South by Southwest Interactive, March 13, 2015. Credit: Rodolfo Gonzalez / AMERICAN-STATESMAN
SXSW Interactive has announced what organizers are calling an online harassment summit for March 12, in the wake of national backlash after two panels related to the topic were taken off the schedule earlier this week.
SXSW Interactive director Hugh Forrest called the earlier cancellations a mistake in the announcement: “Earlier this week we made a mistake. By canceling two sessions we sent an unintended message that SXSW not only tolerates online harassment but condones it, and for that we are truly sorry.”
He also says in Friday’s announcement that the topic of online harassment is a bigger discussion than two panels. He said the daylong Saturday summit, which is during the 2016 fest, will be live streamed, and confirmed speakers include people from the two canceled panels: Randi Harper, Katherine Cross and Caroline Sinders from “Level Up: Overcoming Harassment in Games”; and Perry Jones, Mercedes Carrera, and Lynn Walsh from “SavePoint: A Discussion on the Gaming Community.”
Read the full announcement, including other confirmed speakers, here. We'll have more on this developing story.
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