The Camden Conference presents Marty Gagnon on Wednesday, October 23 at 6:30pm at the Ocean View's Lunt Auditorium in Falmouth. This event is free and open to the public. This brief session will provide participants with tips to look critically and analyze both digital, television, and print media resources.  Through videos and slides, the session will examine the history of misinformation and the psychology of irrationality brought about by biases and social forces. This insightful presentation will also examine the role of technology in the creation and spread of “fake news” and suggest helpful resources to verify images and fact check news stories. Gagnon, prior to his work in the public library profession, was a journalist for newspapers in Maine and New Hampshire.  In October 2017, Gagnon and a small team from the Auburn Public Library along with Sun Journal Editor Judith Myers traveled to Chicago to participate in a…

The Camden Conference presents Kathleen Howard Sutherland at the Kennebunk Free Library on Saturday, October 26 at 2:00 to discuss the role of social media in the Arab Spring. “I am going down on January 25th and will say no to corruption, no to this regime…I, a girl, am going down to Tahrir Square, and I will stand alone. And I’ll hold up a banner. Perhaps people will show some honor.” With this call posted on video, a young Egyptian woman helped spark a remarkable mass uprising, cutting across classes and sectors of the society, against a 30 year old regime in early 2011.  This call illustrated the power of modern technology, in this case social media, to activate a popular uprising against a regime.  Sutherland will be discussing the various forms of media that were used to promote political action on the streets against authoritarian regimes across the Middle…

The Camden Conference presents Martin Gagnon, former journalist and current reference librarian, at the Kennebunk Free Library on Wednesday, November 6 at 6:00 pm to discuss Fake News: Its Challenges, Consequences, and Rise. This brief session will provide participants with tips to look critically and analyze both digital, television, and print media resources.  Through videos and slides, the session will examine the history of misinformation and the psychology of irrationality brought about by biases and social forces. This insightful presentation will also examine the role of technology in the creation and spread of “fake news” and suggest helpful resources to verify images and fact check news stories. Gagnon, prior to his work in the public library profession, was a journalist for newspapers in Maine and New Hampshire.  In October 2017, Gagnon and a small team from the Auburn Public Library along with Sun Journal Editor Judith Myers traveled to Chicago…

The Camden Conference presents Richard Valdmanis at the Scarborough Public Library on Wednesday, November 13 at 6:30pm. This event is free and open to all. A significant change in the news media in recent decades has been the shift toward partisan coverage. Technological and political factors have been major contributors, from the impact of presidential tweets on financial markets to how the US is struggling with the realities of climate science. In his presentation, The Case for Unbiased News, Richard Valdmanis will discuss how this trend under-serves news consumers and can lead to poor decision making - from the halls of finance, to Congress, and to the voting booth. Valdmanis will make the case for news outlets and news consumers to make a better effort to produce and seek out coverage that is free from partisan bias.  Richard Valdmanis joined Reuters in 1999 as a news assistant on the energy…

The Camden Conference presents Kathleen Howard Sutherland, PhD, at Ocean View's Lunt Auditorium in Falmouth on Wednesday, November 13 at 6:30pm. This event is free and open to all. World regimes’ use of social media in their reactions to popular uprisings reflects the new power of modern technology…and the varied users’ skill in employing it. In her presentation, The Role of Social media in the Arab Spring, Kathleen Howard Sutherland will discuss the various forms of media that were used to promote political action on the streets against authoritarian regimes across the Middle East – including the video posted by a young Egyptian woman that cut across classes and sectors of society to help spark a remarkable mass uprising. Kathleen Howard Sutherland, PhD, is Associate Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Women’s Studies at Bowling Green State University in Ohio (BGSU) specializing in Middle East Studies. She taught at the American…

The Camden Conference presents Kathleen Howard Sutherland, PhD, at the Scarborough Public Library on Sunday, November 17 at 2pm. This event is free and open to all. World regimes’ use of social media in their reactions to popular uprisings reflects the new power of modern technology...and the varied users’ skill in employing it. In her presentation, The Role of Social media in the Arab Spring, Kathleen Howard Sutherland will discuss the various forms of media that were used to promote political action on the streets against authoritarian regimes across the Middle East - including the video posted by a young Egyptian woman that cut across classes and sectors of society to help spark a remarkable mass uprising. Kathleen Howard Sutherland, PhD, is Associate Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Women’s Studies at Bowling Green State University in Ohio (BGSU) specializing in Middle East Studies. She taught at the American University…

The Camden Conference presents Martin Gagnon at the York Public Library on Wednesday, November 6 at 6:00 pm to discuss Fake News: Its Rise and Challenges. This event is free and open to the public. This brief session will provide participants with tips to look critically and analyze both digital, television, and print media resources.  Through videos and slides, the session will examine the history of misinformation and the psychology of irrationality brought about by biases and social forces. This insightful presentation will also examine the role of technology in the creation and spread of “fake news” and suggest helpful resources to verify images and fact check news stories. Gagnon, prior to his work in the public library profession, was a journalist for newspapers in Maine and New Hampshire.  In October 2017, Gagnon and a small team from the Auburn Public Library along with Sun Journal Editor Judith Myers traveled…

