’s do it.

John Monahan 45:36

Okay. So we talk about Changemakers, we use the term “Leaders by Example”. What do you think makes a good leader?

Lorenzo Vargas 45:46

I think a good leader is somebody who understands that change is collective. You know, it's not about individuals creating change, but is about collective- people collectively creating change. So, a good leader to me is somebody who leads from behind, who supports others, who's able to enable others to shine. To me, that's true leadership.

John Monahan 46:03

Okay. Give us an example of a leader like that, that you admire or who has been influential in your life. I'm not eligible, but give an example of someone that you, for you defines leadership.

Lorenzo Vargas 46:16

Right, right, well, excluding John Monahan, of course, I would say, many of the peace activists in Colombia who were instrumental in the signing of the, of the peace agreement that was signed in 2016. So it's been five years, that includes former President Santos in Columbia, and ultimately, of the peace activists that were pushing for this agreement.

John Monahan 46:37

Do you consider yourself a leader?

Lorenzo Vargas 46:40

In some ways, I think that in the space of Media, and Communication Rights, and so on, perhaps, perhaps a little bit, but I think I still have a lot to learn in many other spaces, especially the space of social movements, and so on, there's many people that I have a lot to learn from.

John Monahan 46:57

So speaking of learning, I tend to think that some of the best learning that I've done in my life comes from the failures, not from the successes so much. And I'm wondering if you're able to share a failure from your life that you have learned from? And if so, what did you learn? And how did it help to propel you forward?

Lorenzo Vargas 47:22

Yeah, I mean, I think a challenging time I had was when I was doing my, my research for my master's degree, which was, would focus on citizen engagement among internally displaced youth in Colombia. So I was at McGill, and I had a chance to go down to Colombia to do interviews and so on. And I realized that I was so out of my depth, you know, like, you know, first of all, I had grown up in Bogota, so, in a sort of a bubble from the rest of the country. And then I had, you know, I also grew up in Canada, and I thought it was going to be so easy for me to go there and navigate the local context, and so on. And it really wasn't. A, like, people locally saw me as a foreigner, or some extra source of funding. And also, I realized that I have so much to learn from grassroots activists, people who are there everyday. Like, it's so easy for me to fly in from Canada, you know, be there for a few weeks, do some interviews, and get a master's degree and get recognized, but the, really, people who are there every day, you know, working with grassroots communities, organizers- those were the people who I admire, and were the real learning for me was. So I think it was about learning what my role might be.

John Monahan 48:34

And you're barely, I mean, this question is really about going, if you could go back and talk to your 18 year old self, about how to grow into being a Changemaker, what advice would you offer? Now you're barely 18.

Lorenzo Vargas 48:52

Right.

John Monahan 48:52

So it seems like a, like an almost irrelevant question. But you know, entertain me. So, if you could go back and talk to yourself as an 18 year old and talk about how to be a Changemaker, someone who leads by example, what would you tell yourself?

Lorenzo Vargas 49:08

I mean, first of all, when I was 18 I was probably not interested in, in being a Changemaker. I was probably interested in playing soccer all the time, which I used to do here at Hart House, the back campus field at UofT.

John Monahan 49:18

You still can.

Lorenzo Vargas 49:20

I still do.

John Monahan 49:21

You still can.

Lorenzo Vargas 49:23

But I would say maybe look at your assets as opposed to what you're lacking. And this goes back to the experience I just shared doing my, my research in Colombia. I realize that maybe some of the assets that I have is that you know, I'm globally connected, that I speak English or speak French, that I’m, that I can translate, culturally translate or so, translate what's happening in Latin America or in the global south to donors, or policymakers, for people who have influence in the global north. So realizing that actually is my role, instead of maybe I don't have to be a grassroots activist. There's people who are better qualified or really doing it. So maybe pick, look at your assets, see what you can build on, as opposed to maybe focus on what you don't have.

John Monahan 50:11

Okay. Now I wanna see, do we have any questions in our, unless somebody else's computer, so let's just see how smoothly I can do this. Alright, here's a good question. This is asked in the first person, so understand that as I read it, “ if I were interested in volunteering, or getting involved, or even knowing more, would you take interns or volunteers?” So it's a question about how someone who has been inspired by what you've talked about tonight, maybe they already were interested in the issue. Presumably they were or they wouldn't be tuning in. But they've been inspired by you tonight. And they wanna know what they can do to be involved. Does WACC have opportunities for internships or volunteers? Or are there other organizations, perhaps, that you know or work with, where they might go for that kind of opportunity?

Lorenzo Vargas 51:11

Absolutely. We take interns all the time. You know, actually, many of them come from UofT. We have a partnership with the PCJ Program, the Peace, Conflict and Justice Program, as well as with the Munk School, the MGA program, the Masters

John Monahan 51:23

Masters of Global Affairs, yup.

Lorenzo Vargas 51:23

We’ve had one intern from there. We've had interns from McGill University, we've had interns from Queen's as well. So of course, and we have every year, opportunities to get involved to volunteer. So yeah, by all means, get in touch.

John Monahan 51:40

And I know that a lot of students that we, that we work with at Hart House will want to know what kind of work they might find themselves doing if they were to pursue an internship with, with you at WACC. What would that look like? Would they be licking envelopes? Would they be doing research? What kind of work do interns typically do?

Lorenzo Vargas 52:04

Well, I'll give you an example, we're about to start a new internship partnership with the PCJ program. It's one of the courses, I forget what the number of courses, but it's a course that enables, that will enable us at WACC to benefit from the expertise of three high achieving students to tackle one particular issue, and the issue that we'll be looking at in the winter term will be the representation of Indigenous issues and indigenous Peoples in Canadian news media. So this will be, cause we at WACC have a methodology to monitor media content, which we have used for gender issues and migration issues. But given the critical importance of Indigenous Rights in Canada, we would like to use that methodology to look at how those issues are represented in Canadian news media, so that eventually, some change could be made at the editorial level and so on. So that is perhaps an example of what could be, but could be any number of things.

John Monahan 53:01

Okay. If you had the opportunity to sit down and talk with the Federal Minister of Communications, in the new federal cabinet, what message would you want to leave with the minister?

Lorenzo Vargas 53:20

I would say that, at the domestic level, we need to find a way to support a more vibrant journalism sector that works for the public service, for the public good, I apologize. And that entails tackling the concentration of power in the hands of a few corporate actors, particularly in regards to digital power. And at the international level, candidates will be playing an important role in promoting media freedom. In fact, we hosted a major conference last year with the UK, also this year, Major International Conference on Media Freedom. So Canada is already engaging at that level, but of course that requires more funding and financing to enable, to support media workers around the world and journalists in particular.

John Monahan 54:09

Interesting so we are, we are putting our, some of our money where our mouth is when it comes to access to media. We still have our own problem with, with overconcentration

Lorenzo Vargas 54:20

Right,

John Monahan 54:21

Of media in too few hands, but we are active internationally at promoting media freedom.

Lorenzo Vargas 54:27

Exactly, yes.

John Monahan 54:30

Okay. Lorenzo in our, in our last few minutes, is there anything that you would wanna to say to our audience that you haven't said, any final thoughts you would want to share? Maybe something that is giving you hope right now when it comes to the issue of information poverty. Something that is, that might give our audience hope as they think about these issues in new ways after tonight.

Lorenzo Vargas 54:59

Well, I think that there's more critical, there's a more critical take on the tech world and, and digital giants. I think for, as I said earlier, for many years, we were idealizing these, these big corporations, you know. Say they're innovative, they're, you know, moving fast, breaking things and so on, is something that was maybe a good thing. But I think now, more and more people are beginning to ask questions. And for an example of that, here in Toronto was the whole issue with Sidewalk Labs, which was gonna be this, this neighborhood that was gonna be developed by one of the companies that Google is connected to. And that ended up not happening. But to me, the main thing was like, people were actually asking some questions, you know. Torontonians were asking, you know, who's going to govern that data? Where's the data going to be stored? How is it, how are we gonna know that it’s not being just harvested to make money for Google? Can we think of an alternative that is, you know, run by the City of Toronto? Right. So I think there's more awareness of the critical importance of, of taking some of that power back from corporations into our own hands as citizens.

John Monahan 56:06

So yes, are, so the citizenry of Toronto and, arguably, other parts of Canada as well, although I don't know those parts as well as I know Toronto, you're seeing a level of engagement and sophistication when it comes to kind of holding the feet of media players to the fire?

Lorenzo Vargas 56:30

Right

John Monahan 56:30

To ensure that they are abiding by code of ethics, that they're not impeding access to free information, that they are inserting the integrity of information that's being disseminated. Do you think Canadians, when it comes to these sorts of issues, are they better as consumers or better as voters?

Lorenzo Vargas 56:57

Ahhaa, good question. I mean, I think it's hard to answer because this is not an issue that regularly comes up, in during a federal election.

John Monahan 57:05

You think it should?

Lorenzo Vargas 57:05

I think it should. I think it should, because ultimately, it's about Canadian, I mean, you know, Canadian media theory and Canadian identity was built on wrestling back that power from the US in terms of media. That's why we have the CBC, right, to create Canadian narratives, Canadian content? So that actually is pretty important. I think it's an essential element of Canadian democracy to see how much we can govern our own data and how much we can push for more democratic approach to the whole thing.

John Monahan 57:38

Lorenzo, thank you for being a Changemaker. Thank you for the work that you do for the example that you set. Thank you for being our, I don't want to say guinea pig, that sounds so manipulative. But thank you for working with us to iron out the bugs and the challenges of this environment. Thank you for taking off your mask and sitting behind plexiglass for the last hour. We're very grateful to everyone that has joined us live this evening for our event of the 21-22 academic year here at Hart House. I want to thank my guests Lorenzo Vargas. There are more Changemaker conversations coming. The next one speaking of democracy, resilient democracies, we're gonna be having a conversation with Sabreena Delhon , who is the Executive Director of the Samara Centre for Democracy, on how to build resilient democracies, and we'll be sure to ask her about access to communication in that conversation. And then in March, we will wrap up this year's series with a conversation featuring Lorin MacDonald, who is an amazing human rights lawyer, and CEO and founder of an organization called Peer Review, and you won't wanna miss either of those conversations. Once again, thank you for joining us this evening, and I look forward to seeing you in the New Year. In the meantime, Happy Holidays.

