With more than 500 million people registered on Facebook, 174 million registered on Twitter and students who can’t be found without their cell phone or laptop close at hand, it’s becoming more important to understand the digital media that is a part of so many lives today.

The third annual Digital Media in a Social World Conference, presented by Ohio State’s Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing and student organizations Social Media Society and Ohio Union Television, will be held on April 1-2 in the Ohio Union and Mendenhall Laboratory.

The conference will begin at 9 a.m. in the US Bank Conference Theater in the Ohio Union.

People interested in attending this workshop must pre-register online at the conference’s website.

The conference will include more than 50 sessions with topics such as using technology in the classroom, online game making and digital storytelling.

This year’s theme, “Make Your Own Education,” has “a lot to do with the new ideas of how people become educated, especially at Ohio State,” said Doug Dangler, associate director of the CSTW and conference organizer. 

Those who attend will get a “much broader idea of what digital and social media can do,” Dangler said.

Doral Chenoweth III, multimedia producer for The Columbus Dispatch, will speak at the conference about his video covering Ted Williams, the man with the “golden voice.”

Chenoweth said he plans to talk about the story of the video. Chenoweth will also explain how his unpolished but heart-felt video went viral because it was a “shot that people can relate to.”

Mark Frauenfelder, founder of the blog BoingBoing.net, is this year’s keynote speaker. His address, “DIY: Innovation,” will focus on do-it-yourself projects and online tools and services available through digital media.

“I want people in the audience to learn something that might have been hidden from them before,” Frauenfelder said.

The goal for his presentation, Frauenfelder said, is “to inspire people in the audience to try making the things they use every day instead of buying them.”

Frauenfelder ultimately hopes that his audience members will “discover the creative person hiding inside them.”

Ohio Union Television will also be presenting at the event.

“Our presentation is going to be about how students on campus find an active way to get involved in digital media,” said Courtney Chow, a third-year student and member of Ohio Union Television.

Chow said it is important for people to be able to use digital media.

“It’s where the world is going,” Chow said. “Being able to not only understand it, but also do it is going to be very beneficial to people.”

Speakers are also encouraging students to come and learn about social media.

“We are hoping to attract students to get them more involved and interested in digital media,” Dangler said.

Students are encouraged to come to the conference because “it’s a great way to network and meet some of the great people in Columbus involved in digital media, and it’s a great way to learn about other things that go around at Ohio State that people don’t really know about,” Chow said.

The Lantern will be represented at the conference with a session about the verification of social media sources, presented by Dan Caterinicchia, The Lantern faculty adviser, and James Oldham, a journalism student.

The conference is free and open to anyone. Those interested must visit dmsw.osu.edu to register.