This is ALL subject to change (hey, I’m a 21st Century woman, what can I say?) but so far, this is what I’m planning on attending at SXSW Interactive 2008:

10:00 am – 11:00 am: Quit Your Day Job and Vlog

This is a panel discussion by those who have done just that: stopped working the 9 to 5 and started video blogging. They’re supposed to talk about how they got started, what sort of equipment they use, and the types of online video jobs available now. I’m kind of stoked about this panel, because I’ve been considering putting my columns (Hedonism 101) online in a video-log format for awhile. Should be cool!

11:30 am – 12:30 pm: This one’s a toss-up, and I’ll probably end up going to two- The Suxorz: The Worst Ten Social Media Ad Campaigns of 2007 and The Weird Turn Pro: Crowdsourcing For Creatives

The first one just sounds like a fun panel to sit through. I have a secret love for advertising (I know… hsss, booo say the Print majors) and with the explosion of Web 2.0 lingo and ideas, there was certainly a lot of new ads in 2007. Some of those sucked. Some of those sucky ones deserve to be made fun of and learned from. Plus, Jeff Jarvis (of Buzzmachine) is sitting on the panel. I saw him last year at the Online Journalism Symposium at UT, and he said some pretty far out things (dismantle the newsroom? what?!). Here’s hoping he does it again.

The second is a bit of an interest for me due to the social media aspects. How is it that MySpace and Facebook owners are making tons of money off of basically just a platform for users to create content? It’s like opening an art gallery, letting anyone come in and paint something, and then selling the painting, without a dime given to the citizen. Okay, it’s not exactly like that, but maybe my confusion will be explained away in this panel, hosted by Derek Powazek (of Pixish).

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm: This is when I will try and find free food and look all awesome and stuff with my badge and bag o’ crap. I will likely text Andrew (who is an intern for SXSW) to see about fun parties that night.

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm: Online Extremism – And the Muslims Who Fight It

This has looked like an AWESOME panel ever since I saw the subject listed when SXSW first put out their list of subjects. A group of bloggers and experts are getting together to discuss how some of the Muslim world is using the Internet to express and spread extremism, how that effects other Muslims, what the US law enforcement has to say about that, etc… Should be a hot topic.

3:30 pm – 4:30 pm: I have two to go see here: Core Conversation: Sexual Ethics, Interactivity and Virtual Worlds and Core Conversation: Adult Conversations: Sex, Intimacy & Online Relationships

I know these two sound alike, and I meant to do that. As a sex and relationship advice columnist, I’m also interested in how the Internet is helping (or hindering) the shape and content of a relationship. Is it possible to fall in love online? In earlier years, when the Internet was largely text based, it would have been easier to say no. But now, with photos and videos and avatars, that might be changing. Both of these panels will talk about health and safety online, too.

5:00 pm – 6:00 pm: Social Network Coups: The Users are Revolting!

This panel goes along with my interest in social media. Panelists are supposed to discuss how users stage a coup to get what they want from their social network providers. Considering that I don’t think users quite KNOW what they want all the time, this should be interesting.

Okay, so that’s basically it. I plan on schmoozing and blogging and photographing my way through one day of SXSW; from dawn till dusk. And then some.
Anna Tauzin