Lorenzo Vargas 59:09

Thank you.

John Monahan

Thank you so much to Lorenzo Vargas for joining me in conversation. To learn more about Lorenzo and his work, you can follow WACC @waccglobal on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Today's episode of Changemakers was produced by a great team of colleagues at Hart House, including Jennifer, Michele, Amy and Lena. And it has been edited by Janine Alhadidi. Original music by Recap, they can be found on SoundCloud. To learn more about Changemakers, please visit harthouse.ca, or follow us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube or Facebook. Our handle is @harthouseuoft. I'm John Monahan. Thank you for listening.

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retobeer · 3 years

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La 21a enmienda anuncia la selección de cervezas de temporada

SAN FRANCISCO – Cervecería 21a Enmienda suena en la temporada navideña de 2020 con dos aturdidores de temporada listos para tentar las papilas gustativas con la acidez dulce y fruncir la boca de Infierno o granada alta (4.9% ABV, latas de 12 oz en paquetes de 6, borrador) y lanzamiento especial del décimo aniversario de la cerveza anual especiada de invierno, Charla informal (7,9% ABV, latas de 12 oz en paquetes de 6, borrador).

Los queridos Trigo infierno o sandía La temporada de verano ahora tiene un compañero de invierno para noches frías y cenas temáticas de vacaciones con el lanzamiento de Infierno o granada alta. Charla informal se acerca a las brasas ardientes con aromas de malta de chocolate, especias y semillas de cacao que llenan el aire.

Sin duda, las fiestas serán diferentes en 2020. Las familias y los amigos se reunirán para celebraciones alegres, aunque muchos usarán el mundo digital para conectarse. Lo que se mantuvo constante durante las últimas dos décadas es la dedicación de la 21st Enmienda Brewery a elaborar cervezas navideñas innovadoras de edición limitada para que la gente disfrute y sea parte de recuerdos inolvidables.

Para obtener descripciones detalladas de cervezas y combinaciones de alimentos sugeridas para Infierno o granada alta y Charla informal, porfavor lea abajo:

Infierno o granada altaUna mujer icónica que simboliza los valores de la libertad y la inclusión, el Estatuto de la Libertad ahora adorna en todo su esplendor el Infierno o alto envases y latas de la línea durante todo el año para las tres ofertas: sandía, mango y granada. Elaborada con granadas reales, Infierno o granada alta refleja la alegría de las fiestas con su color rojo burdeos y deliciosos sabores dulces / agrios. Infierno o granada alta encaja perfectamente en el invierno con notas que recuerdan a los arándanos y los caracteres de galleta ligera de una verdadera cerveza de trigo americana artesanal. Con solo 4.9% ABV, los amantes de la cerveza pueden beber cómodamente más de una.

Sugerencias de maridaje de comidas navideñas con Infierno o granada alta:Chuletas de cerdo asadas en salmuera con manzana; Pavo asado con salsa de arándanos; Verduras de bodega de raíz de invierno asadas con un glaseado de miel; Salmón glaseado con miso asado a la plancha; y puré de papas con ajo.

Charla junto a la chimenea – Winter Spiced AleLa Navidad llega un poco antes cada año con el muy esperado lanzamiento de noviembre de 2020 de Charla informal. Una receta de cerveza insignia de la cervecería de San Francisco de la 21st Enmienda que se ha convertido en una de las favoritas más cálidas de invierno de edición limitada anual. Charla informal es el sorbo perfecto en la mesa de la cena de Acción de Gracias o mientras está junto a la chimenea con sus seres queridos. Semillas de cacao exuberantes y sabrosas de Chocolate TCHO (San Francisco, California) agregan una capa profunda de textura al hermoso carácter a malta de ocho maltas diferentes. La cerveza fuerte de estilo inglés está bien equilibrada por Shaun O’Sullivan’s (cofundador y maestro cervecero, cervecería de la 21a enmienda) selección de especias. No es de extrañar Charla informal se llevó a casa una medalla de plata de Gran Festival de la Cerveza Estadounidense, y Salud de los hombres la revista la clasifica como # 1 de las “10 mejores cervezas navideñas 2020” (LINK).

O’Sullivan señala, “Fireside Chat tiene un gran color ámbar, una espuma de caramelo, un perfil de especias suaves y un rico sabor a chocolate en el final que la mayoría de los bebedores de cerveza disfrutarán. Además, el empaque presenta a FDR conversando junto a la chimenea con un Elfo de vacaciones. No hay nada mejor que eso “.

Sugerencias de maridaje de comidas navideñas con Charla informal:Estofado de ternera abundante; Pavo asado al horno; Risotto cremoso; Pastel de miga de manzana; Cheesecake de calabaza; y Tiramisú.

Infierno o granada alta y Charla informal están disponibles ahora en los 30 estados donde distribuye la 21ª Enmienda. Para obtener más información y encontrar algunas utilizando nuestro buscador de cerveza, visite www.21st-Amendment.com.

Para obtener más información, visite: www.21st-amendment.com @ 21stamendment

Acerca de la cervecería 21st Enmienda

Hace veinte años (establecida en 2000), Nico Freccia y Shaun O’Sullivan abrieron las puertas de la cervecería 21st Enmienda en el histórico barrio de South Park de San Francisco. Además de convertirse rápidamente en uno de los pubs favoritos de la ciudad, 21st Enmienda comenzó a expandirse más allá del Área de la Bahía al ayudar a ser pionero en el movimiento hacia la cerveza artesanal enlatada. Conocidos por sus nombres ingeniosos y deliciosas cervezas, 21st Enmienda ofrece selecciones durante todo el año, así como ofertas de temporada y su infame “Serie Insurrección” de lanzamientos de edición limitada de vez en cuando. Vendida en 28 estados más Washington DC, 21st Enmienda produce cerveza en su sede de cervecería de última generación en San Leandro, California y se encuentra entre las 50 principales cerveceras artesanales de Estados Unidos.

Good River Beer agrega Mango Blonde Ale a la línea principal

Stone Brewing actualiza el empaque, nombre de Stone Tangerine Express Hazy IPA

Heavy Seas lanzará crema de huevo BMORE Snoball y Skylite

from Noticias – Cerveza Artesana https://ift.tt/3spuIUC via IFTTT

#Noticias – Cerveza Artesana

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shirlleycoyle · 4 years

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Surveillance Startup Used Own Cameras to Harass Coworkers

Verkada, a fast-growing Silicon Valley surveillance startup, equips its offices in downtown San Mateo, California, with its own state-of-the-art security cameras.

Last year, a sales director on the company's sales team abused their access to these cameras to take and post photos of colleagues in a Slack channel called #RawVerkadawgz where they made sexually explicit jokes about women who worked at the company, according to a report in IPVM, which Motherboard independently verified and obtained more information about.

"Face match… find me a squirt," the sales director wrote in the company Slack channel in August 2019, according to one screenshot obtained by Motherboard.

The comment was posted along with a series of photos of employees’ faces captured with the office's surveillance system which were patched together using a Verkada facial recognition feature. "Face search,” as it’s called, can pinpoint an individual in a sea of faces. The pinpointed face, in this instance, belonged to a Verkada employee, her mouth wide open. In addition to verifying the incident with three sources who worked at Verkada at the time, Motherboard compared the format of the images posted to those included in Verkada's publicly available demo videos to verify that they were indeed captured by the company's surveillance cameras.

Two members of the Slack channel reacted with laughing emojis. Another commented "lol."

According to three sources who worked at Verkada at the time, the group of men posted sexually graphic content about multiple female employees in similar Slack messages.

After the Slack channel was reported to the company's Human Resource team in February, Verkada's CEO Filip Kaliszan announced in a company all-hands meeting that an undisclosed number of employees active in the Slack channel were given the choice between leaving the company or having their share of stock reduced. All of them chose the latter option, and the Slack channel was removed, according to four employees who worked at Verkada during the time.The person who posted the screenshot still works at Verkada.

Verkada, which was founded in 2016 in Kaliszan’s living room, sells machine vision security cameras with cloud-software, including dome cameras, fisheye lenses, and footage viewing stations that can be monitored from anywhere in the world. The company sells to a roster of high profile clients, including Equinox, Juul Labs, Red Lobster, Siemens, Pasadena City College, the city of Memphis, and dozens of other corporations and government entities. Its YouTube page advertises systems for law enforcement, governments, and corporations. Its ambition is to "be the operating system that runs every building in the world," the company says. Verkada software allows users to immediately detect all footage of a particular person of interest, rather than forcing people reviewing the tape to search through hours of video. Kaliszan describes Verkada's mission as "building the world's best video security system." In early 2020, the company was valued at $1.6 billion, and its workforce had grown to just over 400 employees.

The company has a series of demo videos on its YouTube which show the use of Verkada cameras at its own offices. Besides being used in demonstrations of its technology, these cameras have been used to sexually harass employees. They've also been used to surveil Verkada itself: For example, sources at the company explained that the company had an indoor, maskless party in September. Evidence of the party was provided to Motherboard using captured surveillance footage from its cameras.

Verkada Party September 2020. Censored by Motherboard.

When asked for comment about the sales team's use of the company's video surveillance system to target women colleagues, a spokesperson for Verkada said, "Verkada does not tolerate sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior. This isolated incident was investigated and all individuals involved were disciplined accordingly. This process included our HR department working with the women impacted by this incident–offering professional and personal resources to ensure they supported our course of action and felt safe and comfortable in their jobs.

