SXSW: Designing the Future of The New York Times

Grade F for FAIL. This was a standing room only crowd in a Hilton ballroom. They promoted the panel as to where they are going in the next couple of years. Instead they did a classic bait and switch and talked about themselves and history and design. Dang. I think I was most disgusted with the comment that a newspaper's disposability was an asset. Hello, does "Green Movement" cause any bells to go off in your head?

He also said that information doesn't change in the newspaper's content. Once printed that's it, it's done and somehow he eluded to digital content changing all the time.

Listening to these two I get the feeling I'm watching a cartoon in my head where two cavemen are discussing how they made fire with flint shards and dried moss. These guys are toast and they know it. They don't know what the answer is or the NYTimes would be making millions instead of losing money.

As has been suggested with the U.S. automakers, I think these cavemen corporations need to be dismantled and reassembled.

It's sad because I once loved the NYTimes. Ever since the content became questionable (Vitamin Pills: A False Hope?) a few weeks ago did I look away for alternatives.

Updates
5:25 I'm out. I can't take it any longer.
5:20 History and now design. Not a word about where they will go in the next two years as they hemorrhage as much cash as a Big Three automaker. I think they need to be saved as well. Jeez.
5:10 Still history now it's the other guys turn. He's showing really old personal Web sites. Can't. Last. Much. Longer.
5:00 Interesting. They're starting with a personal history. Starting with the past to lead to the future? Oh God, he's going all the way back to his college days of print. Must. hold. on.

PRESENTERS

• Tom Bodkin - The New York Times
• Khoi Vinh - The New York Times

DESCRIPTION

What will the nation's newspaper of record look like in the coming years? Learn about the continuing efforts of old media to reinvent its look, its feel and its mission.

SXSW: The Future Of Social Networks

I'll have to listen to the rest of Charlene's presentation online. she does a very good job as a presenter but today I think I'd read or heard most of the stuff she was talking about. I left early to avoid the crowds in the restroom. There's no grade on this one.

Updates
3:44 Every laptop I've glanced I've only seen Twitter. No signs of Facebook.
3:30 That Cuban sandwich was so good at lunch but it was so big. Should've eaten half.

PRESENTERS

• Charlene Li - Altimeter Group

DESCRIPTION

Social networks will be like air, in that they will permeate everything that we do online AND offline. We'll look at the underlying technologies that will make this possible, how it will evolve, and the business models that will support it.

SXSW: Opening Remarks Keynote

Updates
2:52: @zappos
2:50: Book recommendations; Happiness Hypothesis, Peak, The 4-hour work week
2:45: "chase the vision, not the money."
2:40: Tony's the CEO of Zappos and he's presenting in a black t-shirt and black hoody.
2:27: juice @ about 5%. need to update when I have a power outlet. powering down.
2:12: A year return policy. Dang!
2:10: Zappos about being the best at customer service
note: just looked at my sxsw twitter stream 21,897 msgs since 12:30p!
2:05: Tony queried the audience as too how many are customers. HUGE.

PRESENTERS

• Tony Hsieh - Zappos.com

DESCRIPTION

At Zappos.com, Tony Hsieh has fostered a culture where extraordinary customer service is the norm. Hear him talk about how good deeds can help you leverage the power of your audience to massively extend your brand.

SXSW: Change v2

LL is always solid. Inspirational. I grade this one-man show an A. Keep up the great work Lawrence.

Updates
12:14: audience questions. congressman conyers, huffington post piece. check out.
12:06: Al Gore --- In order to solve the environmental crisis we have to solve the gov't crisis.
12:04: change-congress.org LL's new issue.
11:52: politicians as addicts and the amount of influence of lobbyists have
11:50: maplight.org
11:45: Junk science how Gov't gets wrong b/c guided by something other than reason...dependencies which ties back to the money buys influence which breads corruption discussion.
11:43: L.L. showing how USA backed down on 10% daily sugar intake recommendation and was persuaded to change it to 25% by the sugar industry.

Lawrence Lessig is one of my favorite presenters. He has a new issue. Let's here what he has to say.

PRESENTERS

• Lawrence Lessig - Stanford Law School

DESCRIPTION

Obama has awoken a once in a century passion for reform. What will it take to make it work? What would "work" mean?

