ViSmedia Includes Students in Yearly Conference
"Snap Map can be fun between friends, but it can also be a too that can be misused by the "wrong" people", journalism student Maren Myrseth says.
Myrseth is a bachelor's student at University of Bergen, and one of the speakers at this year's ViSmedia conference, "Watching in the Media".
Myrseth will be on stage to talk alongside many well known professors, researchers and journalists. She'll speak about the map Snap Map from the application Snapchat, and what it's like to live with watching and being watched constantly.
"I believe we don't think enough about how easy it actually is to gather detailed information about ourselves and others", she says.
Conferences Important for the ViSmedia project
Every year since 2016, ViSmedia has arranged yearly conferences. Last year it was "Mobile spotting in the media". In 2016 the title was "Drones in the media". According to head of ViSmedia, Astrid Gynnild, the project lifts up partly controversial subjects and questions that are important for our society.
"We're not simply telling people about this technology, we let them experience the effects it has. This is an important part of the ViSmedia project", Gynnild explains.
She continues:´
"We have to investigate what happens when we encounter technology, to make how we as a society, have different choices".
"A part of the education"
A large number of students are contributed to making this conference come true.
"It's important that students are a part of planning, in presentations, and as participants in conferences like these. We consider this a part of the education, Gynnild says.
She finds students that are great at using social media and new technologies inspiring.
"Students have helped developing several of the ideas for the conference. It's about giving them responsibilities and making their competence visible for a wider audience. This way they can experience that the education they're taking is important, and that it has implications for society," Gynnild says.
In addition to Myrseth, one of the contributing students is Sara Pedersen Stene.
"It's great that we as students are included, and that they appreciate our competency. It's a large responsibility and quite time consuming, because we really want to do our best. This also really engages me, and we get to use our creativity and have lots of valuable experience," Sara Pedersen Stene says.