The spokesperson added that in the eight months since management became aware of the situation, Verkada has held a mandatory sexual harassment training via Zoom, and estabilished three employee resource groups, for women, people of color, and LBGTQ employees at the company.

Four current and former employees who spoke to Motherboard on the condition of anonymity were furious by the company's decision not to terminate the men who’d posted sexually graphic content about their coworkers in the Slack channel—but said that the incident is just one example of sexism at Verkada that its co-founders Kaliszan and board chairman Hans Robertson have chosen to downplay.

"Any other tech company," a former Verkada employee told Motherboard, "would have immediately fired those people. They should never ever be able to get another job at a tech company ever again, but the higher ups on the sales team have a lot of power and are encouraged and can do whatever they want as long as they bring in a lot of revenue. Verkada's singular value is making money."

"I think it's 100 percent fair to say I left Verkada because of the culture," another former employee told Motherboard. "I didn't feel comfortable working under my director after learning about the incident. The worst part of it was that it seemed like the men in this crew continued to be celebrated and remained in leadership positions. That's how [management] has made the toxic culture they've created okay."

Since its founding, Verkada has tried to distinguish itself from Ring, Amazon's home surveillance system, which has partnered with at least 400 police departments in the United States, and actively cooperates to share footage belonging to private individuals with the police. Unlike Ring which sells home surveillance systems, Verkada proudly advertises that its corporate clients don't work with law enforcement, and that data collected by corporations and other institutions it does business with belongs to them alone. But on its YouTube channel, Verkada advertises its work with law enforcement agencies such as the police department of Parkersburg, West Virginia.

In January, Kaliszan told TechCrunch “we don’t have any arrangements with law enforcement like Ring. We view ourselves as providing great physical security tools to the people that run schools, hospitals and businesses. The data that those organizations gather is their own.”

Many of the technologies it has developed such as facial recognition and environmental sensors that can detect vaping in schools or a human presence in a room, have been criticized for expanding a system that serves to protect property owners and is often weaponized against people of color and other vulnerable populations.

In March, in the lead-up to a company wide all-hands meeting, employees voted on questions that they wanted addressed by management. One question about Verkada's response to the Slack episode, received 127 upvotes, according to screenshots reviewed by Motherboard, the most of all of those submitted. “Why are the men who sexually harassed their female colleagues able to keep their jobs? Is this setting the right example and sustaining a safe work environment?”

Three employees present at the meeting told Motherboard that management did not address the question.

Prior to late-October, when Motherboard reached out to Verkada for comment on the Slack incident, the company had yet to formally inform employees that the company's surveillance system had been abused by sales team members. This past Friday, after Motherboard asked for comment and more than 9 months after the company learned about the Slack incident, Kaliszan sent a company-wide email finally addressing the incident.

"Last year on August 8, 2019," Kaliszan wrote, "a member of our sales team misused access to our office camera footage–access that everyone on our team is afforded and that the sales team uses frequently to demo the product for potential clients–and shared a screenshot of a coworker on a private Slack channel with vulgar commentary."

"As soon as leadership became aware of the incident,” he wrote, “we launched a comprehensive investigation to understand what happened and who was responsible. This investigation found that one person was responsible for instigating the incident and nine other members of the team were part of the Slack channel…. I imposed the largest financial penalty in our company’s history on the instigator and had individual disciplinary discussions with each of the other participants."

Four employees who worked in different teams throughout Verkada said that the culture of sexism at the company largely emanated from a cliquey group of high-ranking white men on the sales team, many of them who grew up and played high school football in same wealthy enclave, Danville, California, some of whom went on to play for the NFL.

"If you’re not invited into that core group of guys, you have a hard time moving your career forward or getting promoted," a former sales employee told Motherboard. "The word frat is thrown around at Verkata a lot because there are guys that protect each other at the company. That’s this crew from Danville. They’re like a frat."

In April, after the Slack incident, in a "fireside chat," Verkada's board chairman Hans Robertson told a group of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs that he had intentionally hired a team of "sales athletes," that he had modelled after the sales team at Dell EMC, a subsidiary of Dell Technologies, "which was famous for hiring half the Northeastern football team." Robertson explained Verkada's sales strategy was "to get rid of underperformers very quickly" and "make the culture really fun."

At least two of the men involved in the Slack post obtained by Motherboard, played high school football at San Ramon Valley High School in Danville, California. According to an article in the industry trade journal IPVM, at least five senior sales team members played sports at San Ramon Valley High School.

"It's the most horrible company I've ever worked for," another former employee who recently quit working at Verkada told Motherboard. "Even beyond the Slack incident, you know people don’t want to stay for long. Everyone wants to stay there for the potential money they could make, but especially for women it’s hard to stay there. I was oversold in the interview process. There’s no support. They don’t care about you."

Motherboard spoke to one member of the sales team who said she enjoyed Verkada's work culture and thought the company’s response to the Slack incident was adequate. "As soon as management found out [about the Slack incident], they disciplined not just the person who made the comment, but anyone who was in the Slack channel," she said. "I felt like they took it very seriously. I have always felt comfortable here."

Another Verkada employee wasn’t optimistic about Verkada's mission after learning about the Slack incident, "the big picture for me having worked at the company is that it has opened my eyes to how surveillance can be abused by the people in power."

Surveillance Startup Used Own Cameras to Harass Coworkers syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

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f1chronicle · 2 years

Video

youtube

Welcome to Episode 188 of our Formula 1 podcast, Grid Talk, and another in our F1 Fireside series. In this F1 Fireside, Tom Horrox chats with patent lawyer Gregor Grant about the impact regulations are having on innovation in F1, and other pressing topics affecting the sport. Make sure you subscribe to the Grid Talk Podcast so you’re the first to know when each new F1 Fireside episode is released, and if you liked this episode, give it a thumbs up! -------------------------------------- Visit the Grid Talk store ► https://f1chronicle.com/store/ Bet on F1? Get 125% sign up bonus with our code Join125 ► https://bit.ly/3JJauym Shop discount F1 team and driver merchandise ► https://bit.ly/332AHHX Get F1 race tickets ► https://bit.ly/3HQsVR1 Subscribe ► Subscribe to the Formula 1 Grid Talk podcast YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/c/Formula1GridTalk Tom - https://twitter.com/tomhorroxf1 Listen On ► Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4i19HuYTK3Wqsn7Cfvz81r Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/formula-1-grid-talk-podcast/id1479522737 Follow ► Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/F1ChronicleOfficial/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/F1Chronicle Tumblr - https://f1chronicle.tumblr.com/ Support Our Formula 1 Podcast We now have a Grid Talk store! Take the podcast with you with our range of Champion shirts and hoodies, plus we have caps and beanies to protect your head too. Grid Talk is also on Amazon! We have partnered with Amazon to give you a free trial of Audible Plus so you can start listening to thousands of podcasts, audiobooks, and Audible Originals. Already an Audible Plus member? Try Audible Premium Plus for free for one month. You can also give the gift of an Audible Premium Plus membership with this offer. Get The Offer - https://amzn.to/2LLYkeW If you enjoyed this episode of Grid Talk please consider supporting us via Patreon for just $1 a week, so we can get better microphones, cameras, lighting, and maybe a cheeky pint after recording. Join Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/Formula1GridTalk Review The Grid Talk Podcast? Do you enjoy the Grid Talk podcast? If you do, we would love it if you could take five to leave us a 5-Star review on iTunes! We will give you a shout out to say thanks. And if you don't love Grid Talk, please contact us and let us know what we could do better so we can improve. Want To Be On Grid Talk? If you would like to join the Grid Talk panel to offer your insights and opinions on all things F1, contact us today and let us know why you think you've got what it takes to contribute to the panel! #F1 Formula1 #Formula1Podcast by Formula 1 Grid Talk

#Formula 1 video

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sknews7 · 4 years

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GoodRx Goes Public As IPO Shares Sell Above Target

One week after GoodRx Holdings Inc. filed its preliminary public providing (IPO), the low cost prescription market priced its inventory at $33 per share, above its goal to promote $1.1 billion in inventory.

In its submitting with the Securities and Alternate Fee (SEC), the Santa Monica, California-based startup mentioned its promoting value can be within the $24-$28 per share vary, giving it an preliminary market cap of round $12.7 billion, Axios reported.

By Tuesday night time (Sept. 22) the value comparability app for pharmaceuticals had raised $1.14 billion in its IPO, the information outlet reported. Beginning Wednesday (Sept. 23), the corporate will probably be listed on the Nasdaq below ticker GDRX.

From January via June, the corporate reported practically $55 million of internet revenue and $257 million in income, making it one of many few worthwhile tech startups to go public this yr, Axios reported.

“Lack of affordability in healthcare is a contributing motive why 20 p.c to 30 p.c of prescriptions are left on the pharmacy counter,” the corporate wrote in its SEC filing. “Our mission is to assist Individuals get the healthcare they want at a value they will afford. GoodRx was based to unravel the challenges that customers face in understanding, accessing, and affording healthcare.”

Previous to the IPO, know-how investor Silver Lake had a 35 p.c possession stake in GoodRx. The Silicon Valley-based firm agreed to purchase one other $100 million of inventory via the IPO. Different buyers embrace Francisco Companions at 24 p.c and Spectrum Fairness at 15 p.c, the information outlet reported.

Earlier this month, Thomas Goetz, chief of analysis at GoodRx, told PYMNTS the corporate has put $10 billion again into the pockets of American shoppers.

“We attempt to make it easy for shoppers,” he mentioned. “We need to make it as simple and clear as potential. We actually have billions of costs in our database. The thought is to optimize one of the best costs for a given drug, relying on the situation of the consumer.”

Based in 2011, GoodRx gathers drug costs on greater than 70,000 U.S. pharmacies for customers to check and observe drug costs, in response to the corporate’s web site. As well as, it provides low cost coupons to shoppers.

