Though I have a ton of content to think about, I took some time to consider all on the way home. So here's a first glance at what went on for me. The SXSW Interactive gathering is amazing, inspiring, smart; 12000 people strong all considering the digital space. Used to be only nerds and coders. Now, designers, agencies, brands, bloggers, activists, digital thinkers, public intellectuals, writers, journalists, and artists gather to talk about digital and interactive.
All that said, a few takeaways. More later today.
1 :: Terms + Trends that were used handily from one session to another. Administrivia (used by a Harvard Digital Natives Project student who explored real digital issues of the university classroom). Backchannel (used cross conference) which we saw real time as twitter was used in the best and worst ways: twitter used so much -- many times mindless or self-serving stuff -- that AT+T had to bring in extra towers to service all the iphoneage twittering going on (it was a Mac conference almost exclusively), and twittering that enriched sessions with backchannel side conversations, explanations, exploration. Very interesting. Deadtree media (used often and pointedly) during conversations about what news organizations (i.e., newspapers often at forefront of this conversation) will be doing to form a sustainable business plan to bring news to society.
2 :: Smart inspiring speakers that were there to bring transformation to the audience. Steven Johnson on The Ecosystem of News offered the thoughtful, informative position that old growth media -- print and appointment television -- will fade as new growth media grows to fill in and grow in its place. It's happening quickly now but the growth is healthy. Now to find the business model that supports the people and thinkers involved. Advertising + news must work togetehr to do that. Alex Bogusky on a bike share program but the real point was that creative people -- and orgs such as advertising agencies, design firms, pr agencies, universities -- should be curious and confident enough to use their expertise in other ways, to stick their noses in to new and different problems and offer solutions.
3 :: Behance with actionable creativity and products that support that. Wow. A network, a community, a thoughtful and smart digital discussion. And tools. Great presentation and ways to make ideas happen in organizations and meetings.
4 :: Toolkit importance. To be a strong participant, notetaking plus twitter (at its best) plus flip and cameras plus. That means a strong inclination to report on the sessions, to connect and share. Very interesting to see people blogging throughout a session, making content. I couldn't help but compare that to classrooms where open laptops usually means someone is checking facebook. Two sessions really stoof out as important in the tools area. One was Behance as noted above, another was a great session on presentation that explored how to make presesntations more interesting and vital to the information. Big takeaway there: kill the bullet points, pictures means more than words, there is no research done on the effectiveness of ppt or keynote. Wow on the Keynote Presentations that used mindmaps drawn as the talk went on, real time creative info management. This is the one for the Nate Silver Keynote:
5 :: Interesting, energetic people who believe in ideas. It was everywhere. The sense of creative energy that wasn't confined to things or titles, but to people engaging in something big. Even the discussions of news and journalism -- and for our purposed this is big -- was met with excitement and enthusiasm for the reinvention of the model. Newspapers would be well served to attend, listen to the Steven Johnsons of the world, think about invention rather than the sadness of end eras.
All in all amazing. I'm proud that our Bedbury Scholars used their time wisely, immersing themselves in the culture of the digital energy. They'll be bringing that home in presentations and big platforms.