The SXSW Panel Picker is a brilliant idea. Not only does it provide a partially democratic process for panel selection, but it is an opportunity to get the community excited about potential programming, months in advance of the event. I spent a few hours this morning, shifting through the > 2300 proposals (and that’s just for Interactive), and came up with a few gems, based on my years of attending SXSW, that I’d like to see make it into the program come March.

Music

First off, this year, I decided to go with proposing a music-related panel, combining my love of music and tech. I also really enjoyed the cross-over programming the Interactive sponsored on the last day during the 2010 festival. There are 15 panels submitted to the Interactive in the Music category, and here are some of the most interesting that I feel with push the envelope of tech and music:

Love, Music and APIs, Dave Haynes of SoundCloud – “Using open APIs, developers are creating new apps that change how people explore, discover, create and interact with music…We’ll describe some of the novel APIs that are making this happen and what sort of building blocks are being put into place from a variety of different sources. We’ll demonstrate how companies within this ecosystem are working closely together in a spirit of co-operation.”

We Built This App on Rock ‘N’ Roll: Style Matters, Hannah Donovan, last.fm – “Music has always been analogous with visual culture. So what happens when you overlay this complex fabric of cultural values and personal identities on what is already a thorny process: building and launching a music app… learn how to increase engagement with your music app through an active and inquisitive approach to visuals.”

The Role of Digital Media in International Collaboration, Troy Campbell, House of Songs, LLC – this was listed under Digital Distribution, but it is also music related. “The House has been operating since September 2009 and has provided the foundation for creative collaboration between some of the strongest Austin and Scandinavian songwriters. Through these experiences, the participating songwriters have created numerous potential relationships and have attained unique experiences benefiting their musical careers.”

And a shameless plug for my own, which is in conjunction with the location-based social network Gowalla. Your comments and votes are appreciated.

Rockin’ the Check-in: Location Strategies for Musicians, Cindy Royal, Texas State U. and Jonathan Carroll, Gowalla – “Certain bands have always had fans that followed them from city to city, meeting other fans, sharing music and stories. New social media tools, like the location-based social networks can be used as platforms for rewarding fans for desired behaviors. Musicians can engage these services by encouraging fans to check-in at shows, offering rewards for multiple check-ins on a tour, providing a space for fans to aggregate photos and videos, and offering a way for fans to develop their own interactions, like organizing meet-ups and creating trips.”

Journalism

The next most likely category for me to consider is Journalism, as I teach the subject and have an intense interest in the future of the news industry. Lately, I have been focusing on the relationship of data, programming and journalism which was originally fostered by my annual SXSW participation. Here are some of the most interesting panels in this regard:

Pulitzer 2.0: Building News Apps, Tyson Evans, NY Times – Tyson, along with Pulitzer winner Matt Waite, participated on my core conversation, Influence and Innovate: Transforming Media Education, last year. “A look at the emerging startup culture in newsrooms new and old, big and small, as they embrace software frameworks such as Ruby on Rails and Django to tackle serious, long-term investigations, track major events and increase government accountability.”

The Impact of Social Media Tools in Mexico, Amy Schmitz-Weiss, San Diego State University – Amy’s a great friend and a respected scholar in this area. This proposal fits right in with SXSW’s call for proposals related to Latin America & Mexico. “This panel features journalists from Mexico who will discuss how they use social media tools in their news organizations on a daily basis. In addition, they will discuss how Mexican citizens are using Twitter as a way to respond the lack of information in the newspapers that are under threat of drug traffickers.”

Hacking the News: Applying Computer Science to Journalism, Burt Herman, Hacks/Hackers – This proposal gets right to the heart of the issue, integrating journalism and technology. I will be developing a Hacks/Hackers chapter in Austin. “Applying lessons from computer science can help make journalism more scalable, flexible and personalized. This panel will discuss developments such as object-oriented programming, model-view controller frameworks, database-driven Web applications and social code repositories — and explore how these principles can be applied to journalism and create the future of storytelling.”

Yes, It’s Quiz Time: News as Infotainment, Evan Smith, Texas Tribune – News as user experience is an area on which I have been focusing, and what’s a more engaging experience than a game. Make news fun. “Comedy shows and interactive quizzes have become popular ways to consume journalism today. This session will address the successes and limits of providing serious news in entertaining ways.”

Why Journalism Doesn’t Need Saving: An Optimist’s List, Dan Gillmor, Arizona State University – Author Dan Gillmor takes a different approach to the future of news – a more refreshing one. “But there are many more reasons for optimism than pessimism. innovators are transforming the methods of journalism and community information, with new experiments showing up almost every day.”

Geolocation

Since my panel also deals with this, I plucked out a few good ones in this category.

Beyond the Check-In: Location and the Social Web, Josh Williams, Gowalla – “”Josh Williams, co-founder and CEO of Austin-based Gowalla, will detail why he and his team have been looking beyond the concept of simply checking in at locations — and how people’s interest in sharing where they are and what they’re doing with friends, family, and the public-at-large is a stepping stone on the path to how people will continue to communicate and express themselves.”

Make Your Event Pop with Location Based Services, Christina Coster, CRC Productions – “This panel will delve into the different types of social media services that individuals and businesses planning events can rely on. We will show you how you can embrace and engage your audience leading up to the event by seeding information in these mobile networks as well as pulling out the metrics and analytics after the event.”

Converting Checkin’s to Cash: Why Location Marketing Matters, Simon Salt, Incslingers – “Social Location Marketing is the latest in a long line of Social Media “shiny new objects” but is it really relevant to marketers? Can they convert Checkin’s to cash? Which platforms work best for which markets and how does all this sharing benefit the customer? Attendees will leave knowing why they should be including this in their marketing mix, how to construct a scalable Social Location Marketing campaign and where all this is likely to go next.”

Some Panels to Stretch my Tech Knowledge

Each year, I try to pick some panels to take me out of my comfort zone, that introduce me to new concepts, both skills and ideas, that I am sure will be beneficial to my students. Here are a few of the directions I am leaning:

Beyond Wordclouds: Analyzing Trends with Social Media APIs, Chris Busse, Fahrenheit Emerging Media – “This presentation will demonstrate how to programmatically access the APIs of several social media platforms to pull out specific data, store it in a database, and perform custom analysis on it to meet the needs of various business cases. We’ll take a look at how different social media platforms are better suited for gleaning different kinds of data.”

