This year’s 51 Media Conference boasted keynote speaker Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Wired magazine and honored Michael Klausman, senior vice president of CBS Television West Coast Operations and Engineering.

Klausman received the inaugural 51 Media Award at the conference. He started at CBS in 1971 as an usher at Television City. He was later named president of the CBS Studio Center and was promoted to his current senior vice president position in 2001. With his help, CBS has produced shows such as The Defenders, Minute to Win It and CSI: New York.

“This is a great award for me. This award gives me the affirmation that I’m doing the right thing,” Klasuman said. “In our business, it’s a tough business, it’s a good business, but it’s really important to learn your craft. And there is no better way to do it than at a conference like this [51 Media Conference].”

The 2011 51 Media Conference, titled “Beyond Digital: What Matters Now,” held at CBS Studios, focused on changes in the entertainment industry as the world becomes even more connected.

Kelly, author of the book, What Technology Wants, gave attendees six verbs describing the large-scale trends in new media at the opening session of the conference: screening, interacting, sharing, flowing, accessing and generating.

He went on to say that the screen has become a common denominator, noting that 20 years ago watching a movie on a phone was unthinkable. Christians are moving toward becoming people of the screen rather than people of the book. Those screens are also becoming more interactive with cameras on both sides of iPads and software that can track where your eyes give the most attention on a website.

“Everything we make have eyes in them,” Kelly said. “They’re looking out. They’re seeing the world, and that means they can understand where they’re being used. They can begin to respond in some ways to not just you, but also your environmental context in which you are watching something.”

In addition to having an interactive nature, Kelly said technology media encourages sharing through social media.

“There’s a long line of things we’ve begun to share that people said we would never share,” Kelly said. “When you share, you amplify the power.”

Kelly said that because everything is shared and free, the Internet is the “world’s largest copying machine” and true value and power come from things that cannot copied. Such things include immediacy, personalization, authentication, findability, embodiment, interpretation, accessibility, attention and connection. There is a shift from ownership to access, Kelly said, and the power will be with those who are providing access, not sales.

Kelly was one of many industry leaders who spoke at the conference this year. The 16th annual event— the largest event in the nation for people of faith working in the entertainment industry – also featured speakers such as actor Sean Astin and vice president of production for Columbia Pictures DeVon Franklin.

Written by Harmony Wheeler. Jenna Bartlo, Media Relations Coordinator, can be reached at (562) 777-4061 or through email at jenna.l.bartlo@biola.edu.