Speakers in the News »

3/17/06
JEFFREY ZELDMAN

Jeffrey Zeldman

SXSW is flattered to have received some very nice accolades about the 2006 event. While it is always nice to be the object of praise, we understand that these compliments are merely a reflection of the incredible creativity of the online community which comes together in Austin every spring. As Jeffrey Zeldman says in his post-event write-up, "The fun at SXSW Interactive is people. Every year there are more of them, from more places around the world. From Sydney and Stockholm and Tokyo they come, as well as from Denver and Dallas. Each year you ask yourself how much bigger SXSW can get before it starts to suck. Yet each year as it gets bigger it gets better. This is, of course, a good time to be of the web, and so a special energy buzzes the halls and spills from the stages. The people provide the kick, the buzz, the juice, but the panels and keynotes aren’t half bad either." Zeldman spoke on two panels at this year's event: "How to Roll Your Own Web Conference" and "Does Your Business Have a Blog." He was also part of the Web Standards Project (WASP) Annual Meeting that occurred during SXSW Interactive.

11:03am CST | +

3/16/06
ROBERT SCOBLE

The recent announcement from Dave Winer that he plans to retire from blogging has inspired similar thoughts amongst other prominent personal publishers. Read the musings of Robert Scoble (pictured above), in a recent entry on Scoblizer: "I totally understand why Dave would want to walk away. I’m staring at hundreds of emails and just don’t want to deal with my inbox right now. I’m gonna take the rest of the day off and hang out at SXSW. My sessions are over and now I just have to catch up with the email. I totally understand why Dave wants to take off from his blog. The pressure is just incredible to do more, more, more. Who made me a gatekeeper? I don’t want that job. Don’t send me more email pitches please. Don’t beg for me to try out your software. Don’t wait for me to blog about your company or your team or your product or you. That’s what comments here are for. You have direct access to anyone who is reading this post. Pitch in the comments! If your stuff is good, someone will try it out and say so. Maybe even me." Scoble participated on the "Remixing Business for a Convergent World" panel at the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival.

10:19am CST | +

3/15/06
DAVE KELLETT

Reading through the coverage of the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival provides some interesting insights, particularly as old media uncovers the possibilities inherent in the new media revolution. Consider, for instance, this post by Houston Chronicle online reporter Eyder Peralta, "I had lunch with Bill Barnes and Dave Kellett. They're both online comic strip artists. Bill's comic centers in a library. He said when he goes to librarian conventions all the ladies go WILD for him. Anyway, both these guys have amazing reach online. Bill alone says he gets about 30,000 people visiting his site every day and while he could have half a million readers at a paper like the Chronicle alone, it's not worth it, he says, because, like the mixtape circuit artists in Houston point out, when you're the producer and distributor of your own content you get to keep a way bigger chunk of the profit. It costs Bill 2 bucks to print his book and he sells it for $14.95. It brought us to a very interesting conclusion: Everyone is saying big corps are killing artistry and that being an artist these days is to be censored by the man. Not true. Right now, if you want to produce go ahead and do it. Granted, many don't have broadband access or a 7200 rpm hard drive, but these things are becoming more and more pervasive..." Barnes and Kellet (pictured above) were both part of the "How to Blog for Money by Learning From Comics" panel at this year's event.