Javascript Breakdown for Designers, Jen Strickland, Ink Pixels Paper – “JavaScript Breakdown for Designers will provide a clear explanation of the DOM, unobtrusive JavaScript that is accessible, flexible, and readily styled using CSS, and provide a path to compelling interaction, providing user feedback, & validating client-side form inputs. An understanding of JavaScript allows the designer to to call upon the power of libraries like jQuery and Dojo to do the JavaScript heavy lifting on browser variations.”

HTML5 & CSS3: The Good Enough Parts, Estelle Weyl, Standardista – “In this practical presentation you will learn what features are implementable and how to implement them. We’ll learn about practical CSS3 selectors that enable targeting of almost any element on the page (in your CSS, or in your JavaScript libraries like jQuery), HTML5 web form elements that enable form validation without the use of JavaScript along with other new to HTML5 elements.”

The Politics Behind HTML5, Charles McCathieNevile, Opera Software – “On this panel, the people who have been there take you on a guided tour of the (smoky backroom) discussions and deals that shape HTML5, and looks at what is happening now. Where did HTML5 come from? Who were the players, who are the players, and what do they think? Why is X3D not in HTML5 if MathML is? What happened to accesskey, and why are people unhappy? Why does HTML5 have two licenses, and two specs?”

Exploring the Twitter APIs, Matt Harris, Twitter – “This panel will cover the recently released and popular features of the Twitter API and explore creative ways they have been used. We’ll discuss the developments over the past year and what you can expect from the API team in the future.”

API Madness: Data, Data Everywhere, Kevin Lingerfelt, Scout Labs – “As a web service provider, learn more about web frameworks like Django and Rails that facilitate such architectures, and explore the advantages and disadvantages of opening your data up to the Web at large (and how to protect yourself). Conversely, as a consumer of such data, learn about the wealth of APIs that already exist and the many creative ways that they are being used to enrich sites across the Web.”

Education

Since that’s what I do, it’s nice to see lots of great panels around education-related topics.

Girl Developers++: Getting Women Equipped to Ship, Sara Chipps, Girl Developer LLC – “Creating a tangible application for the first time is a giant leap towards the confidence it takes to follow a career in programming. In this discussion, we’ll outline existing efforts and dive into a discussion on what more can be done now to get more women coding away.”

Ivory Tower Defense: Why Academic Tech Research Matters, Alice Marwick, NYU – “Most academics don’t talk to technologists, and most technologists never read academic work. There’s a cultural disconnect that makes it extremely difficult for the two to meet. And while both spheres are doing fascinating research with potentially explosive impacts, they rarely, if ever, overlap.”

Six Ways Social Media Can Invigorate Journalism Education, Jeremy Littau, Lehigh University – “The approach our panel takes is concepts over specific platforms. Students learn about the value of information overlaid on place, not merely about Gowalla. They learn about how to build an audience of relevant followers and then interact with them to build better news stories, not only about Twitter.”

Advertising

I don’t always flock to the Advertising panels, but this one that integrated advertising and interactive storytelling looking very interesting:

From Storytelling to Technology and Back Again, Barry Wacksman, RG/A – “So how do we marry great storytelling with technological innovations? The creation of utility-driven platforms has both the power to seamlessly integrate into a person’s life and provide tools to enhance it. However, finding the perfect balance between technology and storytelling is a challenge.”

Texas State Alumni Propose Panels

We are always very proud when our students and alumni become active with SXSW. This list shows the breadth of experience and interest areas of our alumni. Please give some of these panels your consideration.

The Ladies Have It: Women Make Better Journalists, Anna Tauzin, J-Lab – “This provocative panel will address why traditionally feminine characteristics are best suited for journalism.”

Landing Your Next Job Through Unconventional Personal Branding, Maira Garcia, who just announced her new position as a Web editor at Austin American-Statesman, and Anna Tauzin, J-Lab – “Using the web to market yourself through personal branding is a well-known idea, but how do you rise above the rest and get an edge on the job market? This panel will discuss trends, tried and true methods, and provide expert opinion on making the most of your job search.”

Too Small, Too Open: Correcting Wikipedia’s Local Failure, Michael Trice, University of Leeds, Centre for Digital Citizenship – “What happens when Wikipedia isn’t big enough? This is a key question for those developing closed community spaces. Wikipedia came onto the scene promising to offer a repository for all knowledge, but it turned into the world’s best encyclopaedia—absolutely nothing more, nothing less. A remarkable achievement it is, but one that never managed to store local knowledge with the same reverence as general, global knowledge. This panel will explore how developers are trying to address these limitations by building a different kind of collaborative environment.”

Getting Advanced with Social Media for Social Good, Jordan Viator, Convio – “Online supporters are working to save the world one Tweet at a time. But how can nonprofit and philanthropic causes take their efforts to the next level and stand out from the crowd to increase the success of social campaigns? Hear from technologists and nonprofits on how to define and implement the ideal strategy and get advanced with metrics to make social a key component of online fundraising and advocacy campaigns.”

So, that’s my dream SXSWi in a nutshell. No, I didn’t read all 2344 proposals, but I did try to select those that I found the most interesting or intriguing, hosted by the most qualified people. If you have other ideas or your own picks, please feel free to leave a comment.

Looking forward, as I do every year, to another great event!

Update 8/28:

I scoured the music and film panels and found a few that go in interesting directions:

Music

Data

Data! Great, but what to do with it? -  Market data is key for (i) major labels to regain competitiveness; (ii) indie labels to compete head-on with major labels; and (iii) bands and their managers to go straight to market and become successful. Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, MySpace and other data emerged and is collected.  Key is to “own” the fan via an integrated platform and no data analytics business can do that unless they integrate with artist platforms.

How Can Data Help Build My Career? - Data and it’s offspring, analytics, is both a simple and and complex tool, and one of many in the box, that can and should be used for successful artist and career development. Measuring the results of actions and events that take place on behalf of an artist to drive awareness, engagement and revenue provides the quantitative intelligence to inform future decision making.

Social – especially fan-focused

How technology is changing the live music experience – YouTube – Ever watch a live concert in London from your phone on the beach in Los Angeles? This seemed crazy ten years ago, but today it’s possible. Livestreaming and other instant technologies are suddenly making local shows global — letting fans experience the music from home and even interact with other fans on the ground, in real-time.

