South by Southwest 2014 Round 2

Home at last and the work continues. No rest for the weary. My first full South by Southwest experience is complete. Was it a success? How do you define success in a sprawling marathon of an event such as this?

If that means being better educated about social disruption for a greater good, as Chelsea Clinton spoke about in her keynote? Sure.

If it's learning that album reviews can still be used in a way as a transformer of people's tastes in music? Perhaps.  

Was it Rackspace's Robert Scoble talking today's tech trends (wearable tech) and tomorrow's innovation (driverless cars, home automation)? Fine.

Was it listening to George Takei discuss his embrace of social media, and being known for more than just the original "Star Trek"? Indeed.

Was it the Edward Snowden virtual chat, and how his whistleblowing has helped to make the Internet safer, raising the topic of tech privacy to a new level? Could be.

Was it listening to the members of Blondie about being musical pioneers and staying relevant more than 30 years after they came onto the scene? Of course.

Was it watching Blondie, 50 Cent, St. Vincent, Quiet Company, Grupo Fantasma, Damon Albarn, Soundgarden, Urge Overkill, La Femme, Sleigh Bells and Gary Numan perform live? Most definitely.
Was it watching a film, "Space Station 76," that has much potential and some good laughs (Verbot robots all over the place) but meanders without plot? OK, maybe not.

And I can't forget the tragic turn of events Wednesday night, not but a couple of blocks from where I was attending a concert. To think of the two people killed and the many others injured, it's painful to consider and my heart goes out to their families. Helping to cover a 2 a.m. press briefing near the crime scene, seeing my news tweets get retweeted in a story gone national, is still surreal.

SXSW2014, for me, was an overall solid event, but not spectacular. Many hard lessons learned for next year, and my knees are begging for a vacation following at the walking. See you next year, better prepared, but even that may not help toward success.

South by Southwest 2014 Round 1

It's nearly the end of South by Southwest Interactive. A good time for a blog update, no? I mean, four days after it started, right? By no means does my SXSW blog come even remotely close to capturing an effective fraction of South by interactive compared with most others, but I'm a journalist and I gotta post...something.

It's perhaps not the most original thing to say, that changing the digital/web landscape is a dominant theme in keynotes and sessions in this year's SXSWi. But those leading changes, politically and culturally, are no less notable. They have had a positive impact in their respective realms and even have uplifting news to report in areas that have been swamped with pessimism.

My biggest takeaways so far: In Latinos and new media sessions, according to one panel that - not a surprise -- many Latino advocacy/civic organizations and politicians for the most part still use Facebook to get their messages across the web. However, panelists say Twitter will soon take that role over. Some surveys of Latino tech users state such users are less political and more inclined toward cultural aspects on the web -- arts and entertainment -- but there is hope this will be leveled. There's also a petition drive, as part of the new Cesar Chavez movie, to have the president establish March 31 as a national call to action day of service.

Another Latino new media panel focused on Latina bloggers and how they're transforming not only various web platforms but overall cultural dialogue, how the mainstream public perceives Latinas. "I think it's given me a digital platform that wasn't there 10 years ago. As Latina bloggers, I think we have a powerful voice," said speaker Nicole Presley of Presley's Pantry.

Sara Calderon, a reporter turned president of Mas Wired, has a YouTube channel. One of her videos is of verbally smashing stereotypes of Latin women. "The digital landscape allows Latinas to set the agenda in a kind of way. I know in mainstream newsrooms, it's not very woman or Latino dominated," she said. She added whereas, in many newsrooms, an editor may not appreciate a story or beat of a particular cutlture. But when you have your own digital platform, "You think of what kind of Latino stories are important to you. Now people want to come to you and your agenda."

Native San Antonian Stephanie Guerra, founder of Puro Pinche (woo!), created the blog site as a means to spotlight events, individuals, organizations and other cultural aspects that are truly San Anto and perhaps less known, if at all, even by locals. "The gap is where people hadn't really seen this other side of San Antonio. The connection between our city, which is primarily Hispanic, and the culture that runs our town. Puro Pinche exposes the underground, the true identity," she said. These and other digital outlets are helping marketers to better understand Latinos, their communities and consumer power.

The leaders of xoJane, Jane Pratt and Mandy Stadtmiller, producer Issa Rae, and writer/performer Kristina Wong were in a panel about how women are using a variety of digital outlets to bring their personal brands of humor to the masses. Stadtmiller, Rae and Wong each told an anecdote that reflect not only their personal upbringing, but also adventures (or misadventures) in romance and sex. I'm a fan of Stadtmiller, and if you follow her on Twitter, she doesn't shy away from addressing the matters of sex and relationships with a sharp sense of humor.

Scott Havens, president of the long-standing Atlantic magazine, addressed how his publication has successfully transformed from a print news/commentary mag that's been around since the 1800s into a cross-platform that reacts quickly to news and doesn't tease readers with front paywalls. He criticized those print newspapers and magazines who have launched (and most not successfully) digital products mainly as a knee-jerk reaction to our transforming world. "A lot of the new things that newspapers and magazines did contained data hardly anybody wanted, it was just something they wanted to do," he said. Havens said now we're overloaded with data, but much of it useful and effective in helping readers to make a variety of decisions.

