What is the future of journalism in the social media age?  That’s the central question of the  Media140 Sydney conference which is being held at the ABC’s Eugene Goossens’ Hall today and tomorrow. La Trobe University is a sponsor of the event.

What’s it all about? To quote from the conference website: “Media140 will explore the disruptive nature of ‘real-time’ social media looking at tools such as Twitter, live-blogging, facebook and other social networking tools as they rapidly transform the media in real-time.

“Through keynote addresses, panel discussions, interviews, Q&A and workshops the conference is designed to educate and promote debate within the media industry about a variety of social media platforms and practices.

“If you are a journalist, broadcaster, publisher, social media maker and academic Media140 Sydney will be a fusion of discussion, debate, collaboration to explore the future of the real-time web and its impact on the broadcast and journalist industries.”

Students can register for half the standard rate by going to the conference site. If you can’t make it in person, you can also follow proceedings on Twitter or watch the live stream.

Speakers will include Mark Scott, Chris Uhlmann, Crikey editor Jonathan Green, Jay Rosen,  Mark Colvin, and Margaret Simons. La Trobe’s Lawie Zion and Christopher Scanlon will be “roving experts” in the conference’s  social media workshops for journalists and citizen journalists, where they will also be demonstrating upstart.

Lawrie Zion will also be a panelist in a discussion entitled “Do Journos do it better? Journalists in SocMedia Communities”, which will be moderated  by Julian Morrow today at 5pm.

	Dr Lawrie Zion Senior Lecturer, La Trobe University @lzion			Laurel Papworth Soc Media consultant/blogger @silkcharm
	Bronwen ex-journo; new media consultant @bronwen			Stilgherrian online tech correspondent & writer @stilgherrian
	Valerio Veo SBS Head of News & Current Affairs Online @valerioveo			Mia Freedman Freelance journo & columnist/Blogger @miafreedman