Separate But Not Equal: Why Superfans Matter More – Whether you’re Nordstrom or Jimmy Buffet, both have learned to pamper those customers/fans who plunk down their credit card more frequently. There are many good reasons why the best of the best, from major retailers to major superstars, have mastered the art of targeting their core consumers. As an artist, understanding and executing on this principle could make the difference when it comes to you making a living with your music.

Authentic Fan Management with the 3-C’s – We’ve all heard about D2F (Direct To Fan) marketing, social networking and promotional guerrilla tactics – but what about the artist’s relationship with their fans? This panel highlights the questions surrounding how to authentically Captivate, Cultivate and Communicate. Fans don’t buy what you do; they buy the connection they feel with you and your creation.

How You Can Survive Giving Away Your Music - It’s inevitable – but, as an artist, if you aren’t planning on giving away at least some of your music for free, chances are you not only missing out on new fans, but you are risking irrelevancy. Learn how “struggling” musicians are making ends meet by giving away their music for free. Learn specific techniques and tools that other musicians have been successful with in this new “freemium”-based economy.

How Mobile Creates Communal Experiences at Live Concerts – The mobile phone is revolutionary in how fans can interact with the artist and each other at live concerts. By incorporating experiences allowing people to connect and relate to each other, artists can create a stronger fan community as part of the live show. Your phone is often the last thing you hold before going to bed and the first thing you pick up after waking up, and it’s ready to transform the live show.

App for That: Using Mobile to Engage Fans – With the right strategy, artists can use mobile phones to engage fans in their music, the issues they care about, and fans’ own local communities. We’ll present findings from a year-long research project on effective artist apps, drawing on case studies where we tested assumptions and figured out what works. Designed to help artists and managers think through their own apps, the session will provide guidelines for thinking through goals, tech specifications, and implementation.

Finding Superfans – A small number of vocal, dedicated, fans can positively influence the career of an artists more than thousands of casual listeners. How can artists cultivate intense dedication from their fans? Topics discussed will include the two way street of communicating via social media and fan rewards.

Super Fans as a Marketing Force Amplifier - You’ve got a free, engaged, and mobile workforce at your finger tips, so what are you waiting for? This panel will remind musician’s that affinity is a greater motivator than money, and provide several examples of how artists can be empowering their Super Fans to help generate more revenue and source new fans.

Other generally music cool ideas

Women in the Recording Studio – Meet the women behind the mixing boards on some of today’s biggest hits! Grammy winners and music industry veterans will talk about their experiences in the studio, dispense valuable advice about working with engineers and producers, and share tips for making it as a successful recording artist.

Fair Use Cage Match – Copyright practitioners and professors square off over what qualifies as a fair use of copyright protected works. The panelists will analyze uses across mediums and platforms to flesh out parameters for the fair use analysis. There will be, without a doubt, a healthy debate as reasonable minds can disagree. Attendees will leave with an understanding of the current state of the law regarding fair use, and a better perspective over the complex issues related to fair use.

And a few Film panels

iPhone and Place-based Filmmaking: Geocoding to Augmented Reality It’s easy to incorporate your iPhone’s location technologies and geo-apps into your film making and distribution process…if somebody shows you how. From basic geo-coding to augmented reality layars [sic], place makes media more personal, interactive, connected, relevant, and fun. This workshop explores the intersection of place, film making, and emerging technologies.

Cheap shots! Cinematography for DSLRs and the iPhone – Once upon a time, if you wanted to make a film, you had to use…film. Then came MiniDV, pro HD, and digital cinema. All had the the goal of creating that elusive “film look.” And now, you can suddenly create amazing-looking footage with hybrid DSLR cameras, HD cameras that use still lenses, and yes, even the camera on your new Android or iPhone.

I’ve had a tech blog at cindytech.wordpress.com for a little more than 2 years. A few months ago, I decided to get a souped-up domain with Bluehost at cindyroyal.net to practice some things like Ruby on Rails. It also gave me the opportunity to play around with a self-hosted Wordpress installation, so that is how I spent my day – transitioning my tech blog from the Wordpress-hosted site to this site tech.cindyroyal.net. It wasn’t too difficult, but I did have to spend a good deal of time adjusting things like embedded videos and Sideshare presentations, and there are still one or two things I am trying to figure out.

To get my content from the old blog, Wordpress provides an Export feature under Tools that creates an xml file for you to save to your computer. Bluehost made it very easy to start the new blog. It was basically a one-button Install. I had already setup the subdomain of tech.cindyroyal.net via the Bluehost control panel, and I selected that as my host during the installation. Once the blog was setup on my server, I could then import the xml file I created from the old blog. This didn’t take very much time at all, just a few minutes.

Most items came over just fine. I spent a little time searching for a new template. When you host your own installation, you can really upload any Wordpress template on the Web, and there are some good ones. I will probably continue to tweak, but I settled on one called Vesper, a two-column, fixed width layout that I could customize.

And that is the beauty of hosting your own Wordpress install. With the old site, I paid $15/year to have access to the CSS. But I couldn’t change anything else, any of the templates. With your own installation, you can change any of the files associated with the site. Do so with care, though. It can be tricky, and you could screw things up pretty badly. I found it a good idea to keep copies of original files, and any time I uploaded something, I renamed the original with _old at the end. This is a great way to really understand the inner-workings of the blog.

After I got the template installed, of course, there were some tweaks. I changed the background image (you can ftp to the server and download/upload any of the images or files), most of the colors, and some of the sizing of the layout. That basically takes some patience in figuring out exactly which files control each of these things.

Some of the more difficult tweaks took a bit of time. I had to figure out why the home page wasn’t showing any embedded content, and I was able to fix that by including <object> and <embed> in a list of acceptable tags for the home page in the wp-loop.php file. That file also allowed me to put the entire content of a post on the home page, rather than an excerpt. There was a function in which I changed the number of words (default was 100) to -1 which indicates all the content.

The most time consuming thing was changing the way files were embedded. I had YouTube, Slideshare, Picasa and Slide embeds on the site – there were embeds all over the place. When you do your own installation, you can use the standard embed code. When you use a Wordpress hosted site, you have to do some tricks to get it to work. The tricks don’t convert. But, it was nice revisiting some of my content from over the past two years.

