SXSW

In less than a month, thousands of people will flood the streets of downtown Austin to attend the phenomenal event South By Southwest. Many people purchase badges, and more people walk around to attend the free shows and events and attain some freebies. From March 11th-15th, the interactive portion will be going on where new technologies and programs are unveiled and where speakers bring up interesting topics.

After reviewing the panels, here are 3 that were the most interesting to me:

1.) Artistic collaborations via Skype: Turning distance into drama. From Beth Burns, Derek Kolluri, Judd Farris, Mimi Poskitt, Rachel Watkinson and Robert Matney. Personally, I have not used Skype yet, but I am familiar with the concept. Sure the first reason I can think of for “skyping” with someone would be for couples who are not in the same room to see each others faces and adding a new media used for spicing up the relationship. That is just one of the many reasons, for example, these speakers will be talking about how skype can assist company’s from different in different parts of the globe to communicate face to face. This interaction is a great aid because it makes that interaction much more personal and I believe that with the aid of able to see facial expressions, can clearly get the point across with minimal confusion.

2.) Can design and technology fix America‘s education problem? From Dennis Littky, Jon Kolko and Steven Tomilson. Because of the statistics that say that over the next 20 years, students will pay $221,722 to dropout of state school and close to $450,000, trying their luck at a private education. Exploring future education with a focus on design and technology will be vital because that is what so many aspects of future businesses are headed. If in high school there will be a class required for the new computer programs, the future jobs that will be needed to help further this society will be filled by employees that have had a lifetime of experience.

3.) Secrets of fake Twitter accounts revealed (maybe). Jasper Solobrushe will discuss what the point is of people inventing or taking on the persona of an existing company or public figure. By knowing some of these tell-tale signs, the general public could possible have a keener understanding of what people will really post and better detect a fake account before trying to get any info on the company, or feel closer to their favorite public official or celebrity.