MWC Barcelona is the largest and most influential event for the connectivity ecosystem for global mobile operators, device manufacturers, technology providers, vendors, content owners, or professionals interested in the future of tech. The event was held in Barcelona from 27 February to 2 March 2023 at Fira Gran Vía.
During the event a panel has been dedicated to the advantages and challenges related to the use of data within the publishing and news media industries. The panel has been organized in the World Mobile Capital stand and hosted by Digital Future Society and Mobius project:
- Digital Future Society is a programme supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation of the Government of Spain in collaboration with Mobile World Capital Barcelona that seeks to build an inclusive, equitable and sustainable future in the digital era.
- Möbius is an initiative funded under the European Commission Horizon 2020 programme that aims to modernize the European book publishing sector by remodelling the traditional value chains and business models uncovering the prosumers potential and delivering new enriched media experiences.
The aim of the panel was to understand how data are transforming and informing two key sectors of the European Creative and cultural industries: the publishing sector and the news media. Simona De Rosa, from DEN Institute – MediaFutures partner – moderated the panel composed by the following speakers: Jan Goetze, Head of Product Manager at VLB & Metabooks, MVB; Alexandru Stan, Innovation Manager at IN2; Laura Aragó, Data Journalist at La Vanguardia; and Victòria Oliveres, Data and Visualization Journalist at El Diario.es.
The panel investigated the challenges and opportunities that the use of data and new technologies are opening for the publishing sector and news media. For the publishing sector, the contributions from Jan Goetze and Alexandru Stan stressed how relevant those elements can be to inform the business models leading the industry from a more traditional approach to innovation. On the other hand, with Laura Aragò and Victòria Oliveres has explored the capability of data to counteract disinformation and the techniques needed to facilitate data comprehension from the final readers.
As stressed in the wrap up, Simona De Rosa highlighted how it seems that in both sectors technical advancements still need an effort in terms of skills and competences acquisition to really exploit the opportunities made possible by the digital transition both from the professionals and the end-users. A further element mentioned was about how innovative tools and techniques must be designed and developed having in mind how to reach a positive impact in those sectors with the final aim to create new value chains and new business models based on the purpose of inclusivity, openness and sustainability.
By DEN Institute