There is one thing I am still trying to figure out. This template doesn’t have an Older Posts link at the bottom of the page. The user has to go to the Archives, and the archives only show the maximum number of posts allowed per page. I’m working on that one.

I’ll still continue to tweak the design, might even go with a whole different template to start later. But I feel a pretty good sense of accomplishment and a better understanding of what this entails. I am hesitant to embark on this for the SXTXState.com blog, because there were were numerous posts and so many embeds. I’ll have to think about that one for a bit. But otherwise, I am excited to continue to explore what I can do with my own Wordpress installation, new plug-ins and features.

When you’re an academic, you are expected to publish. The phrase most associated is “publish or perish” which basically means, get something in as many publications as possible, and you can keep your job. The first step to publication is often presentation at national or international conferences, one of the most important being the Association for Education in  Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).

This year, I submitted my paper “The Journalist as Programmer: A Case Study of The New York Times Interactive News Technology Department” to AEJMC. As always, the division to which I submitted it (Communication Technology) was highly competitive. I was not completely caught off guard when I received a rejection, it wasn’t the first time. And, my method, a case study of an individual news organization, was not like the standard survey or content analyses that seem to be a slam dunk at these events. But, when I looked at the reviews, I was surprised to see that I had gotten fairly decent ratings and one substantial comment, the reason for which I am writing this post.

First, the paper. Here’s the abstract:

Modern news organizations are using a variety of technologies to assist in telling stories in ways that increasingly combine media, data and user engagement. The New York Times is one of the most progressive of these organizations in developing online, data-driven interactive news presentations. An in-depth case study of the practices of the New York Times Interactive News Technology department provides insight into the future of Web journalism and suggests some guidelines for other organizations in developing this competency.

See below for link to full paper.

The paper dealt with a visit I made to NYC to learn more about a group of people being described as programmer/journalists. I find their work in data-driven interactives to be inspiring, indicating a new trend in journalism, storytelling with data that relies on user engagement. I wanted to understand the people and the processes of the department, so I could report on it and bring some of these techniques into the classroom. I was quite pleased to have the opportunity to meet with such a smart and talented group of people.

Now, for the reviews, to which I received two. These are blind, peer-reviewed submissions, which means you don’t know who is doing them (and I should add that the reviewers do not know whose paper they are reviewing – although it would not be difficult, with a simple Google search, to find out that I had been focusing on this topic), but it is most likely another academic. I received an average of 3 out of 5 on 10 dimensions for one reviewer (an average showing, but these things vary widely by reviewer).  This reviewer had one comment: “Has successfully addressed the great challenges ahead in journalism of the research topic.”

OK, not so bad. What about the 2nd reviewer? This person averaged 3.3 in the ratings, so even a little stronger. But the comments were much more detailed.

My issues: “Journalists, as we traditionally define them, run the risk of becoming irrelevant without an updated understanding of modern story-creation and delivery methods.” To respond, I’m a prof of multimedia/new media journalism so I don’t assume I”m the older “traditional” journalist, but programmers are not automatically journalists and journalism is not just “modern story-creation” (whatever that is). The author misses the point that content management systems and data-dependent graphics and interfaces do not make every story. As I read this, the lead story is “Senate Republicans block debate on Wall Street reform bill.” I don’t need an AJAX programmer to provide the needed facts in this story, so let’s not overstate the need for programmers of Django, Subversion, Flash, Postgres, AJAX and Javascript to replace every good reporter who spends more time gathering facts than sitting at a desk and compiling code. As a former exec. of a software development company, it’s cool that the NYT has a team of self-taught programmers. I agree that it takes passion, and data-driven mashups are awesome. But there are many more examples of professionally-trained programmers who could also do equal if not better assemblies of data and graphics. The insight into the nation’s largest newspaper was great. but “modern story-creation” IS assembling text with multiple media (especially video) in a coherent way to tell one story. I have yet to meet any programmer who knows how to do that…and most journalists are just learning it. In short, the manuscript was interesting and the case study on one newsroom was well done. It is, however, just that. One newsroom.

This reviewer seems to have a real problem with just the concept of programmer/journalist. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think the story on “Senate Republicans block debate on Wall Street reform bill” could be illustrated in a number of ways with data, perhaps identifying lobby interests of Senators that would be relevant to this issue. Regardless, I never implied that every story would be data-driven, but I do think with some creative thinking, many more stories could have an interactive aspect. I would love feedback on whether or not  you think the comments above are a reasonable critique. I hope to gain a broader audience for this topic and seek more advice on the direction of this research.

I was happy to present the paper at the International Symposium in Online Journalism in April to which I have received a warm reception. This is a much smaller, more focused conference, and I have often used it to try out and get feedback on a paper before AEJMC. But officially, you are not supposed to submit something to AEJMC that has already been presented at another conference. I took that to mean conferences of similar scope, because it seems that starting with a smaller conference, getting feedback and adjusting for a larger conference is a smart strategy. So, perhaps this is really why the paper was rejected. Regardless, I am intrigued by comments that completely dismiss an important trend without providing critique of the research itself.

The paper is published on the symposium website, and I would appreciate any feedback on it that can give me a more enlightened view of how we can better understand the role of programming and data in journalism. Plus, you can review the presentation I gave at UT below.

I uploaded another version of the paper (with improved formatting from the one originally on the ISOJ site).

I have plans to visit the NY Times again this summer to continue my research in this area, and to broaden it to other publications before I submit it to a journal. My hope is to shed some light on the academic review process and seek more constructive and helpful criticism. Thanks for listening.

The Journalist as Programmer

View more presentations from clroyal.

TX State students in the house

I am so happy to participate in the UT International Online Journalism Symposium each year. It’s great to bring along TX State students so they can interact with UT people, professionals and academics from other schools. Every symposium, Rosental Alves and his Knight Center team raise the bar of a quality conference, assembling the most fascinating program of thinkers and doers. I was encouraged this year by the conversations, both on the panels and off. I think we are beginning to talk about the right things – moving away from the print model and discussing new economics and skills – without worrying about treading on the legacy of old media. It was a stroke of brilliance to have Steven Kydd of Demand Media as the keynote, to address the realm of paid content to a room full of skeptical journalists. And, Earl Wilkinson, executive director and CEO, International Newsmedia Marketing Association (INMA), had what I thought were some of the most provocative comments, by saying we need to dismantle print, rethink it’s value proposition and retrain an entire industry – strong words that needed to come from someone of his experience. He asked the question: How do we evolve from audiences of geography to audiences of passionate niches? I think these niches are so important to embrace. Passionate users will do lots of work for you and be very loyal – I mean it’s what YouTube and Wikipedia are based on. It lends toward my interest in user experience, giving users something to do on websites, letting them control the experience and, increasingly, the content.

