Conference on World Affairs
A forum on international affairs since 1948, the Conference on World Affairs is hosted annually at the University of C.U. campus and encompasses the arts, media, science, diplomacy, technology, environment, spirituality, politics, business, medicine, human rights, and more.
Conference on World Affairs online problems : Twitter let down Grays attend
Apr 9th
The first day of the conference was nearly void of CU students once again. Most of the attendees were grays in their 40s, 50s and 60s. This again brings into question: is the conference relevant?
The All a Twitter panel discussion in the UMC was attended not by Boulders Twitter SM startup crowd but by mostly older people who were not exactly tweeps. This session was not what one would have expected. It was not start-up Boulder week, not Ignite Boulder and it wasn’t Twitter.
The panelists were an interesting mix too: Mark Frauenfelder Ross Haenfler Andy Ihnatko Sanho Tree . Sociology professor Ross Haenfler said he stopped tweeting and compared it to drug addiction and himself to a recovering addict. He then went on to say that most people on twitter waste enormous amounts of their life on social media. Not a glowing endorsement of TWitter or SM.
Boing Boing founder and Boulderite Ross Haenfler was certainly the biggest web superstar to attend the panel. Though Boing Boing significance and contribution was lost on the audience, it was also lost on the conference. He seemed concerned about the significance of multiple uses of tweets.
Andy Ihnako Chicago Sun times Geek reporter also talked about how twitter wraps around your mind and has the potential to enslave.
Sanho Tree is a leftist Fellow and social activist. He talked about social activism on Twitter.
The tone of this session was politically leftist with continuous barbs thrown at conservatives who use twitter. So much for CU chancellors new policy of fair and balanced. All of the panelists criticized main stream media for not covering the news. None of them could explain the business side of Twitter. They also seemed oblivious to the fact that Television and News papers lost their foothold to online advertisers such as Google and Facebook
The one saving grace of this panel was to point out just what a waste of a persons life Twitter can be. They couldn’t stress how addictive Twitter and Facebook are and impossible to manage. This was a surprise, but not to the gray attendees. Seemed they seen it all before in a younger life. And the young? They were nowhere to be seen. One would have thought the room would have been packed with 18 to 34 year olds. Maybe they were studying or at work. Maybe this panel should have been held at night in a bar or coffee house.
CU Conference offers world affairs dialogue in its 64th year
Mar 28th
political dialogue ‘as it should be’
The University of Colorado Boulder’s annual Conference on World Affairs returns to campus for the 64th time April 9-13, with 200 events including panel discussions, performances and plenaries.
More than 100 participants from around the country and the globe will pay their own way to travel to Boulder to participate in what Roger Ebert termed “the Conference on Everything Conceivable.”
“The Conference on World Affairs is one of the few events in the country where both sides of the political spectrum can come together to have wide-ranging bipartisan discussion,” said Juli Steinhauer, CWA co-chair. “It’s dialogue as it should be.”
Mike Franc, vice president of government studies at the Heritage Foundation, echoes Steinhauer’s words, “As conferences go, the Conference on World Affairs is entirely unique. Conferences that address the major issues of the day are a dime a dozen, as are conferences that sort the like-minded into windowless hotel ballrooms or exclusive resorts to preach their shared perspectives to one another. The organizers of the CWA, in contrast, work overtime to invite participants with a variety of opinions.”
The 2012 keynote address will be delivered by Alice Rivlin, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and founding director of the independent, nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Her address “Can the Center Hold: Democracy and Governance in a Polarized America” will take place in Macky Auditorium on Monday, April 9, at 11:30 a.m. Rivlin will be introduced by CU-Boulder Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano.
The keynote address will be preceded by the CWA’s colorful annual opening procession. Led by Rivlin and DiStefano at 11:10 a.m., the procession will advance through the avenue of international flags on display in Norlin Quad and into Macky Auditorium.
Leading Republican strategist Mark McKinnon will deliver a talk titled “The Architecture of a Successful Message” on Wednesday, April 11, at 11:30 a.m. in Macky Auditorium. McKinnon is the global vice chair of Hill+Knowlton Strategies and is the co-founder of No Labels, a political organization made up of Republicans, Democrats and independents whose mission is to address the politics of problem solving.
New York Times columnist Drew Westen will deliver a plenary talk on “How Politics Lost the American People” on Monday, April 9, at 1:30 p.m. in Macky Auditorium. Westen is a leading voice on the psychology of politics and is the author of “The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation.” He has been a political adviser for a range of candidates and organizations, from presidential and congressional campaigns to Fortune 500 companies.
“Particularly in a presidential election year, when so many issues will be bubbling to the surface, I’m really looking forward to this year’s Conference on World Affairs,” said Westen. “It will be a pleasure to be in an environment where thinkers left, right and center can have a civil conversation without all the posturing and venom that comes out in a political season.”
As always, the CWA will offer not just political sessions, but a broad range of subjects and speakers. Conference panels and performances encompass everything from music and literature to environment and science, journalism, visual arts, diplomacy, technology, film, business, medicine and human rights.
Some additional highlights from the 2012 schedule include:
–Bill Reinert, the national manager of advanced technology for Toyota who leads efforts on research, design and marketing of alternative-fueled vehicles and emerging technologies, will deliver a plenary address on the topic “Peak Oil” in Macky Auditorium on Wednesday, April 11, at 10:30 a.m.
–Chicago Sun-Times technology columnist and longtime CWA favorite Andy Ihnatko will give a plenary talk on Steve Jobs and Apple on Wednesday, April 11, at 12:30 p.m. in the University Memorial Center’s Glenn Miller Ballroom. Ihnatko also is a longtime columnist for Macworld magazine and one of the most in-demand commentators on Apple.
–Grammy-winning pianists, composers and brothers Dave and Don Grusin will close the week with a talking and piano-playing duet at Macky Auditorium on Friday, April 13, at 2:30 p.m.
Members of the public attending CWA are encouraged to use public transportation, as there will be no event parking on campus. Free parking is offered on the third level of the Macy’s parking structure at the Twenty Ninth Street shopping mall in Boulder, located at the southwest corner of 30th Street and Walnut Street, from which a free HOP bus ride is available to campus during CWA week.
The HOP will run on its normal route arriving every 7 to 10 minutes between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. The two stops nearest the Macy’s parking structure are at 29th Street and Walnut Street and 30th Street and Walnut Street.
For a complete schedule and more information visit the Conference on World Affairs website at http://www.colorado.edu/cwa.