It makes cash by charging charges to pharmacy advantages managers who associate with it. The corporate’s web site is seen by greater than 10 million Individuals who search the bottom costs for pharmaceuticals, the corporate mentioned.

——————————

LIVE PYMNTS TV OCTOBER SERIES: POWERING THE DIGITAL SHIFT – B2B PAYMENTS 2021

Banks, corporates and even regulators now recognize the imperative to modernize — not just digitize —the infrastructures and workflows that move money and data between businesses domestically and cross-border.

Together with Visa, PYMNTS invites you to a month-long series of livestreamed programs on these issues as they reshape B2B payments. Masters of modernization share insights and answer questions during a mix of intimate fireside chats and vibrant virtual roundtables.

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tak4hir0 · 4 years

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Approaching 2020’s EMEA Partner Forum, we knew it would be very different. But what would this look like? What came to be was EMEA Partnerforce Live, a new virtual event designed to inspire our EMEA partner ecosystem and provide business leaders with the tools and technology to reopen safely and reinvent the future. Developing this new concept and hosting our first virtual event was a tremendous learning experience. We learned a lot along the way. Here are the 5 things to remember for our next one. We didn’t assume to know how partners would want to hear from us, so we asked partners to tell us what formats would work, how long a session should be, and how many sessions each partner was likely to attend. The consensus seemed to be that most people wouldn’t attend all day, but would likely attend one to three sessions, and each session should be between 30 minutes and one hour. Consistent with in-person events, great content would be the primary reason for attending. We’d seen this already in our great Salesforce Live: Leading Through Change series, where content is key to the success of that program. So we set out to design something similar — a space for Salesforce and partners to celebrate positive collaboration, and hear some great stories from peers on how to navigate the current situation. And to come back stronger in the future. This is how this Partnerforce Live Concept was born. …also are great speakers. In this first edition, we enjoyed a great line-up including: A fireside chat with Gavin Patterson (President & CEO, International, Salesforce) who discussed his vision for his new role and how partners fit into his global view and provided key insights relevant for our partners as we all focus on reopening safely. He also provided a personal story of how he was involved in the Daily Mail Initiative to provide PPE for the NHS in the UK. Salesforce’s Philanthropic efforts around COVID-19 have been supported across the globe. You can read about some of our initiatives here. Insights from Neelie Kroes (former Vice President and European Commissioner at the European Commission and Salesforce Board Member) who shared her observations on the social and economic impact of the current crisis in EMEA, and her invaluable knowledge from direct experiences managing crisis during her time at the European Commission. Very inspiring. The show was hosted by Leon Mangan, SVP, Alliances & Channels, EMEA & LATAM, Salesforce, and Baman Motivala, VP, ISV EMEA & APAC, Salesforce. We also wanted partners to be at the center of the content, but lockdown presented us with some technology and logistical challenges! By the time we arrived on the day of the event, we had recorded and produced three partner videos, with each story showcasing how partners had quickly pivoted to help their customers through these tough times. Sopra Steria shared how their firm created a solution to help grocers in Italy facilitate social distancing and safe shopping. Their reservation system powered by Salesforce has saved shoppers hours of queuing, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty. SightCall’s customer solution is providing live video support to customers and includes functionality to help healthcare professionals remotely diagnose patients via video. Our third story from Capgemini France shared how Capgemini and Salesforce partnered to support a government initiative aimed at helping French citizens find essential products and services while under quarantine. Watch these three inspiring stories from Sopra Steria, SightCall, and Capgemini France in the replay on the Partner Video Newsroom. Our post-event survey showed that our content was spot on. The discussion with Neelie & Gavin showcasing what’s happening from a broad perspective and the partner stories received the highest rankings for content across the event. At live events, we meet each other, take questions from the audience, and find many ways to interact with our partners. Engagement at a virtual event is just as important and we delivered this in a number of ways: An executed communications and social media plan prior to the event to build momentum and anticipation of the dayWe prepared a fantastic personal video message from our ISVs, and our Alliance & Channel team to welcome more than 1750 attendees from 22 countries.We offered live chat and Live Q&A, all moderated by a 10-man team from the Salesforce Ecosystem Team. We were all ready to engage, monitor, and answer the incredible amount of questions that came from the audience.Some of the questions were answered directly by our speakers: how can we get involved with Work.com? How important are partners to Salesforce? What advice do you have for CEOs of our partners here as we’re planning our strategy for the future? If you attended, we really hope you enjoyed the inspirational content from this first Partnerforce Live. What looks like a seamless experience, was the result of hours of rehearsals, tech checks, coordination calls, and briefing sessions to ensure nothing was left to chance. It really pays off. Huge thanks to the cross-team collaboration that brought our event to life, and we look forward to our next virtual event with partners.

#Medium

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brajeshupadhyay · 4 years

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GDC Summer Event to Take Place in August Following GDC 2020’s Cancellation

Game Developers Conference aka GDC 2020 was cancelled owing to coronavirus concerns, which was bad news for gaming fans and an even bigger blow for developers. But there is finally a positive development on this front. The show’s organisers have announced that GDC is returning with a 3-day event in August, aptly called GDC Summer. The scale will be smaller, of course, but there will be some interesting events such as round-table discussions, interviews, and more importantly, a two-day floor show. GDC Summer will be “all things game development”, and will soon start accepting registrations for the show.

GDC Summer dates are August 4-6 and it will be held at Moscone Center in San Francisco. Conference passes for early birds start at $299 (roughly Rs. 22,400), while the expo pass will set buyers back by $99 (roughly Rs. 7,400). Ticket prices will go up after July 10, but you can pay more for on-site registrations as well. Aside from presentations and interviews, GDC Summer will also host a new series of talks and fireside chats. There will also be a dedicated space for career development sessions for developers. The last two days of GDC Summer will be dedicated for floor demos, which is a day-shorter compared to the typical 3-day floor show for GDC.

To recall, the organisers had promised to hold a summer GDC event later in summer after the show’s cancellation a few weeks ago due to the ongoing coronavirus situation. However, GDC Summer is not a full-scale replacement for GDC 2020. Moreover, GDC Summer is not written in stone and can be cancelled if the situation worsens.

If you are excited about GDC and rue the cancellation of the main show, you can check out the Steam Game Festival: Spring Edition on Steam, where demos of indie games supposed to be showcased at GDC 2020 are free to download and play.

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on Twitter, Facebook, and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Nadeem Sarwar Nadeem Sarwar has been writing about technology, smartphones, and gaming for Gadgets 360. He closely follows new launches, leaks, and the latest developments in the world of tech. More

Tesla Suspends Production at US Vehicle Factory Due to Coronavirus

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t-baba · 4 years

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Fun and games with JavaScript

#484 — April 17, 2020

Unsubscribe : Read on the Web

🕹 If you're bored this weekend at all, consider joining the latest Ludum Dare — it's an online game jam that's been taking place for 18 years and more JavaScript entries are appreciated against all the Unity crowd 😂

JavaScript Weekly

Writing an 'Emulator' in JavaScript (and Interfacing with Multiple UIs) — This is really neat. Tania built a Chip-8 interpreter in JavaScript and has gone into quite a bit of detail about what was involved here. Lots of neat bits and pieces to pick up from this.

Tania Rascia

jQuery 3.5.0 Released — I know many of you will groan, but I’m delighted when I see a new jQuery release. It’s still so heavily used. No headline features though, this is a security fix for a cross-site scripting vulnerability, plus some tweaks and fixes in preparation for jQuery 4.0 (yes!)

Timmy Willison (jQuery Foundation)

Build a Game of Battleship with TypeScript & Java. Free Course — Join over 2000 developers creating a game of Battleship with TypeScript, Spring Cloud Stream (Java), and PubSub+. This free 30-minute course is a great way to learn the basics of messaging and event-driven architecture with the Aurelia framework.

Solace sponsor

Profiling React.js Performance — Goes into detail on aspects of the React Profiler API, React’s new experimental Interaction Tracing API, and measuring custom metrics using the User Timing API.

Addy Osmani

Userscripts are Fun and Still Very Much Relevant — ‘Userscripts’ are basically JavaScript programs that run in the context of other Web pages so you can add your own features. They were really popular for a while but still exist and are still a neat use case for using JavaScript to improve your Web experience.

Eldad Bercovici

Another Look at What's New in ECMAScript 2020 — We linked to Dr Axel’s roundup recently, but here’s another take, looking at dynamic imports, nullish coalescing, optional chaining, BigInt, and more.

Ianis T.

⚡️ Quick Releases

Node 13.13.0 — File system API tweaks, and more.

jQuery 3.5 — So classic we had to link it twice.

Cypress 4.4.0 — Testing framework. Now supports TypeScript without plugins.

Discord.js 12.2 — Interact with Discord from Node.

💻 Jobs

JavaScript Developer at X-Team (Remote) — Join the most energizing community for developers. Work from anywhere with the world's leading brands.

X-Team

Senior JavaScript Developer (Warsaw, Relocation Package) — Open source rich text editor used by millions of users around the world. Strong focus on code quality. Join us.

CKEditor

Find a Job Through Vettery — Vettery specializes in tech roles and is completely free for job seekers. Create a profile to get started.

Vettery

📚 Tutorials

How To Create a Particle Trail Animation in JavaScript — Particle animations are particularly (sorry) striking.. and in this article, Anna Prenzel shows how to easily create your own such effects with Anime.js.

Smashing Magazine

Strategies for Migrating to TypeScript — A quick overview of some strategies for migrating code bases from JavaScript over to TypeScript.

Dr. Axel Rauschmayer

Developing in a Monorepo While Still Using Webpack — Second part in a series discussing things the team at Etsy learned during the migration of a home-grown, Require.js-based build system to webpack, which took over a year.

Salem Hilal

A More Productive Way to Build Your JavaScript Apps — Write better code, debug it, and test it – all in one place. Try WebStorm. No configuration required.

