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Future of Media Lab

Image from the back of an airplane showcasing all the different forms of entertainment individuals choose on a flight.

Over the past two decades, the media and entertainment sector has grappled with continuous waves of digital disruption, reshaping its creative landscape. These disruptions have spurred fresh approaches and growth while overturning traditional models. Digital technologies have fundamentally influenced content creation, audience habits, business strategies, and revenue streams, and had pervasive societal impact through their effect on information, trust, and democracy.

In response to this ever-shifting landscape, the Future of Media Lab emerges as a hub for creativity, and collaboration. Within this innovative ecosystem, the lab will collaborate with other D^3 Labs and draw upon a diverse community of students, faculty, and practitioners to address challenges and opportunities in media and entertainment. It will pioneer new business models and create products and services that simultaneously serve consumer needs and the public interest.

Faculty

The Future of Media Lab is led by:

  • Bharat Anand, Vice Provost for Advances in Learning at Harvard University, and the Henry R. Byers Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He received his B.A. in economics from Harvard College magna cum laude, and his PhD in economics from Princeton University.
  • Rafael DiTella, William Ziegler Professor of Business Administration, Business, Government and the International Economy Unit, Harvard Business School. He received his Bachelors in Economics at Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina and a D.Phil in Economics from Oxford University.
  • Gary King, Weatherhead University Professor at Harvard University, and Director of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University. He is a graduate of SUNY New Paltz (B.A., 1980) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (M.A., Ph.D., 1984).

Affiliated Faculty and Practitioners

The Future of Media Lab is led by:

  • Nancy Gibbs, Director of the Shorenstein Center and the Edward R. Murrow Professor of Practice of Press, Politics and Public Policy
  • Martha Minow, Former Dean of Harvard Law School and 300th Anniversary Professor at Harvard.
  • Andrew Rashbass, Former CEO of The Economist Group, Reuters and Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC
  • Vinay Mehra, Former President of The Boston Globe Media Partners and former CFO of Politico

Activities/Research Focus

Driven by the imperative to confront existential challenges within the media and entertainment sphere, we aim to build a new media ecosystem founded on value, trust, and sustainability, underpinned by innovative business models.

Our endeavors will center around three key activities:

  1. Foster vibrant networks of industry and non-industry stakeholders to foster active discussions, knowledge creation, and the sharing of insights
  2. Innovate novel methods for producing, distributing, and consuming trusted content, incorporating cutting-edge pedagogies and business models
  3. Tackle pertinent issues stemming from the media and entertainment industry, prioritizing the public interest as our primary concern

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