For all the college and university folk (and of course, all the friends of college and university folk!) come by and mix it up at the best interactive conference in the land!

Meetup to put some faces to all the people we talk to on listservs all year. We’ll help kick off SXSW 2008 right and give you a chance to meet other attendees from the education sector!

When: 7:00 PM
Where: Maggie Mae’s (323 E 6th St.)

Come and go as you please as we’ll be very close to other SXSWi opening parties!
If you can, please RSVP at: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/443324/

The Canadian Government and the Canadian Interactive Alliance are pleased to be the organizers of Canada’s official delegation to SXSW Interactive this year - we have some fantastic activities to tell you about!

First, FreshBooks would like to treat you to some True North-style hospitality on Saturday, March 8, with a free breakfast in the parking lot of Carmelo’s (504 E. 5th Street, one short block north of the Austin Convention Center) from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Come on out and sample some real maple syrup as well as Canada’s most treasured national secret, Tim Hortons coffee.

Then, on Monday, March 10, don’t miss our “Blame Canada” panel, taking place at 10:00 a.m. in Room C. Some of Canada’s biggest names in interactive media will share their thoughts on why Canadians are globally-minded, polite to excess and have a hard time pronouncing the “oo” sound without making Americans crack up. Moderated by Raincity Studio’s Kris Krug and featuring Elastic Entertainment’s Jennifer Ouano, Keith Clarkson of Xenophile Media, Steve Bocska of Cambrian House/GWABS, and Ron Thiele of Xpan Interactive, this panel is sure to make you laugh, cry a little bit (with laughter), and leave you with a greater sense of what your neighbors to the North are up to.

Finally, we have a booth located at the back of the Trade Show & Exhibition floor, between aisles 300 and 400 (between Vidoop and Stickam). Come by, say hi and learn more about the 20 firms we’re proudly showcasing at South By Southwest Interactive.

Hope to see you there!

Read about this panel and join us in room 6 - Saturday March 8th, at 3:30PM. We will discuss collaboration in international communities along four directions: (1) user-interface and information and visualization design; (2) the 50x 15 Initiative (One Laptop per Child); (3) Second Life and (empirical) observations of cultural preferences in web 2.0; and (4) cultural models in game design.

After the presentations, panelists will adress this question among others:
In your area of expertise you necessarily work with (or from) cultural models (even if you have abstracted them empirically from your practice). When working in the field, in your research work… how do you embrace these cultural models while at the same time dispelling stereotypes?

Panelists: Aaron Marcus , Steve Howard , Prentiss Riddle, and Tim Landgell.
Moderator: Ana Boa-Ventura
See you there!

As per the last couple of years, all librarians, library workers, info scientists, tech peeps who work in libraries/museums, and general friends of Ranganathan & Otlet are meeting up for food or drinks and convo this year.  If you want to come and have input as to when would be a good time for you, email me (jennybento/gmail) or leave a comment, or send smoke signals.  Info will also be available at the Facebook group I created for this occasion and will be posted here.

The SXSW Interactive Mobile Companion (http://webclip2go.com/sxsw08) is a free mobile web application that lets you access everything about the conference right there on your mobile phone. You can check:

* Panel schedule by day
* Session abstracts
* Official and unofficial conference blogs and wikis
* Blogs of conference speakers (full posts w/ comments)
* SXSW parties!
* Austin local news
* Music and film listings by venue in the Austin area
* and much more …

All you need is to load the following URL in your mobile phone browser. Or, if you do not want to type the URL, simply text the word sxsw08 to phone number 41411 to get a link returned in an SMS message (the SMS works in the US only!).

http://webclip2go.com/sxsw08

The site renders differently on different devices. It has a nice “native” look-and-feel for iphone (try simulator) and Nokia NSeries devices, but works equally well on most BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm, and other smartphones. Try it on your phone and let me know your suggestions on UI improvement!

I’d love to hear your comments / suggestions on how to improve the service. Please feel free to suggest sites / blogs that we need to “mobilize” for the conference. Just email me at michael AT michaelyuan DOT com. Also, if you would rather NOT see your site on my list, please let me know too! Thanks.

Michael Yuan, eZee inc.
==============
http://www.michaelyuan.com/
[Austin-based technologist]

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival invites you to submit your three best photographs to our first-ever gallery show! The theme is My Big Idea: From Inspiration to Invention. People always talk about how they come back from SXSW with ideas. What does your inspiration look like?

Submissions will first be voted on by the community. Final winners will be picked by the judges: Heather Champ from Flickr, Derek Powazek from Pixish, photographer Kevin Meredith, and more TBA. Note: This assignment is for members of the South by Southwest Interactive online community (past, present and future attendees). That said, photos for this assignment do not have to be specifically related to SXSW. Instead, please submit what you think best showcases this theme of inspiration or inspired behavior.