TX State’s Scott Thomas asks a question to the panel on mobile news

Other great talks were given by Alfred Hermida/Amanda Ash of University of British Columbia, on a use of the CBC Wiki by a passionate community of music lovers, Nuno Vargas, of the University of Barelona, on the grid layout of news websites and Seth Lewis, of UT, on the ways that the Knight News Challenge defines and rewards innovation. Also, Ethan Zuckerman of Global Voices Online and a fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center, discussed a topic that I talk about a lot, the importance of failing, failing quickly and failing cheaply. There is actually an article in today’s NY Times “The Rise of the Fleet-footed Startup” that broaches this notion – that you don’t need a lot of venture capital to start a business.

And Geoffrey Graybel and Jameson Hayes of University of Georgia had some interesting research proposing a micro-payment model for news sites. I have my doubts about the viability and future of such a model, but I definitely appreciate that they considered the social and sharing nature of news in their proposal. For me, the majority of the value of any form of online media is my ability to share it via Twitter, Facebook, email or linking it on a Web site.

Evan Smith discussing the non-profit business model of Texas Tribune

I enjoyed the comments of many of the pros, particularly Evan Smith of the Texas Tribune. He has really put in the work that needs to be done to transition from the print model of Texas Monthly to the new media environment that he now heads. He really gets the importance of data and is banking on a non-profit model. That was encouraging to me, as it dovetailed nicely with my interest in data and programming and my case study of the NY Times Interactive News Technology team that I presented at the conference. And David Cohn of Spot.us talked about letting the public control freelance budgets on their site. It’s a very Digg-like model, except now it is being applied to assignments of work. He recently wrote a nice piece for PBS MediaShift on applying the same idea to Advertising.

As I reflect on the last two days, I realize that there were so many great ideas generated at this conference, more than I can effectively convey here. Please visit the symposium website to enjoy their extensive coverage and watch the archived videos once the become available. This event is getting to be very SXSW in it’s approach to innovation, which I am happy to see. It’s a great event to bring students to after SXSW so they can make comparisons across audiences and see some of the new ideas they were exposed to during SX as they are being applied specifically to the field of journalism.

TX State grads Maira Garcia and Jon Zmikly working the TweetDeck at the symposium

TXST grad and now adjunct Jon Zmikly did some fast work at the end of the conference, finding the wthashtag.com site and pulling together some impressive stats for the conference hashtag #isoj. More than 4500 tweets, and people are still commenting on the event. He also generated a fun Wordle visualization that used the text from the tweets to identify key topics.

Click on the image to see a larger version. It’s fun to use these free and widely available tools!

TX State students enjoy some lunch with Jan Schaffer of J-Lab

As always, it is great to connect with friends, meet Twitter followers and followees and share ideas. Congrats to Rosental, Amy Schmitz-Weiss and the Knight Center team for a wonderful event! I look forward to next year’s symposium when I have no doubt that Rosental will once again exceed all expectations and put on another fantastic program!

#isoj attendees spending a little quality time outside the symposium at Dog and Duck Pub

Here are a couple of pictures from my panel that were taken by Andrew Waldrup. Thanks Andrew!

Some of the student who worked on the sxtxstate.com project this semester

Every year, when I go to SXSW, I return with a head full of knowledge and some big takeaways that involve immediate action or some form of continued research and learning. I honestly could not be anywhere near as effective at my position (Assistant Professor of online media at Texas State) if it were not for SXSW and the wonderful people and ideas that I am exposed to every festival.

This year, there are a couple of big ideas that I will be considering. The first overriding theme was obvious both in the Douglas Rushkoff presentation on the first day and in danah boyd’s keynote. Both were discussing privacy and control, and the false sense we get when we use social networks. Rushkoff’s presentation was titled “Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age” and that is a fascinating observation. We must be aware of how we are being controlled and limited in these spaces, while at the same time, taking advantage of their great potential for connectivity.

Another fantastic panel was delivered by Glenn Platt and Peg Faimon from Miami University entitled Universities in the Free Era and it dealt with applying open source ideas to the mission of the university. I loved their description of the new professor, who is an experience designer, a life coach who conveys the “you-can-do-it” attitude and someone who provides students with access to a network. It was a great tie-in with the Core Conversation I hosted (with Tyson Evans of The New York Times and Matt Waite of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Politifact) entitled Influence and Innovate: Transforming Media Education. You can see that panel in its entirety at sxtxstate.com.

There was a lot of talk and usage around the location-based services, like Foursquare and Gowalla. At an event the size and scale of SXSW, you can clearly see the benefit of these services and how they augment and enhance the use of Twitter, focusing more directly on people you know and want to know their whereabouts. I think there is also a good deal of potential for locations, brands and events to develop promotions that engage customers and fans by using one of these services as a platform. These ideas are really in a pre-infancy period.  Congrats to Josh Williams of Gowalla for winning the Texas Social Media Awards, btw.

Finally, there were lots of good things about music that I enjoyed. The panel on How the Internet is Disrupting the Concert Industry, hosted by Ian Hogarth gave some good data about live music sales and potential. And, one on Crowdfunding Music: Raising Money from your Fans was equally fascinating in regard to the really creative things that artists are doing to introduce and engage people with their music. Check out Allison Weiss, because she is doing some very  cool things for her fans. I am more convinced than ever that the future of music is in engaging your fan base and creating and maintaining a community around your music.

So, I have a lot to process and lots to learn. I had a blast meeting so many people, and as always, I loved seeing many of my students interacting in the community and engaging the things they are learning. It’s great for them to see that there is a huge community of people that care about these topics, and that the future of media lies in creativity and innovation.

Thanks to the great staff at SXSWi for putting on another amazing festival. I am ready to be blown away again by the programming in 2011!

After the Interactive, I moved on to Music. You can read my posts from the shows I attended at onthatnote.com.