WebStorm sponsor

▶ Let's Build a Digital Circuit Simulator in JavaScript — A special episode of the Low Level JavaScript series takes us on a brief journey into the world of digital logic.

Low Level JavaScript

How To Set Up an Express API Backend Project with PostgreSQL — A pretty extensive walkthrough of creating an HTTP API using Express with Node.js and Postgres on the backend, then deploying it all on Heroku.

Chidi Orji

Speed Up Your Angular App: 14 Optimization Tips — Tips on how to make your Angular app smaller, faster, and more responsive.

Marcelo Ricardo de Oliveira

Class-Related Types in TypeScript

Dr. Axel Rauschmayer

📅▶ A Fireside Chat on the State of Microservices on April 21 — We recently helped The Software House with a developer survey (thanks to those who took it!) and now they’re doing a live chat on the state of microservices next Tuesday featuring Yan Cui, Alessando Vozza, and others.

The Software House

🔧 Code & Tools

Puppeteer 3.0: It Now Supports Firefox — Best known for as a way to headlessly control Chrome from Node, Puppeteer has recently seen some competition in the form of the cross-browser Playwright recently. But, no fear, Puppeteer is stepping up and can now work cross-browser too. We also learn Puppeteer is migrating to TypeScript.

Mathias Bynens

Open-Source Serverless CMS Powered by React, Node.js and GraphQL API — Build dynamic websites and apps with Webiny. 100% powered by JavaScript. Deploy your sites to AWS Lambda.

Webiny Serverless CMS sponsor

Rome: An Experimental JavaScript Toolchain — A compiler, linter, formatter, bundler, testing framework and more. Started by Sebastian McKenzie (of Babel and Yarn fame), Rome is now a project from the React Native team at Facebook. Related repo.

Facebook

Vime: A New, Modern Media / Video Player for the Web — Aims to be a ‘modern alternative to Video.js and Plyr’: “The idea behind Vime is we want you to control the player, not the other way around.” Modular, tree-shakable, and with potential for a plugin ecosystem. GitHub repo.

Rahim Alwer

Vuln Cost: An Open Source Security Scanner for VS Code — Free Snyk-powered VS Code extension that finds security vulnerabilities in npm packages, providing feedback in-line with your code, such as how many vulnerabilities a package has.

snyk

ip-num: A Library to Work with ASN, IPv4, and IPv6 Numbers — Happy in both Node and the browser.

dadepo

Flip: Animated Flip Counter Plugin to Add a Countdown to a Website — Adds an animated dynamic countdown timer to a page. No dependencies, responsive and mobile friendly, and fits any language, locale, or time zone.

Rik Schennink

The Perfect Partner to MongoDB Atlas. Try It for Free

Studio 3T sponsor

A JavaScript API for Controlling 'Simpsons: Hit & Run' — Including this as a bit of fun if you fancy noodling on something odd. Remote controlling games from JS seems neat, although I suspect just getting this running would take a while..

Tavis Ormandy

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#Javascript Branding #Javascript Weekly

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bigyack-com · 5 years

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Priyanka Chopra’s Ekaya Masaba saree look is love. Here are her best Desi Girl looks - fashion and trends

Priyanka Chopra Jonas is a true blue desi girl at heart, literally! The Sky Is Pink actor recently attended Umang 2020, in Mumbai, the event is organised every year to honour the police for their hard work and services to the people. Priyanka looked resplendent in a deep royal blue handwoven silk saree from the collaborative collection of fashion house Ekaya Benaras and designer Masaba Gupta. Priyanka’s post on social media got a lot of attention. Priyanka’s husband, American pop star Nick Jonas seemed to be smitten by his gorgeous wife’s pictures and commented, “Stunning”.

Priyanka wore a matching royal blue sleeveless blouse along with her saree, and matching bangles and bindi. She wore huge earrings in her ears and sported minimal make-up. Urvashi Rautela also seemed taken by Priyanka, and resonated with Nick’s view, writing, “Stunnnnningggg.” Priyanka and sarees are like a match made in heaven, and ever since her stunning saree look and dance moves in Dostana’s Desi Girl, people associate the term Desi Girl only with Priyanka. via GIPHY Here are some of Priyanka’s best saree looks, go ahead, get inspired!

On Tuesday morning, Priyanka took part in a fireside chat with many renowned figures at the World Economic Forum 2020 annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday. Talking about why she wants to be part of the change, Priyanka said, “I want my kids to grow up in a world where the world leaders have listened to Greta’s (Thunberg) generation, where the climate crisis is contained if not averted, where a woman’s ability to succeed is a basic human right and not based on geography and chance.” Professionally, Priyanka will soon be seen in the upcoming Amazon Prime series, Citadel alongside Richard Madden. The series is created by Russo brothers of The Avengers fame. She has also wrapped up the shoot for the Netflix movie based on Aravind Adiga’s Man Booker Prize-winning novel, The White Tiger. Directed by Iranian filmmaker Ramin Bahrani, the film also features Adarsh Gourav and Rajkummar Rao. Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter Read the full article

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f1chronicle · 2 years

Video

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Welcome to Episode 186 of our Formula 1 podcast, Grid Talk, and another in our F1 Fireside series. In this F1 Fireside, Tom Horrox chats with Australian F1 writer, broadcaster, and podcaster producer Michael Lamonato! Make sure you subscribe to the Grid Talk Podcast so you’re the first to know when each new F1 Fireside episode is released, and if you liked this episode, give it a thumbs up! -------------------------------------- Visit the Grid Talk store ► https://f1chronicle.com/store/ Bet on F1? Get 125% sign up bonus with our code Join125 ► https://bit.ly/3JJauym Shop discount F1 team and driver merchandise ► https://bit.ly/332AHHX Get F1 race tickets ► https://bit.ly/3HQsVR1 Subscribe ► Subscribe to the Formula 1 Grid Talk podcast YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/c/Formula1GridTalk Tom - https://twitter.com/tomhorroxf1 Michael - https://michaellamonato.com.au/ Listen On ► Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4i19HuYTK3Wqsn7Cfvz81r Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/formula-1-grid-talk-podcast/id1479522737 Follow ► Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/F1ChronicleOfficial/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/F1Chronicle Tumblr - https://f1chronicle.tumblr.com/ Support Our Formula 1 Podcast We now have a Grid Talk store! Take the podcast with you with our range of Champion shirts and hoodies, plus we have caps and beanies to protect your head too. Grid Talk is also on Amazon! We have partnered with Amazon to give you a free trial of Audible Plus so you can start listening to thousands of podcasts, audiobooks, and Audible Originals. Already an Audible Plus member? Try Audible Premium Plus for free for one month. You can also give the gift of an Audible Premium Plus membership with this offer. Get The Offer - https://amzn.to/2LLYkeW If you enjoyed this episode of Grid Talk please consider supporting us via Patreon for just $1 a week, so we can get better microphones, cameras, lighting, and maybe a cheeky pint after recording. Join Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/Formula1GridTalk Review The Grid Talk Podcast? Do you enjoy the Grid Talk podcast? If you do, we would love it if you could take five to leave us a 5-Star review on iTunes! We will give you a shout out to say thanks. And if you don't love Grid Talk, please contact us and let us know what we could do better so we can improve. Want To Be On Grid Talk? If you would like to join the Grid Talk panel to offer your insights and opinions on all things F1, contact us today and let us know why you think you've got what it takes to contribute to the panel! #F1 #F1Podcast #Formula1Podcast by Formula 1 Grid Talk

#Formula 1 video

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rickhorrow · 5 years

Text

20 for 20: The Year Ahead

RICK HORROW’S TOP SPORTS BUSINESS/LAW/TECH/PHILANTHROPY PREDICTIONS

with Jacob Aere

Here are Rick Horrow’s 20 top happenings and predictions for the busy sports business year ahead. Enjoy, and Happy New Year!

The XFL is on its way as a serious competitor for professional football. After an unsuccessful XFL launch in 2001, WWE chairman Vince McMahon is making his second attempt to build a successful professional football league that will launch on February 8, 2020. According To Bleacher Report, this time around a slow and steady buildup has led to the creation of eight teams across the United States. Unlike the NFL, a focus will be put on a quicker-paced game as well as incorporating betting into normal football action. XFL CEO Oliver Luck noted that the league will not market itself using big names but instead plans to be a place to springboard names into the NFL, almost as stage upon which to showcase talent to the more established football league. There are 40 million people who crave more football after the Super Bowl, and if the XFL can find a younger age demographic than the ill-fated AAF, they will find success, as their price point of roughly $30-$40 for a pro football game is highly competitive, especially for younger, less affluent consumers.

The Raiders, Chargers, and Rams will see new homes with the opening of Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and SoFi Stadium in L.A. The Raiders’ new stadium comes with a change of scenery as the longtime Oakland franchise is moving out to Las Vegas and into the reported $2 billion stadium that aesthetically pays tribute to the “Black Hole,” a name assigned to the group of fans in the most intense section in the team’s previous home. Meanwhile, the Chargers and Rams will share news digs in Los Angeles, where construction is estimated to cost $10 billion including work on the surrounding 298-acre former Hollywood Park footprint. SoFi Stadium will be a beefy 70,000 person venue. By taking a more-than-football approach in Los Angeles, the stadium may find itself being filled by fans who prioritize “being seen” at the city’s new hot spot over on-field action. SoFi will open in July with an added boost from two Taylor Swift shows, which will hopefully drive L.A. consumers to the first new football stadium built in the city in nearly 100 years.

Tokyo 2020 brings six new sports to the Olympics. According to C|Net, the first of the six sports to debut is karate, which fittingly makes its Olympic debut in Tokyo, joining judo, taekwondo, and wrestling. Karate consists of two disciplines for both men and women: kata (forms) and kumite (sparring). Skateboarding and surfing will also be joining the Olympic fray, with park and street skateboarding and short board surfing. The other three new sports include sport climbing, which will consist of three disciplines: speed climbing, bouldering; and lead climbing; and baseball and softball make a return to the Olympics after having not been played during the last two summer Games. All of these sports will get a global popularity boost thanks to the influence and amazement of the Olympics.

