Post-hoc SXSW 2010

So this is is a week late, pardon the delay I’m trying my best to catch up…

The title doesn’t fit quite right but it does explain this post quite well. I am writing this after SXSW and cleaning had been a chore. Time to take a break and download everything thing into a small boiled down post for my sanity and work inspiration you (the reader) and myself.

First off the 3 biggest things I learned:

1.    Building a community and doing social good allows your company to sustain itself even through the recession we are going through right now. Things are looking better only because we are looking at home to do things rather than spending the money on something else. 

Take the DIY movement right now, I’ve started getting back into building things for my craft more than I have spending money on the big things around me. We are all giving a little more to those less fortunate around us only because we know that will come back one day to us when we are a little less fortunate.

2.    Bootstrapping your business is better in the long run than getting money from a venture or angel investor. We can get the quick money now but a flame that is hot and fast as we all know can’t sustain itself for very long. There are those examples for both that do have the ability to. The majority of the time, however; don’t have the ability to sustain themselves for very long with large capitol creating large returns. A flame that is stoked and carefully watched over can grow and grow and grow and can run for a very long time. Eventually like the flame your business will take care of itself. Yes, you’ll still have to run it but less is needed to run as you move forward.
3.    Finally, concentrate on doing things for your own and start working on small projects on your own time and get those done. As you do those sharpen your skills and you get to learn how to problem solve. We all have the same ability blog, take pictures, video or even code. The thing that makes us each valuable is the ability to problem solve and work things differently. Make your self the one thing that no one else has, you. (Thank you to @makecoolshit for this advice)

On to the rest of the Film and Interactive parts of the week;

for those of you who come here from my twitter feed please know that this is more of a personal blog and yes I do rant on and on but do understand I am a person who believes in transparency on things I do. In an age of everything being on the internet it is very hard to have everything split apart as it should be.

The interactive festival was well worth the price of admission alone and I do have every intention of going again next year. It will be hopefully the last year I will have during a week of spring break. I am planning for a May 2011 graduation. I only hold one contention and that is all the best panels were at the same time of another interesting panel and that they were all towards the end. The few beginning ones left me with a wondering of weather I was paying for taking classes that I am already enrolled in for my graduate degree.

As the second day rolled around it became apparent that, in fact no, they weren’t. The panels were an in depth discussion I am lacking from the over populated classroom I sit in where there are too many students and too few professors available for a discussion at this moment. I wonder if I have made the right choice often for my degree.  Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t be where I was today if I weren’t there I wouldn’t have the thoughts of interactivity on a level past the general population.

I wish I could take some of the panelists and put them in to a less bureaucratic environment that @academicdave champions over and over again. The more I think lately the more self taught people I know and realize the only reason I go to a school to learn is sheer motivation. I can either self motivated and learn everything on my own, of which I try my best to keep on trends and learn, or learn through an antiquated environment something new.

The films were good from what i heard, I only saw the one, Tony. The movie was one that gave hope to the film makers who were told they were crazy and told not to even try such a risky way of telling a simple story. There is no true end to the story, life just goes on just like we march forward and a chapter of our life closes and we open a new one weather it be a mile stone or some or a change of career or a change in life.

That is all I have for now so I close with Later Days,

P.S. Pictures from the week are available on my Flickr SXSW Set.
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Where is The White Paper? The Student Media Stuff

To Catch You Up:
So itʼs been a while and a friend of mine Craig Fisher said yʼknow what you need to write what youʼre doing on your blog. Yea, itʼs been a while and he was dissapointed. Yes, Student Media asked if I could come in one day and be an adviser for a day. I had a blast and would like to thank them again for letting me come and talk. At the end of this I have some stuff for them and anyone else that would like to read and learn.
So the last month and a half Iʼve been trying to write this white paper as I stated in my last blog post but well itʼs been put on the back burner. Two major reasons,

1) David Parry or better known as academicdave; his class requires lots of attention.For that attention though the rewards are great and you learn a lot as well.

2) Iʼm overwhelmed by different cameras out on the market right now. I plan to make
this a focus of mine for next semester and hope to have some definitive reviews and
some samples posted somewhere.

My Current Involvements:

I must also speak about a few other things as well, Spark Club and Sustainable Preservation Initiative.

Spark Club is a great organization and I hope to see it grow. Spark Clubʼs mission is to get the non-profits and those interested in a space together to collaborate and create something good, something amazing. Their next event is December 3rd and I hope to see you there. I know I met some amazing people there like the guys from soap hope and the womenʼs foundation.

Sustainable Preservation Initiative [SPI] is something Iʼm really behind; Iʼve seen them in action and I really agree with what they do. Itʼs the best way to serve the old proverb of,

” Give a Man a fish and feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and feed him for life”
SPI saves and preserves the world herritage as well as saves the community around it.More information can be found on their site.” – Unknown

Larry Coben is a great guy and has a lot to say that makes sense about changing the world in small ways that create big impacts.

Finally as I promised the stuff for my Student Media people:

The NY Times Article about Hybrid Books

The Qik and Ustream websites. (examples of good new media videos from Ben Smithson and Colleen Lin. I liked their videos because theyʼre not done with what youwould think to do with a broadcasting background but more of what you can do with new media to tell a story. Benʼs video is one of the first stories he created; and itʼs a great story this is what is capable of someone who has never messed with video before.

My lab mates Kyle Kondas and Mona Kasra both put together a video on how YouTube and online video is changing how we take our news and how we live. Their curated video and blog Click:Play is a great read and study. It was screened at VideoFest in Dallas November 9th at the Angelika Theater.

To the editor of the web section who specifically asked me how do you make it educational that people will watch? I answer you this, the TED lectures. We all watch them all the way through and the visuals are just the people are that interesting. These people are well refined but you do learn a lot from them.

My favorite daily readings that explore new media:

New Tee Vee (great reports analytics and whatʼs going on)

Mashable (general news and breaking and changing things)

FlowTV (yes I know itʼs from UT but at some point we are all in the same boat together)

Finally Adademia:

David Parryʼs blog there are so many things to be learned from the things he postsabout new media

Michael Wesch a professor at Kansas State who is studying the anthropology of the web and has great insights in the use of new media and what the web does and where it is heading. There are more answers there than I could provide.

Later Days…

This is not a definitive list as I told everyone there that day; merely a place to start.Please leave comments and start a discussion. I must get going as the coffee is finally getting to me and I need to get work done and the night is creeping in.