Session Spotlight
SXSW Interactive Session Spotlight: NASA’s Mission Possible: Tweeting thru Space
For the last shuttle launch of Atlantis, 150 lucky individuals were invited to attend the official NASA Tweetup to experience the lift-off first-hand, with exclusive behind the scenes access to astronauts, facilities, lectures and more. Join Erik Sowa, NASA Tweetup attendee and director of engineering at ExactTarget's Social Media Lab, and Stephanie Schierholz, NASA's head of social media, at 5:00pm on Sunday, March 11 for NASA’s Mission Possible: Tweeting thru Space. Erik and Stephanie will take you into process behind this groundbreaking event as part of the SXSW Interactive Social Networks Theme in the Capital Ballroom at the Omni Downtown.
Interactive Session Spotlights: "When Your API is Your Product"
Data, data, data is everywhere. What happens when that data becomes an API, which becomese the business, instead of the byproduct? Developers come running and are willing to pay for it. Learn more during "When Your API is Your Product." This session will happen Sunday, March 11 at the Hilton. Click here for a full panel schedule for the 2012 SXSW Interactive Festival.
Interactive Session Spotlight: "Rebuilding LEGO"
LEGO is the most profitable and fastest growing company in the toy industry, with growth and profitability rates similar to Apple’s. Join David Robertson, Practice Professor of The Wharton School, at "Rebuilding LEGO" on Saturday, March 10th at the InterContinental Stephen F Austin. Hear the LEGO story and learn lessons from the company’s fall and rebirth. Click here for the full panel schedule for the 2012 SXSW Interactive Festival.
Interactive Session Spotlight: "Don't Build a Power Glove: Talk to Your Users"
Do you remember the Power Glove? In 1989, it was absolutely the coolest video game interface ever -- until you actually had to use it. Join EffectiveUI's RJ Owen for a unique history lesson and learn best practices for designing great products founded on user research and customer insights. "Don't Build a Power Glove: Talk to Your Users" is scheduled for Monday, March 12 at 5:00pm in Ballroom BC of the Austin Convention Center, where much of the "Design & Development" programming will be located.
Interactive Session Spotlight: "Is Technology Making Our Lives Richer or Poorer?"
Once among founders of "virtual reality", Jaron Lanier (pictured left) now strongly questions the negative impact resulting from virtual communication. Attend this session to hear Nicholas Thompson and Jaron Lanier from The New Yorker contemplate the effects of technology on our creativity capacity and our social interactions. The session will be held on Monday, March 12 at 12:30pm in Ballrooms EF in the Austin Convention Center. Click here for the full panel schedule for the 2012 SXSW Interactive Festival.
Interactive Session Spotlight: "Why Little Houses Are So Awesome"
Tumbleweed Tiny Houses founder Jay Shafer says that smaller is much better (particularly when it comes to the structures where we live). Recently profiled in The New Yorker, he will deliver a solo presentation about the value and charm of tiny residential spaces at the SXSW Interactive Festival at 5:00 pm on Friday, March 9. Shafer's talk will occur at the programming themed as "New Business" at the Hilton Garden Inn. Browse the full panel schedule to learn more about all the exciting content coming to Austin in March!
Interactive Session Spotlight: Datatainment: Soccer Sexes Up Spreadsheets
The data movement is everywhere. It sure hasn't missed sports. Soccer is one of those sports beginning to embrace the data and analytical movement. SXSW Interactive attendees will have the opportunity to learn more about it at the upcoming session "Datatainment: Soccer Sexes Up Spreadsheets". This presentation will occur on Saturday, March 10 in the Maximilian Room at the Driskill Hotel. This solo presentation will be lead by Richard Ayers of the Manchester City Football Club.
Interactive Session Spotlight: "SXSW Stories Open Mic"
As event producers, we'd like to think we provide attendees with a pretty cool playground for experiencing all that SXSW has to offer. And because everyone's experience is unique and different than the next, we love to hear about it! Join Thom Singer for his session, "SXSW Stories Open Mic" on Tuesday, March 13 at 3:30pm at the Austin Convention Center and share your experiences from the 2012 SXSW Interactive Festival. Did you learn something new? Establish a new business connection? Eat at a cool restaurant or meet your soul-mate? We want to hear about it! Use the hashtag #SXStories to join the conversation.
Interactive Session Spotlight: "Tweeting Osama’s Death: From Citizen to Journalist"
“Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM,” tweeted Sohaib Athar one night, unaware that he was tweeting about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Join Steve Myers of the Poynter Institute and Sohaib Athar to discuss why these tweets constituted citizen journalism and Athar will describe what happened that night and how the event changed his perception of the media and his use of Twitter.
Danah Boyd Talks "Power of Fear" on Saturday, March 10
SXSW is extremely excited that acclaimed researcher and accomplished speaker danah boyd will return to the programming lineup in 2012. At this year's SXSW Interactive Festival, her solo presentation will cover "The Power of Fear in Networked Publics". This speech will "weave together the predator panic and bullying phenomenon with the socio-political dynamics around otherness, the rise of fear alongside the increased ability to connect with others around the globe, the empowering rhetoric of the Arab Spring along the rise of local networks of power." Sounds amazing! boyd's often-quoted Opening Remarks at SXSW 2010 tackled the topic of "Making Sense of Privacy and Publicity". Don't miss her talk at 11:00 am on Saturday, March 10!