Havens said, like with The Atlantic, as long as the right of team of people is in place, performing the correct tasks in print or digital, can help curate solid content and lure readers with the promise of more quality content to come. "People will pay for quality content," he said, adding that media outlets should diversify revenue streams, roll out products faster yet more carefully, and embrace the art of high velocity and high impact. Havens also addressed daily metro newspapers, many of which he said have lost sight of their mission when mixing in national news. He suggested such papers to refocus on their communities and determine how to reenfranchise their community. "People will pay for information that they need and would help them.," he added.

Eric Carvin, social media editor for the Associated Press, and Mandy Jenkins, managing editor of Digital First Media, suggested there are ways to overcome challenges associated with ensuring ethics, accuracy and fairness of social/citizen journalists. Carvin cited two classic examples of so-called viral news that was literally wrong, such as a retweeted photo of Edward Snowden boarding a plane - a photo proved a fake - and a picture of a shark swimming post-hurricane in a city street, a piece that seems to have become the norm during coverage of big storms. "I've seen this same photo after four different hurricanes," said Jenkins who added it's right to do your best to verify by seeking out the original source of said photo or report, and ask about their identity, intent, and how they got into position to get said picture or report.

She pointed to several digital tools available that can aid editors in tracking down the original source of social news photos and stories, and best determine their veracity. Traditional legwork works, too, as in the case of a YouTube video that popped up during Election Day 2012, an image in which a supposed voter attempted several times to press a touchscreen voting machine in Pennsylvania in favor of Barack Obama only for the selection to turn out as Mitt Romney. The video proved authentic, and voting officials in the polling place in question had to remove the defective machine.

Prolific inventor Dean Kamen made his presence known in a keynote speech and in a meet-up involving For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). As select young FIRST members assembled as teams to showcase their skills in engineering and controlling robots in the meet-up, Kamen pointed to the youngsters, saying it's up to them to realize their interest in technology into careers to help the United States to remain a progressive technological power. "Where are the superstars of technology and telling these kids to take an interest in these careers? How do we reach them, give them a reason to study hard and work hard, so they can take on these careers and make sure the world doesn't fall into chaos?" he asked.

Kamen, sang the praises of organizations such as FIRST, which supports activities such as robotic competitions among primary and secondary students, and IEEE, which advocates tech innovation. "There's no reason why FIRST can't be in every school," Kamen said. "SXSW is an intersection of communication, technology, art, culture and media. I hope that it's not just a place talk about things, but after this is done, do things."

Speaking of young minds at work, the MakerFair was a sight to behold as many children and teens put their minds and hands to work, creating the fun stuff such as duct tape wallets to controlling toy drones and robots. The do-it-yourself attitude is getting re-emphasis at SXSW.

Science can be funny and fun, and the appearance of Bill Nye the Science Guy, and Tory Belacci and Kari Byron of "Mythbusters," among others, kept a small, cold, rainy wet and yet vocal crowd jazzed throughout the night at Stubbs about...science!

Trying to soak up the rest of the SXSW experience, there was my racing to the Jason Bateman interview (a failed bit on my part), and to the Neil Degrasse Tyson interview (in which he not only updated us on the latest scientific discoveries but reemphasizes the importance of being a scientifically knowledgeable culture). In other entertainment...funny how somebody recently on Twitter remarked "What has Josh Hartnett been up to lately?" The answer is in the form of a new Showtime series "Penny Dreadful." And just before a late-night drive back home, I got to see one of my local favorite (S.A.) bands, Nancy Silva Project. The gaming expo, with its coverage of contemporary and retro games, and the Game of Thrones exhibit left my inner nerd quite satisified.

And of course we can't forget Julian Assange, who did a satellite video chat. The founder of Wikileaks said new leaks are forthcoming, and called the intrusion of the Internet by the NSA and the surveillance state is tantamount to "militarization of citizen space," but that citizens, independent journalists and other like-minded whistleblowers can do much to help stem the tide. "I've realized you can achieve justice by exposing injustices," he added.

Last but certainly not least: While I couldn't personally be there, I enjoyed Edward Snowden's livestreamed virtual conversation...brought to us thanks to seven proxies.  My biggest takeaways from that: "Encryption does work. It's the defense against the dark arts in the digital realm," Snowden said. He added his whistleblower efforts were meant to inform the public so we could make better decisions about how we can best protect our communications. There's a growing feeling that Snowden's disclosures about rising government digital surveillance and cyber vulnerabilities have actually improved the overall security of the Internet, and not weakened it as some government officials suggest. "The goal is to make it so the government cannot spy on innocent people," added ACLU Principal Technologist Chris Soghoian.

Not really journalisting today on this Monday -- it's editorial deadline time here in San Antonio for my main job. But I'll be back in Austin for the end of interactive and the trade show. And then it's time to fully focus on film and music. Pray for me.