Director of Defense Research & Engineering, the Gallup Organization and Visionaire Media will be hosting “iDiplomacy: empowering the private sector and citizen diplomats in the digital age,” a two-day symposium to be held at The Gallup Organization in Washington DC on November 9th and 10th, 2009.

The symposium will examine the evolving role of media and entertainment in public diplomacy due to new technologies, social networks and the democratization of communications. International relations are no longer restricted to governments and the globalization of media now includes consuming, producing and sharing media with people around the world. Every citizen is a diplomat.

iDiplomacy will assess the impact and future influence of modern media and social networking technologies on public and personal diplomacy, and determine how to empower both the public and private sectors and all American citizens to build bridges to other cultures to create a healthier world.

This blog will be part of the evolving discussion on the role of entertainment and social media in public diplomacy. It will highlight the work being done in the public and private sectors, particularly with regard to some of the new modes of communicating.

We will talk to some of the experts in the field as well as entities that would not traditionally be considered players in public diplomacy. We welcome your comments and suggestions.