Since Steve Jobs presentation a couple weeks ago, anyone with a pulse has chimed in on the iPad. As always, the factions are split, with some touting it as the next big thing, while the haters have derided it with much vitriol, the most juvenile of which have focused on the name itself. I am saving my final thoughts until I actually see one in person, but I do have a few initial observations. Yes, I am an Apple fangirl and a card carrying member of the cult of Mac, so keep that in mind as you read my comments. I want this to be a success for the company because I admire Apple’s place in the industry and basically worship Steve Jobs. Below is an episode of Charlie Rose, featuring Walt Mossberg of All Things Digital and Wall Street Journal, Michael Arrington of TechCrunch and David Carr of The New York Times, speaking about the iPad. These are all people I respect and admire, and each has a favorable impression of the future of this device. Granted, there are criticisms. Arrington is disappointed about the lack of Flash. That doesn’t bother me so much. I’m in the camp that thinks plug-ins will soon be a thing of the past. Most feel that a camera will be included in the near future. Some think the price will go down. But they all seem to be of the belief that this has the potential to be a game-changer. I agree. The key, as identified in the video, is creating this new market, between phones and laptops. As an e-book reader, I think it will be, hands down, a much better experience than anything else on the market, including the Kindle, which has already sold “millions” according to CEO Jeff Bezos. But I have been hesitant to purchase a dedicated reader, because it seems like a waste to have only one function for a product. I have the Kindle app on my phone, but have rarely used it to read a book. I think the iPad will come closest to simulating a traditional book reading experience, but will offer additional features that will be attractive to the average user, like the productivity suite (at $9.99 per app), the ability to listen to music, watch movies, and all the iPhone apps and the new ones to be developed to maximize the iPad interface.

There were some interesting observations about the lack of multi-tasking on the unit. Carr felt that it would allow a more focused reading experience, without the need to have your Twitter feed and email open at the same time as you are reading a book. Is Steve Jobs forcing us to focus, or is this just something to optimize performance?

My biggest concern is in owning another device. I love that so many things have converged on my iPhone. I really hate to travel with a laptop. They are so heavy and difficult to deal with during airport screening. The whole experience is stressful. But the phone is too small for a great reading/viewing experience and most productivity applications that I often need while traveling. So will the iPad fill this space for me?

I’m also  concerned about portability. I don’t want to pay $500+ for something that is going to get nicked and damaged from basic usage when I transport it. Will there be lovely, elegant cases developed for it (the one in the pres looked pretty basic)? Will the screen get dirty easily? Will I need to put some plastic film over it, like I do on my phone? Will it break if I drop it in a soft landing situation (like falling a foot onto carpet or clunking into something in my bag)?

One of the things I noticed in looking at the screenshots of Jobs’ presentation was that it looked like the Pages app allowed you to work in a book interface. Will this be like GarageBand, allowing amateur authors to make their own books and upload to the bookstore, completely eliminating the publisher from the distribution channel?

It certainly looks like it will be a beautiful device with a pleasing interface. I don’t really have a problem with the touch-screen keyboard, because I think we’ll all get used to it, and the tech will just get better.

We’ll have to wait and see. In a perfect world, I’d like to be able to press a button and have my iPhone expand to a larger format. But it would have to be in a way that was beautiful and elegant, consistent with Apple’s design aesthetic. And, short of hocus-pocus, I don’t see that happening (although if anyone can do it…). So, the decision will be, does this device do enough to warrant yet another electronic in my toolkit?

What do you think?

I was honored, humbled and overwhelmed this week when my nomination for a Texas Social Media Award met with so many sweet and thoughtful comments. I know that one of my students nominated me, and for that I am very grateful. The fact that I could post a tweet and a Facebook status and send a couple emails and get that kind of huge and sincere response really demonstrates the immediate power of social media. And, I am lucky to have so many amazing students, colleagues, friends and consumers of the media I create. Blessed and touched, truly.

The  Texas Social Media Award site was opened for nominations  late last year. Anyone could make a nomination, and you could even nominate yourself. Then, the Statesman posted the list of nominees and requested comments from the community. This is really a great project that the Statesman is sponsoring, and Rob Quigley who launched the competition, is a perfect example of someone who uses social media to great effect. He’ll be judging the competition, so he can’t compete in it, along with Addie Broyles, Statesman food writer and blogger, and Michelle Greer, last year’s winner.

I spent a few hours today browsing around the TX Social Media site. I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn about some of the cool things that others are doing with social media around Texas. I was blown away by the talent we have here in our fair state. First of all, I was delighted to see Texas State University represented so well. Dara Quackenbush, also on the faculty in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Josh Shepherd, a current graduate student and blogger at www.thebacklineshow.com and Scott Thomas and Maira Garcia (Scott’s a student, Maira just graduated and is working for NOWCastSA), who started the citizen journalism Web talk show www.thepeoplesmedia.tv, all received nominations. And, Yvonne Taylor was nominated for starting the Texas State Facebook fan page. Please check out their work.

The next thing I noticed was that some people came out of the gate very quickly in terms of quality and quantity of comments, some of which I had not been previously familiar. I think this shows a nominee’s ability to quickly engage their social network and also indicates how avid or loyal their followers are.  Ashley Cass, who also just happens to be a TX State grad, was nominated for her work with Birds Barbershop, a really hip new salon, and you can see from the comments about her that she has taken the social media presence for that organization to a new level, mixing personal, fun, important and professional in her communications with constituents.

Brian Cuban, who spoke at our Mass Comm Week, hosts a blog called The Cuban Revolution. Sure, he’s the brother of Mark, but he covers lots of interesting issues across a wide range of topics.

And, someone who I had not been familiar with before, but now follow, is Indiana Adams. She hosts the AdoredAustin blog. She blogs about fashion, decor and life in Austin, which I think is great, because there are so many cool things to say about our great city. Other Austin blogger nominees include Lyssa Myska Allen, hosting ThisisLifeinAustin.com and Ryan Loyd for his AustinCitySphere.com news/blog/podcast site.

There are, of course, multiple business/PR nominees. One that stands out is Jenna Oltersdorf of Snackbox PR. And, it was also great to see so many companies focused on non-profits in the mix. Social media is a fantastic way to engage those who share passions for causes. Check out David Neff, who works tirelessly, engaging a variety of social media tools to support non-profits. I have several former students who work for Convio, a company does Web consulting for non-profits, and they have demonstrated to me how important these techniques are to the success of the organizations they support.