Olympic ad sales are on pace to shatter their previous record of $1.2 billion. According to AdAge, NBC Sports announced that it has secured $1 billion in American ad sales for its coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, putting it on pace to surpass the record $1.2 billion total it amassed three years ago during the Rio de Janeiro Games. While NBC hasn’t quite eclipsed the high-water mark set in 2016, the network still has eight months left to cut deals before the Olympic torch is lit in Tokyo’s New National Stadium. And more than half of the advertisers are newcomers to the quadrennial event. NBC Sports Group has worked up a single audience guarantee number for advertisers that is agnostic as to whether a particular viewer is watching the Olympics on a traditional TV set or via a streaming platform – meaning digital eyeballs will count toward advertising total reach figures this time around. Additionally, Japan Airlines is giving away 50,000 round-trip tickets ahead of the Tokyo Olympics to encourage international visitors to come out and watch the Games.

Group1001 brings another women’s leadership and STEM-centric event to the LPGA Tour. Three weeks from now, the LPGA and Group1001 will kick off a new official LPGA Tour event in Boca Raton, Florida. The inaugural Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio will be held January 20-26 at Boca Rio Golf Club and feature a 108-player field competing for a $2 million purse. As a key part of tournament week, the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio will host the Women’s Leadership Summit presented by Versant Health with top female leaders from a variety of industries, creating a space to empower women, develop and strengthen skills, build networks, and inspire change. The summit will feature a panel headlined by female business leaders, a fireside chat with an LPGA Tour professional, as well as inspirational stories and presentations from pioneering women. The Boca Raton event is a bookend of sorts to the Group1001-sponsored Indy Women in Tech LPGA tournament held in Indianapolis late summer, which also features multiple educational and networking events for women looking to reengage or advance careers in STEM and business/leadership fields.

Name, Image, and Likeness will dominate collegiate sports conversations in 2020. No matter which Tigers win the CFP National Championship on January 13, regardless of whether a blue chip team or an underdog ignites the Final Four, primary conversations around NCAA events will center on looming Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) legislation in California and 21 other states. The NCAA is under the gun to come up with a policy that’s acceptable to athletes and its member institutions alike before California’s Fair Pay to Play bill takes effect in 2023. On the issue of when an NCAA NIL policy will go into effect, NCAA President Emmert has said that 2021 is the goal, but could be impacted by what happens at the state level, emphasizing that we can’t have a model where multiple states have different rules. Congress and state legislators are now firmly vested in the process as well, looking to preserve the rights of student athletes as well as the Title IX structure and other anti-discrimination measures. Look for Emmert to produce a draft national NIL solution by year end – one that will be intensely debated and breathlessly revised in 2021.

The 2022 Qatar World Cup is forging ahead in the desert, with major milestones within the country and decisions outside of it to come in 2020. According to ESPN, the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is less than three years away and the tiny Gulf state has now staged its first-ever major football tournament, having hosted the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup earlier in December, won by Liverpool. There will be an eight stadium rotation within the 2022 World Cup footprint, and Qatar is debuting a new metro system that will link the majority of the eight stadiums along a 46-mile path. Although the country looks to build its hotel industry to host a substantial number of World Cup fans, the number of rooms available at current count will fall well short of the likely 3 million incoming fans. And in 2020, qualifying countries that abhor Qatar’s poor human rights record will have hard philosophical choices to make about sending a national team. Another obstacle to overcome will be the country’s anti-liquor laws, which will push drinking into mainly hotel bars. The country, however, is likely to relax their tough alcohol rules to make the soccer masses happy and the World Cup a financial success.

HSBC Rugby Sevens Series takes a “leap” of faith. After a successful long run in Vegas, the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020 returns to Los Angeles – on Leap Day. The USA Sevens, a key part of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020, returns to Los Angeles for the 2020 edition of the World Rugby Sevens Series in the United States. World Rugby has confirmed that 2020 will be its biggest season to date. In the year just ending, the Series has seen record-breaking audience engagement figures, with over 198 million video views in 2019. After a decade of action in Las Vegas, U.S. tournament organizers have gambled on a return to the West Coast. Dignity Health Sports Park -- until last weekend the temporary home of the NFL Los Angeles Chargers -- is slated to host the fifth leg of the 2019-2020 World Series, with the U.S. event taking place February 29–March 1, 2020. The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020 also serves as crucial build-up for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

New Collective Bargaining Agreements are on the horizon for the WNBA and MLS in 2020. The WNBA players’ association is looking for powers that be to “bet on women,” and a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the league and new Commissioner Cathy Engelbert is expected to be announced by January 15. According to Swish Appeal, new provisions would take effect quickly, with free agency expected to begin on time on February 1 with players hoping to get paid more for their efforts. Meanwhile, January 31 is the date that the existing CBA between MLS and the MLS Players Association will expire. The hope is that a new deal will be hashed out, and the now 26-team league will keep growing as according to Forbes, the average valuation of MLS teams has increased by 30% from 2017 to a current average of $313 million. Both the WNBA and MLS have shown strong signs of growth in recent years, and players should expect to reap salary benefits from these positive changes.

Legal U.S. sports gambling and media platforms continue to grow. According to Digiday, sports media will rush to embrace gambling in 2020 in order to boost ad revenues, following the path of ESPN’s popular “Daily Wager” show that launched in 2019. Currently, sports betting is legal in just 11 states, but seven more states are preparing to take the sports betting plunge in the near future. Research published recently by the consultancy Gambling Compliance projects that 40 U.S. states will have legalized sports betting by 2024. That rush of legalization, encompassing an estimated $150 billion industry, is expected to attract the attention of almost every kind of mainstream sports publisher. Over the past year, both Vox Media (with DraftKings) and Bleacher Report (with Caesars Palace) signed long-term deals to create wide varieties of content designed to build interest in sports betting. The potential for multiple income streams from sports betting – via related ads and the bets themselves – will be a cash cow for sports media companies.

Baseball’s new marijuana policy will spark change in NBA and NFL rules. Earlier this month, Major League Baseball and its players’ association announced that the league would drop punishments for positive tests of “substances of abuse” such as marijuana and cocaine, treating those violations the same as alcohol-related situations, with players facing voluntary treatment rather than suspensions and fines. The change in MLB policy could be a short term trigger for similar changes within the NBA and NFL. According to a study done by ESPN last spring, 82% of teams over the four major pro North American sports leagues play in states or provinces where recreational and/or medical marijuana use is legal. The NFL and NBA put players who test positive in a substance abuse program before fines and suspensions for subsequent positives. The NHL, the pathfinder in this area, recommends treatment for “abnormally high levels” of THC but does not punish players. The NHL and MLB are now treating their athletes more like ordinary people. This will likely give the NFL and NBA precedent to change their respective recreational drug policies.

Bolstered by support from Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, the fate of 42 Minor League Baseball franchises will become a solid rallying point during the 2020 U.S. presidential elections. The current dispute between MLB and MiLB became public in October, when Baseball America reported that MLB had offered a plan to eliminate as many as 42 minor-league teams after the 2020 season, when the Professional Baseball Agreement between MLB and MiLB expires. In November, the New York Times released a list of the 42 teams that would be cut. "Suddenly," Sporting News noted, "we knew what towns could potentially lose teams, which communities — some significant to the sport's history — could be without baseball. That made it much more real." Politicians coast to coast have rightfully joined the effort to save grass roots pro baseball at its best. Democratic presidential candidate Sanders has been the loudest voice. He's met with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, and in mid-December, Sanders also met with people representing minor league baseball in Burlington, Iowa. Not coincidentally, that's one of the towns on the elimination list. Expect other presidential would-be hopefuls to join the charge to save the MiLB teams as well.

Zion Williamson will finally play in 2020 and he will have a big impact on the NBA market. According to Forbes, season-ticket sales calls for the New Orleans Pelicans reached historic levels after the team won the NBA lottery with Williamson. But a couple of lawsuits are going to delay many off-court endorsement options. Currently, most of the money being made from Zion's likeness is unlicensed merchandise. All of the different styles of street market shirts, posters, and even rosary candles are not Zion blessed products. Williamson is so good that he’s even reviving the basketball card industry single-handedly and is sure to raise ticket prices when he’s on the road just due to his presence. Williamson will eventually get a huge shoe deal, and will net a huge raise once he hits the NBA open market as a free agent, perhaps becoming even more marketable than LeBron James within the next two years. If LeBron is the NBA’s current most marketable basketball player, Zion is the future.

The Athletic is vying to become a billion dollar sports media company through online subscriptions. According to Awful Announcing, the company is currently valued at over $300 million with a subscriber count north of 600,000. They also have expanded into the UK and are beginning to dabble in video content while still expanding their coverage zone. On the upper end of the spectrum, The Athletic could battle ESPN + as the largest online sports publisher and end up being valued at greater than $1 billion. The Athletic seems to have no rigid beliefs that they have to limit their content to just sports, and are leaving competitors behind as they continue to add award-winning veteran sports journalists to their roster. The Athletic’s deep bench of established writers with loyal fans allows them to grow at their own pace and could showcase an example of thriving journalism in the new decade.

Streaming service Quibi sells out of its $150 million in first-year advertisement inventory. The mobile only streaming service (short for Quick Bites) debuts in April, 2020 and will be a sort of Netflix for the mobile era, where higher-quality content is chopped up into smaller bites. According to The Wrap, Quibi content will only be available on mobile devices, with each episode running no longer than 10 minutes. The app will cost viewers $4.99 per month for ad-supported viewing, or run $7.99 for ad-free viewing when it debuts next spring. On Quibi’s sports content front, ESPN will post a daily sports show on the platform to cover game highlights. ESPN’s daily show will clearly be a pathway for more sports shows in Quibi’s future.

