I thought that the Dean’s Roundtable with Brian Sirgutz about using digital content to drive social change was interesting because of his diverse background. Starting out managing bands, Sirgutz wanted to own his own record label. However, after many ups and downs, Sirgutz decided that the music industry wasn’t for him. On September 11th, 2001, Brian’s world changed forever. His apartment was near the twin towers and once the wreckage set in, he witnessed the potentiality of people and humanity as society rallied together. Setting up food stations, Brian worked to make a deeper impact in the lives of many. Brian urged society to “take off the mask, your face is glorious” and realize that humanity will be better off if everyone is true to themselves.
On 9/12 Brian realized that he wanted to help people and make a difference. Once the wreckage was cleared, Brian wondered how you continue with the story after the news cycle is over? I think this relates to our class because we are discussing how media can impact society. Therefore, media could spurn further conversation about a news item. This led him to his carrier as Senior Vice President of social impact and social innovation at the Huffington Post and AOL. Reinventing the idea of a journalist to become a citizen journalist, Brian allowed everyone to convey the urgencies of disaster. When he was in Haiti after the earthquake,  he saw a news reporter who was recording from her iPhone. This sparked an idea about having a larger team of news reporters who can cover more news. Taking in sponsors, such as Johnson & Johnson, Brian created the Huffinton Post impact section. His one condition for the sponsors was that they couldn’t advertise in the section, but can donate the space to non=profit partners and put their mission statement there. Brian realized that social issues and positive news were shared twice as much as regular news and this sparked his creation of the impact news section. When citizen journalists are blogging about a topic, the world is becoming more engaged in an issue. Even when only using the latest affordances of technology, such as the iPhone, citizen journalists can have a part in the news cycle. Brian Sirgutz revitalized the way that American’s interact with the news cycle and consequentially digital media. With his Gallatin education, Brian merged thought processes that didn’t typically belong together such as music and technology. This led to his new thinking about merging new media and the news cycle. I think that we can learn new ways of thinking from Brian and take his examples of merging new media with news forums to inspire our final projects. This idea of taking new, existing technologies to revolutionize an existing process combines two things that didn’t previously coexist, which is what we are trying to do in our final project. Brian also inspired me to not be so set on one idea or career path and let my path become malleable by society. By giving in to the ebb and flow of society, we can create new technologies and help a greater set of people.