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I had the good fortune to attend this year's South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin TX. It was jam-packed, both in attendance terms, and in terms of programmed content. Here are a few of the themes readily apparent to an attendee. 

Politics

"Friend me! Vote for me! Donate Now!" was a reasonable 60 minutes about the state of the politics / technology nexus. The most amusing moment was a woefully incomplete, but funny one-minute history of political technology by the moderator. Essentially: 

• 2000: McCain raised money on the web
• 2004: Dean used the web to organize
• 2006: "Macaca"
• 2007 - 2008: Facebook / Myspace / Youtube

Social Networks

Social networks were the de facto theme of the festival. No fewer than 5 different exhibitors at the trade show portion of the event offered social network software suites, some hosted, some licensed, and there are lots of niche players in the ecosystem. "Sched.org is this year's Twitter', according to Wired, comparing a social scheduling tool to a social microblogging tool. Sched.org is a web-based scheduler, the inaugural content of which was the schedule for SXSW 2008.

Making Web Sites

There were panels and presentations on many aspects of web craft, from content management software to project managment, populated by luminaries in the fields. Flickr, CSS Zen Garden, Django, Expression Engine, script.aculo.us were represented, among others. In the aggregate, it was clear that while there is lots still to be discovered and accomplished on the web, the web as a field has put down roots, as evidenced by the thoughful presentations, healthy attendance and sponsorship by established corporate powerhouses.

Crowd sourcing

One of my favorite panels was on the idea of crowd sourcing, wherein the web can be used to organize the collective efforts of large groups.  Some abbreviated highlights:

Traditional media propagate "three lies" about the web

1. There's nothing good on the web
2. The good stuff is too hard to find
3. Money can't be made on the web

Some examples of successful crowdsourcing that refute those lies:

• Threadless made $20 Million in 2007, selling user-generated and selected T-Shirts
• Flickr "interestingness" brings good user generated content to the top, by watching user activity levels

Some examples of failure of crowdsourcing

• A Yahoo! wii games page used people's content without asking, angering users rather than encouraging them
  
• GM tahoe campaign constrained users' freedom, was "greedy", and resulted in unexpected responses. 

Conclusions:

• Using crowdsourcing as a cost-saving measure doesn't work.
• Communities must be cultivated, respected.
• Community is grown not built.
• Give people tools they want.
• Trust users.
• Reward good behavior and punish bad behavior.
• Expect the unexpected
• Weird things will happen

That final conclusion could be extended to describe the scene at Mark Zuckerberg's keynote, where a business week reporter ran head on into the cultural divide between traditional media and web users. She was roundly heckled.

In any case, it was a fascinating show, and well worth it. To those with whom I connected, it was great to meet you, and I hope to see you next year, if not sooner.

 

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