Dan Gillmor

Dan Gillmor is a leading authority on the phenomenon of media literacy and citizen journalism. As founding director of the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, he is a leader in the effort to help create a culture of innovation and risk-taking in journalism education, and in the wider media world. Dan also serves as the school's Kauffman Professor of digital media entrepreneurship.

One of the preeminent thinkers on the topic of new media, Dan brings deep knowledge of the collision of media and technology and its impact. His most recent book, "Mediactive," explores 21st century media and the new rules for engagement in today's connected world. He is also the author of "We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People," a book that explains the rise of citizens' media and why it matters. Dan is also a regular contributor to the Guardian.

Dan has been a co-founder, investor and advisor in a number of media ventures in the for-profit and non-profit worlds. He is a board member of the First Amendment Coalition, which advocates and litigates on behalf of freedom of speech and open public records.

Dan spent more than 25 years in the newspaper industry as a reporter, writer, and editor and remains a highly-respected journalist. For more than a decade, he was a columnist at the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper, and wrote a weblog for SiliconValley.com. He joined the San Jose Mercury News after six years with the Detroit Free Press. Before that, he was with the Kansas City Times and several newspapers in Vermont. He has won or shared in several regional and national journalism awards.