So before I flood your timeline with a gazillion SxSW updates, this might be just about the right time to explain what #SxSW exactly is. :-).
#SxSW is the abbreviation for South by Southwest, and is named after one of the directions of the compass. Since 1987 it is a yearly happening that brings three festivals together: film, interactive media, and music in the usual sunny Texan city of Austin. Thousands of keynotes, presentations, music shows, movie screenings and wild, wild parties are taking over the town.
The part of the craziness that interests me most, is #SxSWi or SXSW Interactive. #SxSWi is focused on emerging technology regarding communications, media, social sciences and marketing. This focus has earned the festival a reputation as an extremely fertile breeding ground for new ideas and creative technologies: Spredfast, Twitter, Foursquare, Meerkat and countless other technologies were launched at the Texan festival. SxSWi includes a trade show, speakers, panels, workshops, coaching sessions, parties, and a start-up accelerator.
For the next week, I’m going to ride and try to tame this gargantuan beast, and distil fact from dream throughout the sinuous program. If you count the official and officious tracks, there are well over 9000 sessions to choose from.
With my combined blogger and press credentials, I’ll have access to some of the smartest and most creative thinkers on the planet. This is upgrading your brain on steroids. As Juanita stated so wonderfully in snowcrash I’m going to try to distil fact from the vapor of nuance.
Find the big streams in the content below. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a program to catch :-).
