The Comments Gremlin

Thanks to a helpful colleague's strategy to address the comments glitch, I'm a little closer to figuring it out. Removed all...well, most... of the widgets, which I'd been meaning to prune way back for yonks anyway. I woke up this morning mortified at the thought that sloppy blog housekeeping would not look too swooft at SXSWi.

But there it is, and by process of elimination, it doesn't seem to be the widgets. Restraint is called for when I can find the time to reinsert a few. Any votes on what to keep? What to remain in the dust bin? And how would I know, if nobody can leave comments?

I have a hazy memory of problems with changing my e-mail address at work, after I got messages from friends that their posts to my old address bounced. The university is no longer supporting the old, and I was reassured by the help desk person that there was a forwarding to the new address, but I wonder if that fragile link was a tasty morsel for the gremlinkin.

So even if comments are still looping around in the net, at least I can formulate the next question to ask. OK, so maybe I'm not so mortified. Just impatient.

SXSWi is shaping up

It's exciting to see who of my favorite bloggers/writers/educators are coming to SXSWi. I'm a fan of the quickie, one-question interview. It fits into the lightning-fast environment of the conference. There are so many people, so many sessions, so many planned (and un-) demonstrations and activities. It would be folly to resist the swirl and flow. Think the most wired you can be. Think Tron.

Our man back-stage at SX says that all the developer sessions will be in the Hilton, the other tracks in the convention center. Thank You, Thank You, O Wondrous W. That helps tremendously. The Austin Convention Center is huge, AND it's neither continuous nor contiguous. You can only get to some of the floors by schlepping to the opposite end. Some escalators blissfully bypass whole floors as if they were on another planet. It's a little like walking through a dozen airports for five days, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. It's easy to miss a 30 minute session when it takes at least that long to walk to the room.

All in all, they handle the massive, high-maintenance, techie crowd pretty well.

Lists about how to prep for SXSWi bloom like mushrooms in a field of cow patties after a rain (that's a GOOD memory, Cowtown Pattie!). Colleen Wainwright at Communicatrix has some great tips, and a fabulous blog. As a matter of fact, I'm working on #2 this weekend--SXSWi-specific business cards. That's what I'm talking about. I have some cards from work, but they don't have my personal info, and my job title has changed. Not suitable for the aforementioned lightning-fast environment. I'm so experimenting with the 2 on-line vendors she recommends.

I'll be searching for more helpful hints to share...

SXSWi list time

This March, several of my colleagues will be learning, networking, interacting with old friends, and generally absorbing emerging information at SXSWinteractive. TechieU. I learn so much in a fairly short, very inexpensive (since I live in Austin), and the whole experience is one gigundidas, intensely brain-stimulating, immersion in the internet and those who are expanding its horizons. This is the place to go problem-solve, find new solutions, "get under the hood," in the vernacular.

So. First things first. What do I need to prepare? Here's a sloppy list:

1. Collect and secure hardware
2. Initiate communications links, especially with my peeps
3. Group blog the shit out of it
4. Groceries: boxed soup, hardy fruits/veggies, h2o bottle, nuts, power bars
5. Conference in a Backpack stuff for work
   
6. Living in the Austin Civic Center for 5 days in a Backpack stuff for me
   
7. Laundry
8. Make sure there's enough cat food for the duration
9. Make sure everyone is once and for all down with the fact that this is a grueling, deeply-focused marathon that will assault all your senses and nerves for what will eventually become an extremely long week, because it goes over the weekend, and it wears me out
   

OK. That's a start. #2 will involve a lot of coordination, to do what I'd like to do: videotape it, blog it, Twitter it, lens it, live interviews--it's like The Matrix. You are totally plugged in. Even if you (personally) aren't. They splash the SXSWi live blog on the big monitors. You see what everyone is commenting simultaneously. They text you updates to the programs, reminders to be at this or that session. You get your own page on the site to keep track of all your stuff. There are hundreds and hundreds of sessions. This is the most concentrated pool of internet biz folks there is.

"Coming to you live, from the Internet Cafe!" Whoa. Totally. Everybody get their friends together and introduce them to folks at work. Wonder if we can carry in camera equipment? Put it on the list...

SXSWi images

Some of the intriguing glass sculptures in the SE stairwell of the Austin Convention Center. Quite a bit more appealing than the institutional drab of the meeting rooms.

Met some great people, including Rhea of The Boomer Chronicles, and Virginia of First 50 Words. Plus a lot of cool, nice, smart techies.

Yes, I was at the PostSecret session with Mr. Warren, and witnessed the young man sharing his secret with the audience--he proposed to his girlfriend on stage, and to his relief, she accepted. A young woman shared her fear about her sister's illness. This was not your typical SXSWi session. "PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard." The art and the revelations compel you to dig deeper.

