Opinions, I has them … 2009 SXSWi

I have been attending the South by Southwest Interactive conference here in Austin since last Friday. I have promised myself that in light of all this technology stuff I’ve been doing these last few days, I will actually participate in technology this evening before running off to crochet.  Et voila:  blog post.

I go to this conference hoping people will argue with one another. I want expert panelists who don’t agree on stuff answering interesting questions, and I want to be around my tech peers.  That was sort of the case this year, less than I’d hoped.  This year the public relations, marketing and monetization crowds were out in greater numbers than I’d seen before, which alters the conversation from one of “what are the challenges and joys of making better interactive technology” to more “how does this materially benefit me.” The latter question is difficult for those of us who are here out of love for this stuff, particularly when the asker is only there because they feel like they have to be. Takes the joy out, you know?

As a very longtime Internet user (I got my first two email accounts in 1993 and learned HTML in 1996), I am hopeful the Internet continues to be a place where people can form positive communities and relationships, and where diversity of opinion and freedom of  self-expression are the rule. I hope more people can come to it and have that same kind of good experience.  I understand needing to make money from things, but I don’t want it to become another place where I am bombarded by commercialization and pitches. I want people and businesses to see the Internet’s value as a collaborative medium beyond pushing their agendas and advertisements in the never-ending quest for a piece of the pocketbook.

So I thought I’d note a few of the points that I saw over the course of the conference, little nuggets of wisdom to chew on.

1. Googolplex: Everyone reminded us that there are billions of people out there on the internet, all of whom come with differing motivations, levels of experience, beliefs and intent. No one can even begin to predict what all that communicating will produce each day, but the possibilities are endless.  Still, they will be guided by the same thing that has guided every other major human institution:  human behavior.
2. Quiddity: Adaptive Path would like us all to think about what will make our corners of the internet better.  What will make the web a transcendent experience, instead of just a collection of mediocre brochure sites no one particularly enjoys or cares about visiting. And then she suggested a bunch of ideas on how to go about doing so.
3. Be Great: Merlin Mann of 43 Folders and John Gruber of Daring Fireball (pictured before their panel began, to the right) would like us to please try to be the best (better than 80%, anyway) at what we do, if we’re going to bother to try to do it at all. Even if we don’t achieve the heights we aspire to, at least we’ll get a lot better at it. To not be  shill or a jerk, either.
4. Relationships: Kristina Halvorson of Brain Traffic would like us to use our websites to talk to others as if they were people. She would like even corporate writing to be comprised of engaging, well-written communications instead of just dry press releases and company messages.  A fellow panelist, [updated] Lane Becker of Get Satisfaction, would like to encourage companies to treat their customers/clients as relationships instead of potential transactions.
5. Respect: The community managers of Etsy, Flickr, YouTube, Metafilter, Current TV would like us to participate in their communities (and others), but to please do so in a way that is respectful of others.  Don’t call them names.  Don’t be That Crazy Guy or That Crazy Woman who can’t seem to operate without being uncouth, churlish, coarse, inconsiderate, boorish, etc.
6. Data Warehousing: You have no idea how much data is being collected about you online, and you have no idea to what purpose that data is being put. Don’t you think you ought to?  Checked out those privacy settings lately? Read any good Terms of Service? It’s fast becoming another credit reporting system, but larger, and right now there’s no way to find out what items are attached to your name or dispute them.
7. It’s a Good Idea: Nonprofit personnel (chiming in for the billionth year in a row to say the same thing) would like to please, please have senior management buy into the idea of having a web presence, and especially to buy into the whole social web thing. Even if they don’t use it themelves. And please, can we not have the PR department doing it?  We promise we’ll be good and stay on message, and we might even make some money.  But we want to do it right and get new people involved with us.
8. A Matter of Trust: Elisa Camahort Page of BlogHer believes that blogging is about community, and community is about trust.  In a world where we don’t trust the institutions in our lives to tell us the truth, care about our troubles or connect with us on a personal level, we have formed our own networks.  The masses of people involved are creating a responsive, interactive media that’s proven to have a powerful political, economic and social impact.
9. Reciprocity: If you want people to pay attention to what you’re doing, you need to pay attention to others. Why should people have time for you if you don’t have time for them?  Social media is all about two-way conversation, whether it’s blogs, Certain Unmentionable Uber-Popular Sites (everyone was pretty sure they were tired of talking about those), Flickr, forums, YouTube or anywhere else that comments are enabled and preferences are collected.
10. Heart: The stuff that the best, most interesting online folks produce is about heart and belief and philosophy, not money.

You can see recurring trends in the messages I’ve picked out.  The internet’s applications and communities are no longer in their infancy and no longer the province of a fringe group of nerds or young people.  Like any other social medium, the internet has its guidelines, appropriate behaviors and social norms.  We’re in the process of trying to negotiate that in this time when it’s becoming a commonplace part of so many people’s lives.

How do we manage it?  What do we do with all this data?  How can we make it better?

Hero of Canton Hat?

It’s easy being a nerd/geek AND a crafter.

Particularly on days when you find entire interviews with cult-fantasy master Joss Whedon done by crocheter extraordinaire Kim Werker.  I laughed, I cried, or something like that, and snickered at the “desperate war between crocheters and knitters” (which has long been one of my pet peeves - I mean, really, how pointless is it to rank the ways people make knots with yarn?).