Some other great personal blogs are Lydia Fielder’s Understand Blue and Korey Coleman’s film community at Spill.com. There are more than 150 nominees, and I’m sure I have missed some amazing ones, but these are just a few that I think are special.

If you care to comment about any of my social media activities, of course, I’d love it and you can find my nomination page here.  I try to mix practice and teaching by doing my onthatnote.com music blog and interview show, as well as this tech blog and my Twitter and Facebook updates, and any of my other projects.

Here’s part of my interview with the delightful Rhett Miller of Old 97’s, as a sample of what I do at onthatnote.com. Click the Sessions tab there to watch more.

But, whether you comment on me or not, you should really use this opportunity to familiarize yourself with the broad range of social media activities going on in our state. It’s a great mix of personal, professional, fun, serious and interesting! Maybe it will inspire you.

One of the things I love about academia is the breaks we get between semesters. After a busy semester, that builds to a frenzied finish, it’s great to take a few weeks to refresh and recharge. It’s time you can dedicate to learning new things, doing research or working on new courses. Or sleeping. I always have bigger plans for my breaks than I actually accomplish. I had high hopes for this winter break, did about half of them. There’s always the weekends, right?

I did go through the Lynda.com Ruby on Rails training, and I will attend a RoR class next week. I definitely needed to do the pre-work, because I don’t want to be the one non-programmer in the room holding everyone up with important questions like “I’m lost.” Which is not a question at all. I didn’t get to work on making iPhone apps nor did I get much done with research. But, hey… there are still a few days left. Right?

Anyway, one of the things I’ve been working on is this new course Social Media at Work. Take a look at cindyroyal.com/social. Looks like I’m going to have a lot of non-Mass Comm majors. It’s a reasonably large lecture class, will have about 50 students. I’m used to my tiny lab classes. But, I’m excited about the topic. And the fact that the classroom has windows. I don’t think I’ve EVER taught in a classroom with windows.

My plan is to expose the students to some of the readings that have been influential to me: Chris Anderson, Jeff Jarvis, Lessig, Shirky, Jenkins. We’ll watch several videos, because I really feel that some of this is best coming directly from the source, those that did the work. Download: The True Story of the Internet has some great sections, and I plan to show Rip!: A Remix Manifesto, the documentary about the artist Girl Talk. I also saw Welcome to Macintosh on CNBC last week, and thought that might be a good intro to the Mac v. PC discussion. And, even though it is 10 years old now, I’ll show that History Channel video The Internet: Behind the Web, unless someone has a more current history video to recommend. I still think it is great, the history doesn’t necessarily change and I love that it shows the old computers. It’s always funny when students say things like “I thought the people who invented the Internet were dead.”

Another video I saw last week on CNBC was Planet of the Apps. If I can get my hands on it (or drag out my VCR to copy it – I retired it last year), I’ll show that too. While I was watching it, I probably downloaded 10 apps for my iPhone, as they talked about each one. Nice promo for the few they featured. What about the 80,000 others?

I really want to approach this class in a spirit of innovation. Give them some general things to think about in terms of the role of technology in communication and seek feedback as to how they would implement these tools in their professions. I don’t see a lot of recipes these days, but I do see people using social media tools in unique and innovative ways that work for them. I also just want students to gain a sense of curiosity and enthusiasm about the future of media.

Course development is always interesting. You start with nothing, a blank canvas. It can be pretty overwhelming. But then you start filling in the blanks, one topic leads to another, and so do the readings… and the projects… I know I spent more time procrastinating and stressing about the course, than actually working on it. I usually start with making the Web site. I fill in the blanks on the course outline page, and then eventually things start taking shape. Then I make a paper syllabus that will be outdated the minute I hand it out. But, we have to provide a paper syllabus…

So, I would love your feedback. Take a look at the site and let me know if you have any recommendations for topics or resources. I’m using the book Journalism Next, but just as a road map and supplement to other readings. We’ll blog, tweet, make videos… and take exams. Not exactly sure how I’ll handle those yet.

Here we go. Have a great spring semester!

The other day in my graduate class, I was quite surprised to detect a sentiment that I had not heard before. It seems that students may be growing tired of hearing people talking about “loving what you do” or being “passionate about your work.” They expressed that they felt it was becoming cliche. I’m surprised, because to me it’s been the most important, world-changing thing that has ever happened to me. And, because I wasn’t actively seeking it out, it took me a while to get here. But, it has made all the difference.

First let me start with a little on my background, then I’ll talk about some of the elements of the work-life situation that you should be seeking, no less, demanding, in my opinion. For the past 10 years, I have been blissfully happy with the career decision I made to return to academia, get a Ph.D. and become a professor. Huge sacrifice, major payoff. Prior, I was toiling away in corporate America. I worked for many years at NCR Corporation, mostly in Dayton, OH. I was in a variety of fields including sales, marketing, finance, management, project management… you name it, I tried it. I was seeking satisfaction and challenge, and while those elements were present from time to time in certain positions, my roles lacked autonomy and the ability to learn and innovate. I moved to Compaq Computer in Houston in 1995, hoping that a change of venue would provide the boost I needed. It didn’t. It was just more of the same, and I was beginning to feel that I was just one of those people who’d never like their work. I was unfocused and directionless.

My educational background at that point: business. Undergrad at North Carolina and an MBA from Univ. of Richmond. It’s what we did in the ’80s.

So, in 1999, I chucked it all, security (?), salary (I had just reached the 6 figure range), sold my house and moved to Austin to go to UT for a Ph.D. in Journalism and Mass Communication. Some called it a mid-life crisis, others less tactful just called me crazy. But, it was the result of a year or more of soul searching, trying to figure out exactly what my next step needed to be. I knew I had to do something drastic, different, and I had no idea how it’d all turn out. I was inspired by a few things. First, while still at NCR, a colleague showed me a few lines of HTML code and that led to the creation of my own Web site. It eventually morphed into the concert-review site I still maintain, onthatnote.com. Second, I attended my sister’s graduation at the University of North Carolina. She was a journalism major. I noticed the people walking across the stage in special doctoral regalia, the hoods and tassels. “A Ph.D. in journalism,” I thought. “Wonder if this Internet stuff is going to have any effect?”

