New: Watch video of the full three days of FOCAS at www.aspeninstitute.tv.

New: FOCAS10 presentations available for download:

• Mark Contreras, E.W. Scripps Company, Roundtable I, Local Journalism 2010 (PDF)

• Paul Sagan, Akamai, Roundtable III, Universal Broadband Access (PDF)

The 2010 FOCAS, News Cities: The Next Generation of Healthy Informed Communities, took place in Aspen, Colorado from August 15-18, 2010. This year's Forum engaged Government officials, media and business executives, civic leaders, user representatives, and other thought leaders in roundtables and private working groups to arrive at specific action steps that communities can take to improve their information health.

In October, 2009, the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy (a project of the Communications and Society Program and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation) released its report Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age. In it, the Commission makes recommendations covering a continuum of information needs, from good journalism to digital and media literacy, from universal broadband and open networks to transparent government and public engagement. The Knight Foundation and the Aspen Institute have commissioned white papers to suggest ways to move the recommendations forward.  FOCAS 2010 explores these strategies.

Watch video of the full three days of FOCAS at www.aspeninstitute.tv.

The Twitter hashtag for this event is #FOCAS10.

To view the final agenda, please click here. To view a summary matrix of the agenda, please click here.

To view the list of participants in this year's FOCAS, click here.

Live Schedule at www.aspeninstitute.tv:

Monday, August 16, 2010
(all times Mountain Standard Time)
8:30 a.m. – 8:45 a.m.           Opening of Forum – Introductory Remarks         
8:45 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.         Plenary Roundtable I:  Local Journalism 2010
10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.       Plenary Roundtable II:  Public Media Reform

Tuesday, August 17, 2010
8:45 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.           Plenary Roundtable III:  Universal Broadband Access
9:45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.         Plenary Roundtable IV:  The New Literacies
11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.       Plenary Roundtable V:  Public Engagement

Wednesday, August 18, 2010
8:45 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.         Plenary Roundtable VI.  Recommendations from the
                                                  Working Groups
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.       Plenary Roundtable VII.  Moving Forward: Synthesis
                                                  of Action Steps

For more information, please contact Erin Silliman, project manager at (202) 736-5851 or at erin.silliman@aspeninstitute.org.