The only two sessions I could find on elders and technology were "Over Fifty and Not Dead Yet," targeting enterpreneurs who want to know how to market to us geezers and geezettes. I made a little comment at the end of the session, which resulted in an invitation to one of the "Conversations," a new feature this year. "Your Mom 2.0" slanted toward the usability and design techies. Some interesting discussion there.

I was disappointed that these were the only two this year. I suppose we're not that interesting--either that, or the generational gap is deeper than I thought. The obvious answer to that is to propose more sessions on aging and technology. Anyone game to work on such a presentation?

SxSWi on the horizon

The South by Southwest interactive, film, and music conference is just around the corner. Literally. I live only a mile or two from the Austin Convention Center, where it headquarters every year, so it's on my mind year-round. Of course, it spreads out all over town, especially in the case of music.

I learn a lot at interactive, and I love seeing old friends and making new ones. Each year, more and more graymanes come out, which pleases me no end. This year, Rhea of The Boomer Chronicles will be here, and she's already on my schedule.

Darren from Problogger Tips will be here too. I subscribe to his blog as well, and really should get it up on my bloglog.

Glenda Sims, my accessibility guru at UT once again lends her expertise to Web developers and writers. She slipped me the tip that WordPress is 508 compliant, and no offense to Blogger, but I'm considering switching for that very reason.

Are you coming to SXSWi? If so, let me know, we can plan a meet-up!

WiFi and organic butternut squash soup

Sitting on the floor against a wall, recharging my computer, having a container of soup for lunch. Heard a fantastic story from my fellow recharger, guy from Boston named Joshua. At 4:30 this morning he was on Rt. 1 on his way to Logan in the dark, in the rain. Suddenly, looming out of the gloom, he saw a large object in his lane. He slammed on his brakes and swerved to avoid hitting the lumpy pile. As he tried to negotiate around it, he felt a bump, and saw that it was a woman lying prone right in the middle of the lane. Scared him silly. He pulled over, got out, and as he was rushing back to see if he'd killed the woman, a man ran up to him, shouting that it was his wife. He didn't appear too concerned about the fact that Josh might possibly have just run her over.

As they approached the woman, she got up, walked up to the car, and began to urge Josh to give the man a ride, he didn't need to be there, he should leave immediately. Josh was frantic to make sure she was OK, since he was convinced he hit her. The man said that he and the woman were staying in a hotel across the access road, and that they had been fighting. The woman threatened to commit suicide, and ran onto the highway and lay down.

By this time, Josh figured out that they were both high on one or more substances, and called for EMS. The highway patrol arrived, and asked him what his part was in the event. Josh said that other than running over the woman accidentally, he had no connection to the couple whatsoever. He was just concerned about the woman, and that's why he stopped. He stuck around long enough to make sure she was checked out and hadn't sustained any injuries.

The best he could ascertain was that he had, in fact, run over the woman's foot. She was wearing athletic shoes, and he surmised that her foot must have been sideways on the asphalt, and the rubber and steel construction was just sturdy enough to protect her foot when he rolled over it.

As Josh told me his story, I suggested he write it up. He was still reeling from the experience of being a hair from running over and possibly killing a strange woman. He told me I could relate his story; it's been a couple of weeks since I heard it, so Josh, I hope I got it right--and I hope you've recovered.

Day 2, SXSWi

Got a really nice surprise coming out of the first session this morning. I have a new job title! Information Writer II, which means I write about anything and everything.

"Writing, Better" was a panel made up of an "amateur" writer, Greg Storey of Airbag Industries; a "reader," Ethan Marcotte, of unstoppablerobotninja.com; Bronwyn Jones of Apple.com; and Erin Kissane of Happy Cog Studios and editor of A List Apart.

Learned a new term: chillaxed—doncha love it? Normally I'm leery of jargon, but this is such a great word. High points:

Storey—(chillaxed coiner)—"the Internet is a mosh pit," "keep whittling down your style til you find your groove."

Marcotte—"Paradise Lost is the biggest mix tape ever." "Find your rockstars--riff (don't rip) off someone else's life style, like jazz."

Jones—"Talk with, rather than at your readers—write in conversational style." "Write in e-mail!" "Keep your voice with you no matter the medium."

Kissane—"Know your audience, who you're writing for." "Focus, structure, clarity= plan, outline, write, revise."

Consensus advice: Don't let anything stop you from writing.

