SXSW2006 at connecting*the*dots

Posts related to SXSW2006

March 10th, 2006

SXSW Day One: Meetups And Movies

Well, I made it to Austin in one piece, but since it took me until last week to register, I had to rush to get a hotel and transportation and kinda blew both.

My hotel is about a mile away from the Austin Convention Center (ACC ) — not terrible — but my rental reservation, well, it didn’t quite work. I must’ve missed a submit button in my haste. So I’m walking around town, which is a good thing, as I’ve become Veal over the last six months working out of my home office.

So after walking across the river, I met up with Tish Grier (of Snarkaholic and Corante Media Hub fame). Over lunch, we talked citizen media, self-promotion in the blogging age (do we really need to think about it?), the role of an academic pedigree in the market and… elbow grease (ask Tish about that one)

Following lunch, we headed back to the ACC to check email, met David Beach from Yahoo! while sharing table space, made some temporary party plans and went our separate ways; it was time for me to get catch Thank You For Smoking over at the Alamo Draft House.

The theater is as hip as can be, with wait-staff taking both drink and food orders from our seats. Yes, I ordered a Guinness pint from the middle of the theater. It felt like I was front-row at the Knicks game. Can you say, dope? And then the movie…

So true and so funny. Classic. Jason Reitman — the writer and director — took the time afterwards to answer questions and tell a few behind the scenes tales; one dealing with the Katie Holmes “missing sex scene” at a Toronto festival and the other being Sam Eliott’s pension for carrying his own rifle on set.

And with that, we were rushed out of the theater into the now packed streets of downtown Austin. Excuse me, but it’s time to go hit up a party.

Austin rocks.

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March 6th, 2006

SXSW 2006: Panels, Films, Drinks… and Introductions

On Thursday I’m heading to Austin for the 2006 SXSW Internet Conference and Film Festival. It took me a while to figure out if I could make it, but with my latest research project moving into recruitment mode, it looks like I’ll be free… enough. In-between live blogging panel discussions, hitting after parties and enjoying independent films, I’ll probably have to do some work here and there, but I can deal.

Aside from the input of media and ideas (and reconnecting with long lost friends and colleagues) I’m really looking forward to meeting the people whom I’ve shared discourse on blogs or lists for the past six years. This is my first conference since the IA Summit in La Jolla, way back in 2000. A lot has happened since then.

I’m terrible with names, and sometimes even faces, so please excuse me upfront if you see me squinting in your direction as if I’m attempting long-division; I’m not being rude, I’m just being me (can’t help it).

Here’s the SXSW pre-schedule that I’m attempting to follow:

Friday March 10th:
7:00pm - Thank You For Smoking (Film)
9:30pm - Music Videos (Shorts)

Saturday March 11th:
10:00am - Beyond Folksonomies: Knitting Tag Clouds for Grandma (Panel)
11:30am - We Got Naked, Now What? (Panel)
1:45pm - Wide Awake (Film)
3:30pm - James Surowiecki Presentation: The Wisdom of Crowds
5:00pm - Tantek Ã‡elik Presentation: Creating Building Blocks for Independents
7:00pm - Al Franken: God Spoke (Film)
8:00pm - frog design SXSW Opening Party