300 finalists will be chosen to appear in a slideshow that will be displayed at the Austin Convention Center during SXSW Interactive (March 7-11, 2008). 10 winners, chosen by the judges, will receive a free registration badge to the 2009 SXSW Interactive Festival. These 10 winners will also receive 1 year of Flickr Pro. Winning photos may also appear on sxsw.com and in future conference-related materials.

Getting tipsy just thinking about all the parties you’ll be attending? Why not take in the fresh air and enjoy some running while in Austin?

No open bar, no sponsors, and no wifi for a change…

Join the SXSW Runners Group on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8415312365

We’ll see if we can coordinate for morning and evening folks, and hopefully find some nice places to jog. Look forward to meeting you at SXSW!

(image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickerson/95534504/)

Any AIGA members attending SXSWi, March 7-11, 2008, interested in a meet & greet (or kvetch) please let me know. I’m the AIGA Web director and am looking to arrange a gathering spot during a lunch break. I hope to be joined by Tom Sychay of Thirdwave in opening the floor to a discussion of chapter sites, the eponymous Internet Kit, or any other topic we might actually know something about.
Don’t be a stranger now. AIGA is the professional association for interactive design, too!

* * *
February 27, 2008

Hello all,
I’m pleased to have heard from a bunch of people and hope we can all meet up on Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 12:30 p.m. (following the morning program) at Halcyon Coffeehouse, just about 4 or 5 blocks from the Convention Center:
Halcyon Coffeehouse
218 W. 4th Street, corner of 4th and Lavaca in the Warehouse district
(512) 472-9637
www.halcyonaustin.com‎

I’ll get there early enough to take up space but it would be great if we could gather promptly to leave time for lunch and still get us back to the Convention Center for the 2:00 p.m. presentations.

Should the weather be fair I’ll try to score the patio, otherwise I’ll be inside. Though the food offerings are not extensive (primarily sandwiches), excellent coffee, comfortable seating and free wifi are plentiful!

Feel free to forward this invitation to any other AIGA members, or interested persons. I’m eager to meet you all, and make a place for AIGA in the SXSWi universe.

–
Lydia Mann
Web director
AIGA | the professional association for design
164 Fifth Avenue New York NY 10010 | 212 710-3122
lydia_mann AT aiga DOT org

****************************************************************
365: AIGA Annual Design Competitions 29 and AIGA 50 Books/50 Covers
Deadline: March 7, 2008 5:30 p.m. Eastern
Enter your best work and contribute to a legacy. Take your place in design history!
For more information, visit http://www.aiga.org/competitions

****************************************************************
Demonstrating the value of design
www.aiga.org

My book reading on the authors “Day Stage” on Sunday, March 9th at 3:00 PM will focus on how to get the most out of networking at SXSW Interactive.  One of the main reasons people attend a multi-day conference is for the amazing networking opportunities.  All opportunities come from people, and with the many thousands of great people at SXSW, you want to be sure to make connections, learn about others, and plan for following up.

 I am the author of “Some Assembly Required: How to Make, Grow and Keep Your Business Relationships” and “The ABC’s of Networking“.  I hope you will come by for my 20 minute presentation.  I know that you will walk away enthused about making connections at SXSW Interactive.

 Feel free to contact me by email if you have any specific networking questions.  thom [at] thomsinger [dot] com.

 thanks,

 thom singer

We’re premiering our first feature-length documentary, Second Skin, at SXSW this year, and we’d love to see as many Interactive people as possible. Hell, our movie was made by geeks, about geeks and for geeks. And we want to pack the theaters.

Here’s our official days/times/venue:

Friday March 7 - 9:00pm - Austin Convention Center Theater

Tuesday March 11 - 7:45pm - Austin Convention Center Theater

Thursday March 13 - 1:45pm - Austin Convention Center Theater

And here’s our very own SXSW movie page:

http://2008.sxsw.com/film/screenings/film/F11432.html

Second Skin takes an intimate look at computer gamers whose lives have been transformed by the emerging genre of Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs). World of Warcraft, Second Life, and Everquest allow millions of users to simultaneously interact in virtual spaces. Second Skin introduces us to couples who have fallen in love without meeting, disabled players who have found new purpose, addicts, Chinese gold-farming sweatshop workers, wealthy online entrepreneurs and legendary guild leaders - all living in a world that doesn’t quite exist.

Our site, with the trailer, blog, forums and info:

http://www.secondskinfilm.com/?id=home

If you want to embed our trailer or invite all of your friends:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPOxuOCGi9I

Hope to see you all there!

Victor