Inventing Global Immersive Public Media

Generations X, Y, and Z grew up on public television and radio. It educated, informed, and expanded cultural awareness through trusted, non-commercial content. The internet has made local and national broadcast markets less relevant. Political forces are defunding public broadcasters. The platforms replacing them prioritize engagement over enrichment.

At the same time, immersive media is emerging as a new medium. It places audiences inside stories, to explore environments and ideas. We need to build modern infrastructure to support the creation and distribution of immersive public media that informs, inspires, and serves our interconnected global society.

In this talk, Ben Erwin explores a 21st century successor to public media. A global, immersive ecosystem for education, journalism, arts, culture, history, and science, built on open standards, platform-agnostic distribution, and new public-interest funding models.