You should read the interview too, if you haven’t seen it already.

Craftzine has the links to the  story of how the interview came about, which is one of those lovely webernet stories where something just takes on a life of its own. I love that it’s an interview that asks different questions instead of the same old boring drivel. Kind of reminds me of Hunter S. Thompson talking to Nixon about football.  Must be refreshing for these oft-interviewed types to say something new!

And now to make a couple of these Jayne Cobb hats.  My brother would absolutely wear one, I think.  He is the King of Crazy Hats.

In Other News …

We continue to be  under the weather in our house.  I have had a bad case of the the flu for a week and have very little voice or energy left.  Audrey is still tired and sick, although she’s home now and is acting mostly like her usual bright, cheery, loving self.  We still don’t know what went so wrong, or whether she will make a full recovery, but we are hopeful and stubborn, and so we are going for the best possible outcome.  It’s been a long and painfully anxious couple of weeks, and a real eye-opener in terms of what people and vets will or won’t do for animals.  Maybe you are an animal person and our worry makes sense, maybe you’re not, but Jeff and I are doing our best to do what our hearts and minds tell us is the right thing to do for Audrey, and that’s all we can do.  As I always say, prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

Things learned at SXSW Interactive

One.

I haven’t switched personalities. I went to the exact sort of tech panels at today’s conference that one might expect me to go to: accessibility, communities, mobilization, crafting and feminism. SO PREDICTABLE.

Two.

The younger folks always swear more than the older folks. And there are lots of younger folks at SXSW.

Three.

I’m a big fan of tapas. And sauternes. And I should have more of both. Also, I should just go to Spain. Or Europe, generally. Or anywhere. I should just travel and eat more interesting food.

Four.

I’ve never been anywhere with such a large collection of nerdery/geekery/etc. in one place. Perhaps only a Star Trek Convention could compete with this. This is the one arena in which I feel totally safe to use my cell phone to Twitter and text madly. Because everyone just assumes you’re live blogging, and that’s cool. I got into one conversation today with someone about what we were going to blog about this event. Madness!

Five.

The crafting panel: okay, first, there was a woman knitting, which is cool at a tech conference. Second, I met the BurdaStyle folks, and that was awesome.

[Note: The woman who was knitting found me! Her name is Julia - see comments :)]

The panel, well, it was interesting, but I was hoping for something more provocative. The folks were interesting - they talked about uses of technology in crafting - adding diodes and lights to things, experimenting with hi-tech fabrics in sewing, etc. etc. The idea was to experiment with new mediums and new methods of expression, with the idea of not being afraid to venture out into things usually left to engineers. And I think the project of pushing boundaries beyond traditional craft materials and concepts is great. Crafters absolutely should explore new mediums for expression.

But in the end, I wish this panel had relied a bit less on what I thought were some cliche ideas. Their definition of technology … well, technology isn’t math or futuristic electronics or wires or diodes. It isn’t a useless gadget you superimpose onto a thing like taping a light bulb to a dress. It’s not an awkward, inexplicable addition to a traditional craft.

The best technology is always integrated - it’s not the end product, it’s actually part of the process. Technology is how we use what we have, how we make our lives better, how we add meaning, how we improve - it’s innovation, new tools, new processes, new ways to do things. Technology isn’t the future, technology is here, it’s in our everyday lives.

I really missed a recognition that crafters are already huge into technology, not just getting started. In fact, given the innovation and creativity I see from fellow crafters, in a lot of cases I’d say craft IS technology.

Think about tech crafters use already: my sewing machine is a damn fine piece of technology (they did mention this). The blended fabrics we use are the product of technology, and so are most micro-knits, milled fabrics and prints - like cotton quilting prints. Even the plastic rulers and plastic zippers I use are chemistry tech. The metal pins and needles we all use are amazing technology - how do you think those pins got standardized to such precisely correct diameters? There are so many ways beyond these that technology that has already been molded into our crafting lives.

More of my 2 cents.

I’d really hoped that they’d look at crafting and technology from a new media standpoint - crafters have taken a real interest in online interactive technology to explore, invent, open source, trade, experiment, connect and commercialize.

Crafters more than many groups have really embraced what this techie conference is all about - interaction and conversation. Crafters belong here, they should be a part of this conversation about interactivity. I’ve personally seen and met crafters of all ages, from many countries, many socio-economic groups, doing many crafts. But they’re all participating in the same circles, reading the same blogs and magazines, keeping up with crafting trends, and making friends. I think it’s an incredible phenomenon, and worth a serious look.

On a personal level, technology is YOU, dear readers, through this blog. I value all of you and my conversations with you. I try to say hi when you stop by, and read what you have to say too, and it makes my day to get comments and feel like I’m not talking to myself or the wall And I think that’s the technology I wanted to talk about today, this extraordinary phenomenon of all of us - it shows so well that technology is necessarily an end in itself, it’s a means to an end, and the end is human interaction.

Panel “Why Sewing and Knitting Still Matter” - about mixing “technology” with “traditional” crafts to create new things and push boundaries. From left that’s Mouna Andraos of Electronic Crafts, Alison Lewis of IHeartSwitch, Syuzi Pakhchyan of SparkLab, Diana Eng the fashion designer (hidden) and Natalie Zee Drieu of Craft