SXSW: IM Video Journalism

Excellent presentation A+. Great presenter. David shared tips and was humorous. This is what SXSW is about. Great job David!

Updates
10:59: audience questions.
10:57: "It's not about the gear." But David mentioned various cameras.
10:56: http://viewmag.blogspot.com
10:55: http://twitter.com/viewmagazine
10:46: "we're at a point now for video journalism similar to the change to the art world when Monet, Van Gogh and Manet blew apart perspective and the traditional thinking of how art was made and thought of."
10:29: "Small cuts and shoot with the edits in mind."
10:27: "The net has yet to be colonized yet a to how news is gathered."
10:20: David just showed how he produces 3 shots with same interview plus an establishing shot. I shot it on the Flip.
10:00a: Feel great after the 45-minute yoga session. By getting here that early I got a great free parking spot. :)

Room 12A
Time: 10:00 am

PRESENTERS David Dunkley Gyimah - Univeristy Westminster DESCRIPTION: With video online all the rage, UK-based international award winning video journalist David Dunkley Gyimah deconstructs video journalism and posits his cinematic brand known as IMVJ. Described by Apple Pro as a one man hurricane http://www.apple.com/uk/pro/profiles/gyimah/ Ex BBC David talks technique, workflow, and swift turnaround factual feature making.

SXSW: Try Making Yourself More Interesting

Grade D+. If it hadn't been for Amit on the panel this would've been a total failure, Amit A-, rest of panel C-, Kristina F.

Updates:
5:46p: Packing up as are many others.
5:31p. Now on to Brain Traffic with Kristina Halvorson. She mentioned the word "awesome" way too many times. Hey! try intreaging instead. Now she's sounds like a Web 1.0 presentation circa 1996.
5:27p: Amit Gupta gets it with his Jelly project and photojojo. Good sharing. Does cool social experiments. Good tricks to monetize.
5:24p: showing Get Satisfaction site. Doesn't relate.
5:17p: showing the bike hugger site.
5:10p: Second panel to talk about threadless
5:06 p. Big ballroom, plenty of room unlike the last session.

5:00 pm
Ballroom A

Google Map

PRESENTERS

• DL Byron - Bike Hugger
• Amit Gupta - Photojojo
• Brian Oberkirch - Small Good Thing
• David Rees - mnftiu.cc
• Kristina Halvorson - Brain Traffic

DESCRIPTION

There are no cheat codes for community. No Charles Atlas shortcuts to make your pet project the one to rule them all. Want people to think you're awesome? Be awesome. This panel promises a bullshit-free look at how you might tune out the jibber jabber, tune in to those who matter, put your head down and make your online service a little bit more epic each day. We'll dissect Bike Hugger, Photojojo, Metafilter, and other examples of Web charm for what *you* can do. Today, and tomorrow. And the day after. Which is how you will become what you want to be.

SXSW: The Ecosystem of News

Grade B+. Good sharing of information. I see that more with a single person presenting sometimes. Panels need several things to make it good. they have to be in sync and have a good moderator. This presentation was solo and the presenter was good.

Updates:
4:31p: over. said he'll post talk.
4:00p: audience questions.
3:59p: "all the news that's fit to link."
3:55p: showing twitter-stream map where #sxsw is picked up and what they're talked about is then mapped.
3:51p: Traditional media still mattered in election coverage of 2008. "Old Growth Media"
3:45p: After the newspapers fail will the blogosphere get out of bed and start a Iraq field office?
3:40p: setting the stage for how much faster news is published. Started with MacWorld and then webzines.
3:30p: packed room. standing room only.

Room 12B @ 3:30 pm

PRESENTERS

• Steven Johnson - outside.in

DESCRIPTION

It is now conventional wisdom that the newspaper as we have come to know it for last century is over, or will be in a matter of years. The question is whether we're going to spend our time grieving over the loss, or whether we're going to use this moment as an opportunity to invent something even better. We're inevitably moving from the "paper of record" model to a something more distributed, a news ecosystem, but that doesn't mean we can't consciously define the shape of that system. So let's figure out what values we want to preserve from the older newspaper paradigm, and what values we want to improve upon -- and then let's go build it!