Tech wearables will be even bigger business in pro sports. According to Tech Radar, spending on wearables will hit $51.5 billion next year, with smartwatches leading the pack. Wearable tech is only going to keep growing, and in 2020 there will be several major new devices from key players in this space. Look for Google and Samsung to enter as serious competitors in the smartwatch race alongside Apple. Additionally, look to Oculus Go, Quest, and Rift S to provide virtual reality sports upgrades, while the North Focals 2.0, a pair of augmented reality glasses, may add to the sports viewing experience in the next few years.

Augmented and virtual reality offer all sports leagues and teams a new revenue stream. According to Front Office Sports, there is ample opportunity for teams to grow revenue streams by selling advertising around augmented reality activations. But to do that, more clubs and pro sports leagues have to embrace the technology first. The AR market in sports remains largely underpenetrated, even as more examples of franchises using augmented and mixed reality pop up. In fact, the NHL Los Angeles Kings remain one of the few pro teams to be utilizing the technology to date, offering their fans interactive player cards and videos. Companies like Teslasuit are also providing full biometric feedback through bodysuits that could be applied to simulate highly accurate stadium realities for fans, or game-like situations for players who want a different way to practice.

Look for women in philanthropy to give back to women in sport. According to Axios, women are taking the lead on donating to women’s collegiate sports teams, as former female athletes are donating millions of dollars to build facilities, endow scholarships, and support coaching positions at their alma maters. The New York Times reports that participation in women’s college sports teams is at an all-time high, outnumbering men's sports for more than 20 years now. And yet, marketing and sponsorships opportunities and support from benefactors for female collegiate teams has caught on slower than men's sports. Turnout for national women's sports grew at an average of almost 40% since 2013, according to a study by sports marketing agency Two Circles. Now, 51% of personal wealth in the U.S. comes from women, based on data from 2015, and is expected to keep growing, so assume that more female benefactors will be there to push for more coverage and opportunities for gender equality in sports.

Esports looks to build on a successful 2019 with more tournaments, teams, and leagues. According to Esports Insider, Intel has announced the Intel World Open, a July 22-24 esports tournament that will take place in the lead up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. The tournament will feature Japan-based title Street Fighter V and Rocket League, with a total prize pool of $500,000. The tournament’s timing, held just days before the Games commence, will ensure excellent worldwide exposure. Esports teams continue to receive their very own stadiums, while esports players could earn nearly as much as NFL salaries in the near future, according to FaZe Clan president Greg Selkoe. The audience for esports is on pace to nearly double over a six-year period, as the 2017 audience stood at 335 million and the 2023 estimates are around 646 million fans. Expect more esports advertisements and major new investments in the industry in 2020.

MLB looks for a new business plan featuring jersey sponsors and robot umpires. According to the Associated Press, umpires agreed to cooperate with Major League Baseball in the development and testing of an automated ball-strike system as part of a five-year labor contract. MLB has discussed installing the system at the Class A Florida State League for 2020. If that test goes well, computer umpires could be used at Triple A games in 2021 as further debugging prior to a big league call-up. Meanwhile, Nike has taken over as MLB’s official outfitter for the next 10 years; the company now has their logo on the front of every MLB jersey. MLB Executive Vice President Noah Garden has also stated that it's "inevitable" that jersey patch sponsorships are coming. It's believed that jersey ad patches could arrive as soon as 2022, when the league enters a new labor deal with the MLBPA.

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Announcing the complete Disrupt Berlin agenda!

Disrupt Berlin is right around the corner. And there is plenty to look forward to.

Join us December 11 and December 12 to hear from industry leaders, investors and bright stars in the startup world. We’ll sit down with CEOs from big-name companies such as UIPath, Samsung, and Naspers, as well as leading investors from Atomico, SoftBank and Index.

On the Extra Crunch stage, panelists will discuss important trends in the startup world, and deliver actionable insights to founders looking to scale their business, from product management to raising money to building a brand.

And, of course, we can never forget the legendary Startup Battlefield competition, where companies pitch their startups onstage for the first time in front of a panel of expert judges. Only one walks away victorious, with USD$50,000, the Disrupt Cup and eternal glory.

We can’t wait to see you there! Tickets are available right here!

Wednesday, December 11

Morning

Creating a Global Payment Network with Hiroki Takeuchi (GoCardless)

GoCardless has a shot at becoming a global leader when it comes to payments via direct debit. And now, all eyes are on the company’s next challenge — becoming the best way to collect recurring payments, globally. The startup’s CEO will join us to talk about how GoCardless plans to replace cash, cheques and even card payments at a global scale. Main Stage @ 10:05AM

How to Build Sustainability as a Business with Benjamina Bollag (Higher Steaks) and Pierre Paslier (Notpla)

As climate change and the impacts of a warming world become more important for the consumers who are exposed to it, hear from a developer of lab grown meat and a biodegradable packaging technology developer on how to build sustainability as a business. Extra Crunch Stage @ 10:05AM

How Station F is Boosting the French Tech Ecosystem with Roxanne Varza (Station F)

Three years after unveiling Station F at Disrupt, its Director Roxanne Varza is back to give us an update on the world’s biggest startup campus. Station F has become a cornerstone of the French tech ecosystem and a signal for the international tech community. There are now 1,000 startups working from Station F in Paris. Station F’s director will join us to talk about what’s next for Station F and the French tech ecosystem. Main Stage @ 10:25AM

What Does It Take to Raise a Series A with Jessica Holzbach (Penta), Lousie Dahlborn Samet (Blossom Capital) and Hannah Seal (Index Ventures)

Venture capital funds have boomed this decade, but raising money is still hard for young companies. What are investors today looking for in teams, metrics and products? Extra Crunch Stage @ 10:45AM

Fireside Chat with Atomico with Sophia Bendz, Siraj Khaliq, Hiro Tamura and Niall Wass (Atomico)

From a single London base a few years ago, Atomico has now spread to the US and Asia. Hear from key partners about this global VC’s strategy going forward. Main Stage @10:45AM

Startup Battlefield Competition – Session 1

TechCrunch’s iconic startup competition is back, as entrepreneurs from around the world pitch expert judges and vie for the Battlefield Cup and $50,000. Main Stage @ 11:15AM

The Top Three Immigration Mistakes Startups Make with Sophie Alcorn (Alcorn Immigration Law)

Learn how to troubleshoot the many snags that can affect startups trying to bring international talent into their organizations, with top Silicon Valley immigration expert Sophie Alcorn. Extra Crunch Stage @ 11:25AM

How to Iterate Your Product with Andrew Bowell (Unity) and Georgina Smallwood (N26)

Building something that’s used by millions is an exhilarating feat, but the real challenge is understanding how to iterate your product so that it can scale to a bigger audience with a bigger impact. We’ve assembled the product chiefs from some of the most influential tech companies in the world to dive into the details of what every product manager and product chief needs to know. Extra Crunch Stage @ 11:45AM

Afternoon

Startup Battlefield Competition – Session 2

TechCrunch’s iconic startup competition is back, as entrepreneurs from around the world pitch expert judges and vie for the Battlefield Cup and $50,000. Main Stage @ 1:15PM

Lessons Learned from Serial Founders with Zoe Adamovicz (Neufund), Thibaud Elziere (eFounders) and Christian Reber (Pitch)

What would you do differently if you were crazy enough to start another company? Hear what these leaders learned from the first time(s) around — and why they’re back at it again. Extra Crunch Stage @ 1:20PM

How to Build for the Virtual Economy with Paul Murphy (Northzone)

Gaming platforms ranging from Second Life and Eve Online to Fortnite and Roblox offer virtual worlds where our avatars can create and trade virtual goods like digital clothing, weapons, vehicles, and buildings with other players for real-world value. With rapidly growing mainstream participation in these virtual economies and announcements of new worlds in development like Facebook’s Horizon, where are there biggest opportunities for entrepreneurs? Extra Crunch Stage @ 2:00PM

Investing and Operating in Growth Markets with Michal Borkowski (Brainly) and Bob van Dijk (Prosus and Naspers)

Naspers’ tech holdings Prosus became Europe’s largest consumer internet company when it listed earlier this year on Euronext in Amsterdam. Its interests include food delivery, payments and fintech, classifieds, travel, retail, media, social platforms — not to mention a huge stake in Tencent. It also has a dedicated and very active ventures team. Come hear from one of its portfolio companies, the ed-tech startup Brainly, whose CEO will be on stage with Prosus CEO Bob van Dijk talking about how to scale a startup, the challenges of knowing when to hold and when to fold, and more. Main Stage @ 2:15PM

How to Scale Your Startup Globally with Sophie Alcorn (Alcorn Immigration Law), Karoli Hindriks (Jobbatical), Holger Seim (Blinkist)

Global expansion is critical to building the next unicorn, but what’s the right approach to maximize growth with limited resources? Join Holger Seim, founder and CEO of audio startup Blinkist, Karoli Hindriks, founder and CEO of Jobbatical, and prominent Silicon Valley immigration attorney Sophie Alcorn as we discuss the opportunities – and pitfalls – of expanding outside your local market. Extra Crunch Stage @ 2:25PM

Fireside Chat with Sebastian Siemiatkowski (Klarna)

Klarna was once a small Stockholm-based outfit looking to offer payment services for online shops. Today, it’s tackling physical stores and looking to storm the U.S. It has plenty of support, including that of early investor Sequoia Capital. In fact, it has amassed more funding and a higher valuation than almost any other privately held company in the world. Can it live up to expectations? We’ll talk with co-founder and CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski about the company’s ride so far, and where it goes next in this must-see sit-down. Main Stage @ 2:40PM

AI Chips with Everything? — Nigel Toon (Graphcore)

In this fireside chat with Nigel Toon, founder of Graphcore, we’ll discuss the race between chip giants and startups to build AI chips, how next-gen chipsets are pushing the boundaries of software innovation, and what happens once AI chips are everywhere. Main Stage @ 3:00PM

