Trends in the tech world this spring — or a conference curator’s guide to SXSWi 2016
AI, VR and big data. Of course. The big three the past years. But, more interestingly also food, ethics and online harassment.
SXSW is around the corner and I decided to use their program to (1) look for trends, (2) benchmark ideas for The Conference 2016 and (3) write a trend report that is actually recommendations of session not to miss at the Interactive part of SXSW. Voilá. Enjoy.
A step by step guide to SXSW Interactive 2016
Friday, March 11
How to gain and retain trust has always been a big interest of mine, so starting off SXSW with “Trust Me, I’m an Algorithm” should be a nice twist, or why not dig deep into the behavior (or rather behaviors) of the youth in “Fluidity and Honesty: Gen Z and Identity in 2025” on the same hour. After a lunch break at Jo’s I’d be in the mood for “Creating an Agricultural Oasis in an Urban Setting” featuring Caleb Harper (MIT CityFARM) who I would love to have at The Conference.
Saturday, March 12
To start off day 2 there’s an opportunity to learn about conversational UI, one of the biggest trends in interaction design right now: “Get the Message! The Rise of Conversational UI”. From there I would head to one of the big stages to listen to author Douglas Rushkoff (yep, been trying to get him to talk at The Conference for the past 4 years) talk about “Distributed: A New OS for the Digital Economy”. I can’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than tinkering about online harassment, first in “Bullying, Today’s Youth and the Internet” and then “Level Up: Overcoming Harassment in Games”, featuring Katherine Cross who gave one of my favorite talks at The Conference 2015 and Caroline Sinders who will speak this year.
Sunday, March 13
Ethics is a topic that I see pop up as a key aspect in many different context (yay!). So, with that in mind I would start Sunday with feeding my curiosity about wether WTE is an acronym I should start using in “What the Ethics? Ethics of Data Decision Making”. After that make an exception to my ban on panels because the awesome Kate Crawford is in “Data Ethics in the Age of the Quantified Society” (if you’re a more orthodox panel banner that I am you should go to ”Wikipedia: Beyond the Encyclopedia” instead). In our work to make The Conference a state of the art experience we often look to the museum world for inspiration, ”Tomorrow’s Museum: Designing Engaging Experiences” should be great for anybody that is interested in figuring out how to be relevant for an audience (at the same time there’s a panel featuring one of the smartest persons I know, Björn Jeffery in ”Screen Time Real Talk”). To finish the day I would attend “Finding a Job in an Automated Future” only to listen to Dennis Mortensen of super hyped x.ai.
Monday, March 14
By Monday you will know everything about information overload, “Less Is More: Curated Consumption” should help you think about how to counter it. After that I would either go listen to star designer John Maeda in “Design in Tech Report” or listen to MAD’s (Noma) head of R&D Arielle Johnson in ”Food Rediscovery: Science, Culture, Convergence” at the beautiful Driskill hotel. “Ultimate Empathy Machine: 360 Storytelling in VR” should be fun. Despite a boring clickbaity title, “12 Inevitable Tech Forces That Will Shape Our Future”, I would definitely never miss a chance to listen to Kevin Kelly.
Tuesday, March 15
Last day. Piew. Sleep in and start the day at 11 with “Autonomous Vehicles and the American City” (featuring loyal The Conference participant Colin Nagy). Then, finally, time to put yourself in that wonderful exciting space between art and technology: “Linking Art and Science Through Technology”. After that go get some sun and reflect on life before heading to “The “Dispensables”: Automation, Humans and Brands” featuring Tim Leberecht who gave one of the most appreciated talks at The Conference 2015. Finish SXSWi 2016 off like the curators want you to by listening to a sci-fi writer in “Closing Remarks: Bruce Sterling”.
All sessions in one place, plus some extra.
Extras
Bonus 1: Workshops are a great way to get your head working and meet new people. Here’s are some that struck me as interesting (don’t forget to RSVP):
- “Analog 2.0 — Interactive enhancement of life” by ustwo
- “Our Future Selves” by Topp
- “Music Collaboration: How do we tell stories with music?”
- ”Dirt, Drones and Data: The Future of Farming”
- “Prototyping Democracy: Better Collaboration Design”
- “Improv(e) Your Ethics: Roleplay Decision Making”
Bonus 2: Here are some fun happenings to look out for: ”IBM Cognitive Studio” (featuring Watson), The Spotify House (featuring music), Swedish Affair at Nordic Light House (featuring Swedes, what can go wrong)
Bonus 3: My three general recommendations for a good SXSW experience:
- Avoid sessions with more than two speakers (there’s a lot of panels with five speakers = max 10 min per person, and there’s always one you wanted to hear a talk a full hour, annoying)
- Make a plan and don’t stick to it (my best SXSW experiences has come from opportunities taken on the fly)
- Take time off (go have a coffee and reflect on what you’ve heard and seen).
Bonus 4: A foursquare list with Austin restaurants, coffee places and some shops.
How it all relates back
If you attend any of these sessions please let me know if the speakers are The Conference worthy. Thanks.
Oh, as for The Conference 2016, here are the topics we’re working on. Please let me know if you stumble on persons that could bring something to the table. -> “Youth culture that will become mainstream behavior”, ”Slow as business strategy”, ”Migration/boarders”, ”AI in services”, ”New school”, ”Future of food”, ”Robotics for good”, ”The city as powerhouse and tech platform”, ”Company for good”, ”Extremist communication”, ”New economy”, ”Data informed decision making”, “Financing common good / public services / orgz in between”, “Craftmanship/handmade”
