NASA Speaker Focuses on Innovation and Re-Imagining Media

NASA and newspapers are exploring new worlds of rapid change in technology and society. Can the space agency learn something from the United States’ largest newspaper publisher in the new age of media?

On Tuesday, May 5, NASA’s Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., is hosting Michael Maness, the vice president of Innovation and Design for Gannett Company Co., Inc. — owner of USA TODAY — at 2 p.m. in the Reid Conference Center.

Media who wish to interview Maness at a news briefing at 1:15 p.m. Tuesday should contact Chris Rink at 864-6786 or at christopher.p.rink@nasa.gov by noon for credentials and entry to NASA Langley.

On Tuesday evening, Maness will present a talk for the general public called Re-imagining Media The Disruption of News and What It Means for Journalism at 7:30 p.m. at the Virginia Air & Space Center (VASC) in downtown Hampton. The evening talk is free and no reservations are required.

Maness’ talk at NASA Langley will focus on issues and strategies surrounding innovation in large organizations. As supervisor of the Center for Design and Innovation, Maness will reference his experiences in transforming Gannett though innovation that could also benefit NASA.

The accelerating pace of change is redefining the way people receive and use information. At his evening talk at the VASC, Maness will focus on issues and strategies surrounding innovation in journalism and its implications for the future.

The former vice president of strategic planning for Gannett’s newspaper division, Maness developed the industry’s first daily video newscast on the Internet done without a television partner and also introduced online database marketing to the Web site. Gannett operates Internet sites offering news and advertising that is customized for the market served and integrated with its publishing operations.

Before joining Gannett, Maness was an analyst and media consultant, a campaign manager and a marketing account executive. He is a graduate of Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.

Gannett Co., Inc. is an international news and information company and publishes 85 daily newspapers in the U.S., and nearly 850 non-daily publications.