The media plays a key role in discovering, explaining and distributing information essential to informed self-government and to fostering engaged, knowledgeable citizenship. The internet, wireless networks, and widely available mobile technologies now allow ordinary citizens not only to consume media but to create, share, aggregate, remix and redistribute it - to BE media. Ordinary people, as well as institutions that were once thought of something other than media, are now direct participants in the media, increasing their power to communicate with each other, to apply the power of communications to improve their living conditions and communities, and to hold governments to account.We are at a turning point in history. We are here, living through it: The emergence of a global society connected by digital networks. The change is far from universal, and yet we see clearly the beginnings of a world in which we are all media, all of us empowered to create, consume, tune in or out, and to take charge of our digital, networked media experiences.

But what will we make of that power? Which institutions will adjust and thrive under the new order, and which will crumble? Will the connected society be better off, simply different, or a nightmare of noise, tribalism and oceans of meaningless data?

iFOCOS facilitates collaborations, creates relationships and brings together leaders from all sectors to address these questions, raise others and inspire actions to create a better-informed society.

iFOCOS connects and inspires individuals and organizations to take action - to materially do something - to help people not only access but productively apply and derive knowledge from the extraordinary volumes of information distributed throughout the connected society.

What is Cross-Sector and why is it important?

The iFOCOS mission and vision look beyond the needs of any industry in particular to consider the information and communications needs of a world in which everyone has or will have a capacity not only to consume media in many forms, but to BE media - to create, share, aggregate, remix and redistribute information anywhere.It’s a world of We Media, and We is big. It’s citizen journalists and mommy bloggers, political dissidents and extremists, museum curators, advertisers. artists and entertainers, along with everyone else, including big media institutions like newspapers, broadcast and satellite networks that play an essential role in how we know what we know, as well as governments, entrepreneurs, technology companies, manufacturers, retailers, healthcare providers, NGOs and non-profit organizations, creative individuals and others who used to be thought of as something other than media. Now we are all media.

At iFOCOS, we believe that enlightened use of media and communications technologies will lead to better-informed citizens, and that better-informed citizens are more empowered to make sound decisions positively impacting their own communities.

With the advent of the internet and ubiquitous digital communications networks, media has been redefined to include the traditional channels of private and public media such as television networks and publishing enterprises as well as a vast “long tail” of personal, social and niche media. The explosion of the latter and the changing economics of “old media” means that the rules are changing. We have a new opportunity to use all types of media not just to meet business goals but to meet social goals.

The one constant is change – continuous and complex change. The best ideas and the brightest individuals are found in blogs, as well as within companies, non-profit organizations, non-governmental organizations, research institutions and think tanks. iFOCOS fosters non-traditional collaborations across disciplines to understand where these changes can take us, and to inspire actions.

As conveners, iFOCOS brings productive groups together. As facilitators of innovation, we embrace the idea of co-creation and actively seek innovation from an outward versus an inward view. We embrace the idea of “glocalism” where the world is most certainly flat and some of the best global ideas happen at the local level.

Through research and conversations with thought leaders in various disciplines, we reveal insights about new and old media to inspire productive collaborations that lead to progress.

We enable and reflect the shared knowledge, collective intelligence and capabilities of a global community of innovators, creators and leaders who span a wide range of professions and industries, including: journalism, advertising, public relations, marketing, entertainment, art, banking, finance, investment, venture capital, telecommunications, research, retail commerce, law, healthcare, science, technology, philanthropy, non-governmental organizations, social activism, policy and academia.

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