So, I ended up at UT, a wonderful learning opportunity that allowed me to craft a program from the world-class departments and schools across the university with my hub in Mass Communication. I learned from legends in the field, the most notable being my mentor and friend, Dr. James Tankard, who sadly passed in 2005. Dr. Tankard taught me more about myself, gave me confidence in my ideas and showed me the power of persistence. I think about him every day and I hope that I can carry on his legacy in some small way with my own students.

During my experiences at UT, I was given the opportunity to teach a course, very similar to one I teach now in Web Design. It expanded my skills and fueled an intellectual and creative curiosity that I didn’t know I had. I remember heading out to school one day and thinking, I really love what I’m doing. It was an odd feeling, one that I’d never known before. And, honestly, I’ve felt that way consistently ever since.

Finally, the move to Austin, while coupled with the selection of UT as my grad program of choice, was quite possibly the most important thing of all. I didn’t come to Austin for the rock ‘n’ roll dream, like lots of people, but it ended up finding me. I’m not a musician, wish I was, but I have the most avid fascination with people who create music. It’s like going to a magic show. I don’t understand at all how they do what they do, and am blown away when spontaneous collaborations happen, which are commonplace in our fair city. As luck would have it, I saw an email during my 1st semester at UT, requesting interns for a new music magazine. I responded, and started my tenure at Texas Music, and got to meet many of the local musicians who I now consider my friends. It was another important, yet random, occurrence. And, in the past few years, I have grown my onthatnote.com site to include an online talk show. It’s the perfect meshing of my love of music and technology, keeps my skills current and allows me to serve more as a role model for students by doing in conjunction with teaching.

So, when I look back at all the things that secured my delirious happiness, I can identify some critical elements that have made all the difference for me.

1. Professional and personal life become one. I don’t have any real boundaries between personal and professional. I am thinking about professional things like online media and gaining new skills all the time because I love to do that. If it weren’t my job, I’d be thinking about and doing these things anyway. What are the productive things you think about? Can you integrate them with your career? Can you practice them on the side and improve them?
2. Surround yourself with supportive, interesting and different people and exorcise the toxic ones from your life. One of my problems back in my corporate days was that I was surrounded by people who were all the same. They worked their 55-hour/ week jobs, paid their mortgages and car payments and complained about their bosses, coworkers, responsibilities… In another post, I’ll detail how I busted that wall, and found inspiration by finding new friends, in more creative circles. It was just a launching pad for my own personal changes. If you find you are surrounded by people who are negative or constraining, get rid of them. Don’t let them squelch the voice in your head that is encouraging you to be fierce.
3. Put yourself in uncomfortable situations. This is probably the hardest to achieve. No one really wants to be uncomfortable. We work hard to develop a level of comfort and structure in our lives. But I have found that the most interesting things happen when you’re out of your comfort zone. Seek out networking opportunities with interesting people, and don’t be afraid to say something stupid (you will) or feel out of place (you will). But, so what? Just do it. You’ll learn, you’ll find your place and if it’s right, you’ll ultimately fit in. If it is a situation you desire, you’ll eventually learn the lingo, the key players and someday, before you know it, you might find yourself in that key-player role; the one that people turn to for advice or consider to be a veteran or (eek!) an expert.
4. Share. You learned it in kindergarten. But, honestly, you do get back what you put out there. In spades. Share your ideas, share your time, share your skills. If we’ve learned one thing from social media, it’s that sharing is better than being proprietary any day. Secrets are boring. More interesting things come out of efforts in which people are collaborating than not.
5. Do it. There’s no reason not to. You like food, blog about it. You like music, go to shows and talk about it, interview musicians, read music blogs. You like wine, become the next Gary Vaynerchuk. You like sports… toys… cars… travel… There is nothing stopping you from exploring your favorite things and communicating that to the world. You are thinking interesting things all day long, and you have something to contribute. Who cares if only 2 people are listening and both of them are related to you. You never know where that kind of thing can take you, and it may take you places you could never imagine.
6. Filter out the negativity. Those people are lame. I know I mentioned this above, but it bears repeating. There’s as much opportunity for them to be snarky as for you to be positive. Just stay true to yourself and surround yourself with happy, positive people. People gravitate to positive energy. Think about the people you most admire. Are they really the negative, mean-sprited, do-nothing types? I doubt it.
7. Learn. Put yourself in a position in which learning is natural and expected, keeping up with trends, gaining new skills. Decide that you want to learn something and go do it. Use Google, take a class, watch a video about it on YouTube. Figure it out. The ability to adapt and troubleshoot is a most valuable skill.
8. Change. Prepare yourself for it. I always say to students that the Web didn’t exist when I was their age. I couldn’t have predicted I’d be doing what I’m doing. Bet that even more dramatic changes are in store for us in the next few generations.

I am extremely lucky that the right career found me. It took a long time, and I don’t think I ever imagined being this happy. The 1999 Cindy would probably hate the positive, happy 2009 Cindy, because she would think she was full of it. But the 2009 Cindy wouldn’t have time for the 1999 Cindy, and it’d be 1999’s loss. For me, being a college professor of online media is the perfect career. I’m in a learning environment, surrounded by intelligent colleagues and enthusiastic students. I get a lot of support of my ideas, and I am extremely proud of the accomplishments of graduates of my classes. Keeping in touch with former students may be the most gratifying thing of all, the fact that any of them care to contact their old teacher, get together for coffee or stop and chat when they see me around town. I am blessed and touched.

So, this is getting long, and I’ll have more to say on this topic. But, I guess what I am trying to convey is that I hope that when you read this, you don’t think “how cliche.” I hope it inspires someone… anyone… to seek out their perfect scenario. Don’t give up, keep challenging yourself and keep surrounding yourself with interesting, positive people. Seek out beauty and creativity and inspiration. It does makes all the difference.

Here’s the first 20 minutes of the panel on Career Development at the National College Media conference in Austin. On the panel are Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon of the Austin American-Statesman, Jon Zmikly, an adjunct instructor at Texas State University and myself, Cindy Royal, an assistant professor at TX State.

Sorry the framing wasn’t better. I was working with a basic tripod and used velcro to attach the  iPhone. And, the iPhone ran out of battery charge in 20 minutes. Video is resource intensive!