I’m a SXSW newbie — and I can’t wait to go this year! I only get to attend one day though. But, I am really excited about that one day! I have become more and more excited and interested in tech thanks to Cindy’s class. She’s brought out my “inner nerd” and for that, I’m very thankful! I know that after SXSW is over, I’ll 

I’ll be attending the panels on Tuesday, March, 17. I plan to attend The State of Internet Memescape: 2008-10, Digital Tsunami: Breaking News at Breakneck Speeds, and Designing Change in America.

Tim Hwang of ROLFCon is the panelist for The State of Internet Memescape. His talk will look at the current trends of Internet culture and where it’s going next. I’m really excited about this one because there are so many memes like JibJab and Lolcats that crack me up! I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the future!

The next panel, Breaking News at Breakneck Speeds, caught my attention because I am a news junkie. The blurb on the SXSW Web site mentions that the news about the earthquakes in China last summer, broke on Twitter. This group, which includes Peter Imbres, Andy Carven, Alex De Carvalho and Scott Monty, will discuss issues about how forms of social media, like Twitter, are affecting crisis. I think this will be very interesting. I can’t wait to hear what they have to say.

Finally, I’ll go to Designing Change in America. Politics is another passion of mine. I look forward to hearing how the Obama “brand” was created during the Presidential election…and how it evolved. I always like hearing about how things start out and how we got to the final product. Given the hectic, fast-paced nature of politics, I’ll be interested to hear how it all came together. John Slabyk, the Art Director of Obama for America will be a panelist along with Scott Thomas of SimpleScott.

I’m also looking forward to other activities at SX like Screenburn and Accelerator…it’s going to be great!