How To Win Customers and Influence Markets with Colette Ballou (Ballou PR), Joanna Kirk, (Joanna Kirk PR) and Katy Turner (Multiple)

Every startup is a story and the best stories can change the world. Some of Europe’s finest alchemists of allusion will share their tips on how to be a signal in a world of noise. Extra Crunch Stage @ 3:05PM

Are We There Yet? Inside the Tech that Will Help AVs be Better Chauffeurs with Clare Jones (What3Words) and Eran Shir (Nexar)

Clare Jones, chief commercial officer of what3words, and Eran Shir, CEO of Nexar will talk about the role of mapping and geolocation in autonomous vehicles and how this tech is already rolling out in human driven cars. Main Stage @ 3:20PM

Will We Pay For Social Media? with Hovhannes Avoyan (PicsArt)

PicsArt has reached 120 million users for its photo editor by asking people to pay for its creative tools. We’ll talk to CEO Hovhannes Avoyan about why free isn’t always the answer and how top social networks will embrace subscription pricing. Main Stage @ 3:45PM

How to Brexit as a Startup with Volker Hirsh (Amadeus Capital Partners), Bindi Karia (bindi ventures) and Glenn Shoosmith (JRNI)

The turbulence of Brexit has left both UK and European startups alike wondering about the best path forward. Hear from from both the investor and entrepreneur perspective on how best to deal with this thorny subject. Extra Crunch Stage @ 4:05PM

Opening Up VC with Matt Penneycard and Francesca Warner (Ada Ventures)

VC has been historically bad at backing under-represented founders. ‘Old boys networks’ and unconscious biases abound. VC needs a systemic change. Check Warner and Matt Penneycard of Ada Ventures have previously pioneered industry initiatives to address this and will discuss what new techniques VCs can use to support overlooked founders. Main Stage @ 4:05PM

Startup Battlefield Competition – Session 3

TechCrunch’s iconic startup competition is back, as entrepreneurs from around the world pitch expert judges and vie for the Battlefield Cup and $50,000. Main Stage @ 4:25PM

Pitch Deck Teardown with Russ Heddleston (DocSend), Karen Stafford (Intel Capital), and Sitar Teli (Connect Ventures)

Talk through the nuts and bolts of what makes a great deck (or not) with investors Sitar Teli and Karen Stafford, plus insights from DocSend’s Russ Heddleston, as they go through submitted pitches live on stage. Extra Crunch Stage @ 4:45PM

Thursday, December 12

Morning

Delivery-as-a-service with Oscar Pierre (Glovo) and Charity Stafford (Uber Eats)

On this panel we’ll sit down with Oscar Pierre, CEO of Glovo, and Charity Safford of UberEats to talk ops and logistics of scaling on-demand delivery, plus delve into what the model means for suppliers and partners, and consider regulatory headwinds. Main Stage @ 9:30AM

How to Build a Billion Dollar SaaS Company with Christoph Janz (Point Nine Capital), Matthew Prince (Cloudflare) and Laura Urquizu (Red Points)

Scaling a SaaS company is anything but easy. In this session, we’ll talk about everything from how (and when) to charge for your product, when to make crucial hires, how to sell into the enterprise and when it’s time to consider an exit.Extra Crunch Stage @ 9:50AM

Scaling Ethereum and Beyond with Justin Drake (Ethereum Foundation)

The Ethereum vision has always been to create a world computer. But its scalability remains an issue. Ethereum Researcher Justin Drake will discuss the road ahead. Main Stage @ 9:55AM

Unnatural Language Processing with Emily Foges (Luminance) and Sofie Quidenus-Wahlforss (omni:us)

Legal contracts and insurance policies can be difficult even for experts to decipher – hear how the founders of Luminance and omni:us are using AI to take on jargon and save everyone some time. Main Stage @ 10:15AM

How to Raise Your First Euros with Nic Brisbourne (Forward Partners), Russ Heddleston (DocSend), and Malin Holmberg (Target Global)

The process of securing your very first check isn’t an easy one. To make it a little bit easier, we’ve invited DocSend founder Russ Heddleston, Forward Partners managing partner Nic Brisbourne, and Target Global partner Malin Holmberg to the stage to offer their best tips and tricks to aspiring or current founders. Extra Crunch Stage @ 10:30AM

Investing in 2020 with Carolina Brochado (SoftBank Vision Fund)

Nothing changes quite as rapidly as investment trends. Brochado and Hulme will offer perspectives from their experience both on the ground in Europe and from 50,000 feet to talk about what 2020 has in store for startups. Main Stage @ 10:40AM

Succeeding in the Streaming Era with Efe Cakarel (MUBI)

MUBI has been in the streaming business since before Netflix, and has successfully built a service that caters to specific needs in a useful, novel way. The company’s CEO will join us to talk about the maturation of the streaming market, and what it takes to build a lasting business in an increasingly crowded space. Main Stage @ 11:05AM

The New New Shop with Maria Raga (Depop)

As shopping has moved from the web to apps, Depop has caught the Gen Z wave. We’ll hear from the CEO who is nurturing this “eBay for the 21st Century.” Main Stage @ 11:25AM

Oh the Places You’ll Go! Disrupting Travel with Johannes Reck (GetYourGuide)

Travel is perhaps the last bastion of the on-demand economy to be colonised. GetYourGuide founder Reck will unpack how, after raising a total of $654.5 million, he plans to expand across the globe. Main Stage @ 11:45AM

Afternoon

How to Fit Blockchain into Your Startup Strategy with Justin Drake (Ethereum Foundation), Ash Egan (Accomplice VC) and Ashley Tyson (Web3 Foundation)

Chances are, you keep hearing about this ‘blockchain’ thing all the time — and maybe you’re ignoring it but deep down, you know you should probably think about how it could help your startup. To help you with that and maybe demystify blockchain a bit, too, we’ll be joined by three panelists who all have deep roots in the blockchain community: Ethereum Foundation Researcher Justin Drake, Accomplice VC’s Ash Egan and Web3 Foundation Co-founder and Director of Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives Ashley Tyson. Extra Crunch Stage @ 12:55PM

Investing in Africa’s Tech Talent with Jeremy Johnson (Andela) and Lila Preston (Generation Investment Management)

Generation Investment Management, the firm co-founded by former U.S Vice President Al Gore, was built on the premise of backing sustainable startups. The fund’s lead Lila Preston brings their portfolio company Andela to discuss how they have harnessed the booming talent in Africa to solve global outsourcing issues and what’s next in building sustainable companies. Main Stage @ 1:00PM

Mobilizing Emerging Markets with Sujay Tyle (Frontier Car Group)

As the mobility industry evolves rapidly, a huge opportunity lies in emerging markets. Sujay Tyle, serial entrepreneur and founder and CEO of Frontier Car Group, is looking to capitalize on that opportunity with its investments in used-car marketplaces. Main Stage @ 1:25PM

Startup Battlefield Alumni Updates

Battlefield startups from the past return to the stage to tell us what they’ve been up to since they competed for the Disrupt Cup. Main Stage @ 1:45PM

Startup Battlefield Final Competition

TechCrunch’s iconic startup competition is back, as entrepreneurs from around the world pitch expert judges and vie for the Battlefield Cup and $50,000. Main Stage @ 2:00PM

Growth Marketing with Asher King Abramson (Demand Curve)

Learn about the right ways and wrong ways to create great assets for paid channels, landing pages and more in this teardown workshop with Asher King Abramson, a top growth marketer who works with hundreds of successful startups. Submit your landing page and ads beforehand for a chance to receive feedback live on stage. Extra Crunch Stage @ 2:05PM

How to Radically Change Finance Through Fintech Startups with Yoni Assia (eToro) and Charlie Delingpole (ComplyAdvantage)

Few areas of investment have been as white hot as fintech these past few years, but how can startups radically transform the finance industry both for financial institutions but also for consumers? Join Charlie Delingpole, founder and CEO of ComplyAdvantage and Yoni Assia, founder and CEO of eToro, as we discuss how startups can compete in this fast-moving industry. Extra Crunch Stage @ 2:45PM

Democratizing Robots with Daniel Dines (UiPath)

Robotics is a hotbed of investment and activity, but how does the average person access the benefits of automation? UiPath CEO and founder Daniel Dines will explain how we can expand access to the benefits of robotics, for companies and individual workers alike. Main Stage @ 3:15PM

Hackathon Finals

Everybody loves a Hackathon! Hear from developers about what they built in 24 hours. Extra Crunch Stage @ 3:25PM

TravelTech Opportunities with Andrew Reed (Sequoia Capital) and Julian Stiefel (Tourlane)

Berlin-based Tourlane has raised $81 million for multi-day travel booking. Co-founder Julian Stiefel and his investor Sequoia’s Andrew Reed will discuss what products still need to be built in travel, and how startups can do something unique enough to avoid getting steamrolled by tech giants. Main Stage @ 3:35PM

Igniting Innovation with Young Sohn (Samsung)

As the President and Chief Strategy Officer for Samsung Electronics, Young Sohn oversees critical aspects involving global innovation, investment and business creation. Hear how Sohn views the opportunities for Samsung and startups in the European market. Main Stage @ 4:00PM

From Startup Battlefield to IPO with Matthew Prince (Cloudflare)

In 2010, Cloudflare participated in one of the very first Disrupt Battlefields and a few months ago, the company made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange. In this conversation with co-founder and CEO Matthew Prince, we’ll talk about Cloudflare’s path to an IPO, the unique challenges it faced, and what’s next for the company. Main Stage @ 4:20PM

Startup Battlefield Closing Awards Ceremony

Watch the crowning of the latest winner of Startup Battlefield. Main Stage @ 4:40PM

Tickets to Disrupt Berlin, which runs December 11 and 12, are available right here. Snatch one up for yourself before it’s too late!

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