Editor-in-chief of PCMag.com visits Portugal

Dan Costa, second from right, at IST Lisbon

Dan Costa, editor in chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for Ziff-Davis, participated in a series of talks on new journalism, big data, and smart homes.  Mr. Costa believes that the information circulating on social networks and via a person’s digital “finger print” creates various ethical, informational and privacy issues. Mr. Costa discussed how journalism has been transformed by three major technological shifts in the last 15 years: search technology put the world’s information in a single window, social media connected billions of users in real-time, and mobile technology allowed us not just to consume, but create media from anywhere on the planet. He also addressed how new data collection, analysis, and visualization tools are transforming the practice of journalism. Mr. Costa also addressed how the personal computing revolution has left the desktop and is now embedded directly into our homes. Finally, Dan explained to students the challenges an editor-in-chief faces on a daily basis.