Reflecting SxSW
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Chris Anderson, Clay Shirky, Henry Jenkins, Nate Silver, Dan Goldman are among the panelists at this years SxSW interactive festival. A diverse programme covering digital publishing, technology and social innovation, gaming, health, race relations and drawing together 1000’s in person and millions online. Those fortunate enough to have a ticket come from across the globe to debate, network, discuss and party long into the night at some of Austin’s funkiest bars and clubs. It’s impossible to take it all in.
A brief look at mySxSW calender reminds me I’ve racked up 19 panel sessions. Among them sesions on user generated content, games ‘by the people for the people’, curating crowd sourced worlds, API’s for iPhones, mobile futures, cloud computing – even a lesson on designing the future of the NY times. My personal favourite – Shirky’s session on the news ecosystem and his panel ‘New Think for Old Publishers’. Both packed the Austin convention centre ballroom. As Shirky speaks, twitterfall streams tweets in thousands, raining down like Matrix code as delegates tap on their Macbook keys. Here, the medium is the message. Everyone’s a messenger. The message is meaningless, lost in the clatter of 140 characters. Diluted, undistilled ‘digibites’ for the geek generation. Data, data, data. Every panel session an online media event. Bloggers write. VJ’s shoot – and the web resounds with the good, bad and the indifferent of this unique Y gen Texan festival. Will we by any wiser when it’s over? Maybe, but first we’ll need to make some sense of all that information……….
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