JA’s Lisa Skube (left) and Nicole Staudinger at 2012 SXSW braving torrential rain. We’ll be taking two umbrellas to Denver. Credit: Lisa Skube

This week, the JA heads to the Media Reform Conference in Denver, brought to us by the good folks at Free Press. The JA gets to be one of the hundreds of participants joining with “Award-winning artists. Hollywood luminaries. Visionary activists. Veteran journalists. [and] D.C. heavyweights.” In addition to the Free Press Media Reform Conference that runs April 4th – 7th in Denver, Journalism that Matters will host “Journalism is Dead; Long Live Journalism” to discuss and consider fresh possibilities for the Front Range news ecosystem. Here’s a useful post from Patrick Kitano featured on Street Fight today focusing on the JTM Denver conference in which he outlines what he hopes to learn while there.

This post is a quick overview of some of the things JA is stoked to do while in Denver at the Free Press event, luminaries we hope to meet, and things we can’t wait to learn more about! We welcome your comments on what you hope to take away, or bring, to the upcoming gathering of great minds and disruptive discussion.

As the JA prepares for a great week in Denver, we’ve been doing our homework, exploring the numerous panels, people and meet-ups we’re excited to check out. No doubt many others are doing the same thing as they get ready for the power weekend coming up. We thought sharing some of our methods with you, as well as the things we hope to take in while there, might inspire conversation or ideas for others. As well, for those who may not be able to go, but are curious about what is slated to unfold April 4th – 7th, here’s what we’re looking at.

Click map to enlarge

JA uses Mentionmapps regularly, where we monitor and track Twitter-spark generated around a specific Twitter account. The lines drawn between nodes (users & hahstags) illustrate the connections between conversations. Mentionmapp surfaces the twitter handles with greatest activity in Twitter’s network, allowing us to explore conversations and people, fueling future relationships and connecting us to those we might not otherwise be aware of in the Twitter-sphere.

Here are a few of the panels on our short list:

• Creative Grassroots Funding for Media Makers
• Making Media, Making Change: Journalism That Seeks Solutions and Solves Problems
• Building Better Media Policy Reporting from the Ground Up
• It’s Our Time: Community Media’s New Policy Agenda Starts Now
• Creating Our Media Reform Future: Media Literacy and Activism
• Cities without News: Fighting in News Deserts

And, some of the luminaries we can’t wait to meet!

Let’s connect!

The event has a number of great ways and places for participants to connect with one another. Check out the cool “Connect” options. A couple of these the JA plans to join are the Open Media Foundation open house and the “shake your media maker” event. Say hello to @journaccel April 5th, where we’ll be attending the Free Press meet up at the McNichols Buliding. Direct message us if you’d like to connect!

What do you hope to learn, what is the number one question you hope to answer or the person you are most excited to meet? We welcome your comments or ideas, or things you’d like for the JA to keep an eye on while we listen, learn and share.