The Camden Conference presents Andrea Stanley Hester on Wednesday, December 4 at 6:30pm at Ocean View's Lunt Auditorium in Falmouth. This event is free and open to all. Andrea serves as second Vice President of WACM and chair of Academic WorldQuest. She is an instructor at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Southern Maine as well as Vice President of the Harvard Club in Maine. In her former life, she was an editor/writer for the President of Harvard University and administrator of the International Visitors Program in the Office of the University Marshal at Harvard. She has a bachelor's degree in modern European history from Tufts University and a Master's degree in Government from the Harvard University Extension School. Andrea and her husband reside in North Yarmouth with their two daughters.

The Camden Conference presents Dan Kennedy at the Scarborough Public Library on Thursday, December 12 at 6:30pm. This event is free and open to all. The fate of newspapers, whether in print or online, matters to democracy. Despite the battering they have taken during the past several decades, they remain crucial for holding government and other large institutions to account. In his recent book, The Return of the Moguls: How Jeff Bezos and John Henry Are Remaking Newspapers for the Twenty-First Century, Dan Kennedy explores how that iron core might be preserved. His presentation will examine this new breed of wealthy newspaper publishers and whether they have any lessons to offer for the beleaguered news business. The Return of the Moguls has been critically praised by Journalism, Editor & Publisher, The Boston Globe, Kirkus Reviews, and Library Journal. Dan Kennedy is a nationally known media commentator and a regular panelist…

The Camden Conference presents a book discussion lead by Karen Massey on "The Circle" by David Eggars at the Merrill Memorial Library in Yarmouth on Thursday, December 12 at 7pm.  The event will take place on the second floor of the library, 215 Main St. Yarmouth. 04096. It is free and open to all. From the New York Times review, Nov. 1, 2013: Mae Holland, a woman in her 20s, arrives for her first day of work at a company called the Circle. She marvels at the beautiful campus, the fountain, the tennis and volleyball courts, the squeals of children from the day care center “weaving like water.” The first line in the book is: “ ‘My God,’ Mae thought. ‘It’s heaven.’ ” And so we know that the Circle in Dave Eggers’s new novel, “The Circle,” will be a hell. The time is somewhere in the not-too-distant future —…

The Camden Conference presents Marty Gagnon on Tuesday, January 14 at 1pm at the Auburn Public Library. This event is free and open to the public. Using three industry case standards, this presentation will highlight how big business can make the choice to manipulate the media and contribute to the pool of “Fake News.” Gagnon, prior to his work in the public library profession, was a journalist for newspapers in Maine and New Hampshire.  In October 2017, Gagnon and a small team from the Auburn Public Library along with Sun Journal Editor Judith Myers traveled to Chicago to participate in a media literacy initiative. The Media Literacy at Your Library was a project of the American Library Association (ALA) in collaboration with many other partners.  The training and interactive workshop featured the curriculum of the Stony Brook University Center for News. In 2018, Gagnon used the training and his past…

The Camden Conference presents Marty Gagnon on Tuesday, January 21 at 1pm at the Auburn Public Library. This event is free and open to the public. This brief session will provide participants with tips to look critically and analyze both digital, television, and print media resources.  Through videos and slides, the session will examine the history of misinformation and the psychology of irrationality brought about by biases and social forces. This insightful presentation will also examine the role of technology in the creation and spread of “fake news” and suggest helpful resources to verify images and fact check news stories. Gagnon, prior to his work in the public library profession, was a journalist for newspapers in Maine and New Hampshire.  In October 2017, Gagnon and a small team from the Auburn Public Library along with Sun Journal Editor Judith Myers traveled to Chicago to participate in a media literacy initiative.…

Mac Deford and Tom DeMarco are back for a thirteenth 100-minute History Roadshow for 2020!  Each year they choose as their topic something at least vaguely relevant to the subject of that year’s upcoming Camden Conference.  It is informative, humorous and above all entertaining. The show will take place Thursday, January 23, 6:00 p.m. at the Portland Public Library, Friday, January 24, 6:30 p.m. at the Rockport Opera House and Sunday, January 26, 2:00 p.m. at the University of Maine’s Hutchinson Center in Belfast.   No advanced registration is necessary, but donations are appreciated. Tom DeMarco is the author of fifteen books (his speculative novel, The One-way Time Traveler, is the latest) and a Principal of The Atlantic Systems Guild, a technology think tank with offices in the United States, United Kingdom and Germany.  Mac Deford is a retired Foreign Service officer with service primarily in the Middle East.  He had a subsequent career…