Interacting at SXSWi

Day one at SXSWi went fairly quickly. The registration process is as organized as it gets, I guess. At least this year they used badge photos from last year, so that shortened the time spent in huge lines. Met some nice gentlemen from Nova Scotia. They were duly impressed with our ephemeral good weather; they came from frigid cold to mid-80's or so. They were entranced by Austin, and said they'd try to get out as much as they can.

Heard Evan Smith, Texas Monthly editor, list his five things you have to do while you're in Austin for SXSWi. One of them was to get out and walk, especially at Wild Basin. Good idea. Texas has three seasons: ice cold or boiling hot, bookended by 1-2 weeks of primo conditions: dry, nice cumulous clouds, warm air, but with the ground still a bit chilly from winter on one end, and the same on the other, except the air is cooler and the ground is baked.

We are in drought, as usual, and I'm heartbroken that we probably won't have a good bluebonnet display this year. We need winter rain for them to prosper, and most of our precip was ice. Not to say one of the 4 weather systems that seem to battle over Texas at any given time might not bring a little moisture. Cloud tears, I heard someone say. "The Little White Cloud that Cried." One of my favorite tunes from childhood.

SXSWi, anyone?

South by Southwest interactive is drawing near...

The university has requisitioned a gold pass (interactive and film) for our group, and the anticipation is mounting. Austin transforms from a fairly sleepy college town into a beehive of activity during SXSW. We don't get passes for the music portion, but I don't care. I had a grand time last year, and met lots of brilliant, friendly people, and learned oodles about what's happening on the WWW.

I'm looking forward with great excitement to connect with folks I met last year, and meet new friends. And of course learn lots of new tricks.

Are you planning to attend SXSWi this year? Get in touch with me by commenting on this post, and I'll try to arrange a meet-up.

I know Liz Henry will be here, she's leading some sessions. And of course the ubiquitous Bruce Sterling. Dan Rather will give one of the keynote addresses, and His Wakiness, Ze Frank will be in attendance. The Sims daddy is scheduled, and more Web gurus than you can shake a stick at. And it's OK to end a sentence with a preposition. I said so.

The BlogHer ladies are coming, I hope we have a gathering at some point. I'd love to meet Ronni Bennett, and some of the silverback women bloggers. The boomers are hitching up to the 'net, and my new friend from the Boomer Chronicles may grace Austin with her presence.

This has been a phenomenal year of networking and meeting visionary bloggers and communicators. It has certainly enriched my life, and I've only scratched the surface. To think SXSW is growing annually is mind-blowing. As long as I can live in Austin, I plan to attend this event, if I don't do anything else.

One teeny problem is that I have a March 15 deadline for a fairly hefty, in-depth article about the tenth anniversary of our division's Innovative Instructional Technology Awards Program (IITAP) that's presently eating my lunch. The program awards cash prizes to faculty who have developed instructional tech for their classes, and so much is going on at UT that I'm totally inundated with history and descriptions of brilliant Web applications for the classroom. It's totally cool, I'm just a little worried about delivering on time, there's so much to include.

I have a pretty good angle, but the volume of interviews, notes, and putting the pieces together is taking all my time and effort. Would that I had an assistant to take care of the more pedantic chores--scheduling interviews, transcribing notes, doing laundry and dishes.... I need a housewife or househusband!!

This is going to be a dynamo month. A concert on March 31, SXSWi, the article deadline, and a couple of professional development classes just for openers. Then there's the Zona Rosa writers group, side editing gigs, not to mention my day gig--I'll be lucky to get to April in one piece. And I desperately want to visit my daughter in Boston and meet the Boomer Chronicler.

So if you're heading to Austin for SXSWi, let me know--let's get together!

South by Southwest Interactive

Starting to get a buzz on for this year's SXSWi. Dan Rather is speaking, as is the Sims creator. Saw a fabbo demonstration of Second Life in UT's island. Our group is exploring the implications for classroom IT, and so far, it looks good, even though it takes a lot of real time and bandwidth. It's a good thing I don't have the money to subscribe, or I'd spend waaay too much time there.

SXSWi excitement is building, it's less than a month away. Last year was a revelation. So many creative folks, so much creative activity. I learned much more than I expected. It will be fun to be with folks I met last year, find out what's new, share loads of information, and enjoy each other's company. I'm looking forward to it, even though it's exhausting.

In researching emerging technologies, I've come across thousands of sites on writing, blogging, aging, and other things I'm interested in, at work and at play. Perhaps I'll put them in lists in case anyone is interested. I know about del.ici.ous, et al, but I'd rather mess around in my blog than go to another site. I'm grateful to have so many enjoyable and challenging activities going on in my life, and don't want to give any of them up. Sometimes that means neglecting one thing or another, usually laundry.