4 posts tagged “tiffany b brown”

Since I'm planning on presenting at work this week, I figured I'd do my SXSWi 2008 notes here so I have reference when I'm making my decks tomorrow. I make decks, people. Sexy!

I call them A-Ha! Notes because my mind was on fire for the full five days and I would often see the phrase "A-HA!" pop up in big bold letters in my head during a panel or conversation. I even dreamed in 140 character bursts while I was in Austin. I shit you not. If you weren't there, why not? I'm sure you'll be there next year. I'll buy you a slice at The Onion and introduce you to all my internet famous friends. It'll be fun.

The Big Picture Stuff

• Offline interaction enhances online relationships exponentially (and vice-versa). This has been true for my tech circle for longer than a minute but tools like twitter serve to showcase this fact. Also, it is increasingly true that young folks don't make distinctions between online and offline activity and are probably tired of us old folks asking about it. It's proof we're lame and not cool.
• It's okay to be internet famous. In the knowledge based economy, there's true (not imagined or unimportant or morally undesirable) value in being known and in the know. Having tech geek cultural cache allows you to transform the conversation. I need to get over my own privacy issues and get back out there.
• The perception of Disney as an "old media" company is problematic. I'll never have access to the best folks in the field if I'm not talking about the cool stuff we're doing at disney.com.
• What we think we know about how people use the web and our products and what really is happening is probably very off. We don't do enough real world observing. We don't think enough about our guests. We don't think enough about the "rich internet experiences" we are providing or the feeling our guests leave with when they come in and leave our sites.
• I love my peoples. All of 'em.

Panel: What Teens Want

• Ads everywhere gets an immediate negative response. Pop-ups are the big culprit but overt marketing is also a big problem. Kids come to a site for the content and anything that hinders there access to the content (interstitials, overlays, pauses in the experience) is a bad thing.
• Repetition of ads is a big no-no.
• Ads that encourage sign-up are viewed negatively, especially if the sign-up only leads to marketing being directed to their email accounts.
• That said, contextually relevant advertising is something kids don't mind and may actually want. The big example - on nba.com, a kid wants to see ads for the newest nikes and not miller lite.
• Social network fatigue is real. For college-bound kids, myspace is losing its relevance. There needs to be purpose to the social network or else kids lose interest quickly. With myspace, in particular, the lack of net safety and the need to "manage" your account is problematic. Facebook is used for both schoolwork and personal relationships.
• E-mail is dead. Kids use email for "business" purposes - talking to teachers, family members, signing up for things that require an online identity.
• Text messaging and face-to-face interaction are the communication tools of choice. We have to remember that kids see their friendship circle all day at school and through after-school activities. Socially adept kids (read: most kids) aren't looking for more ways to interact, necessarily. They have the tools and access already.
• These girls are all about the casual games, particularly retro games like tetris and pac-man. The Boys liked runescape and console games.
• Avatar creation was not a big thing for these kids. They had done it before but didn't find much value afterwards. All the girls had, at least, started a zwinky.
  
• Music was a big focus for all the teens and their online interests - purevolume and mixmatters were both mentioned. The boys also focused on aggregators of content like digg and ebaumsworld. The girls were a bit more fashion and shopping centric - seventeen, hipster blogs, and goodreads were name-checked.
• They all watched more video on their TVs than on their computers but almost none of them watched shows on-time. Time-shifting was huge. The only things mentioned as "must watch on time" were sporting events, wrestling and Idol. Besides youtube, obvs, veoh was the online video location of choice. That said, they all had connections with Disney - younger kids watching Hannah Montana and Suite Life on Disney.com (particularly if they thought something was exclusive or if word of mouth at school was that a particular episode was very good) and they older kids - boys and girls - were watching Kyle XY and Wildfire on ABC Family and abcfamily.com.

Panel: The Female Takedown of Casual Gaming

• Puzzle/Card Games dominate for female players followed by board and word games.
• Playfirst.com and Dinerdash.com are seeing some success with the free to try, pay to play models.
• The "free games" with ad support or additional features at cost seems to be working as well.
• Achievements and Collectibles are big with the female audience, particularly in games where parents and kids play together (Moms tend to get very engaged with games that encourage collection and do so "on behalf" of their kids).
• Moms often find community with other moms through these games. Finding ways to encourage that behavior without turning off kids may be a sweet spot for growing more immersive gaming in the pre-school/elementary age space.
• Game Making is a very young male scene but the voice of women in game play and features is growing.
• Kongregate is finding success with user generated casual games. The tools, however, need to be simple and allow for a very low point of entry.
• The research about gender based player behavior is that girls are generally playing to relieve stress and pass the time.
• Guitar Hero and Rock Band and other games that encourage social gameplay are bringing in a lot of new gamers of all genders and ages.
• Collaboration is a really important game play feature for female gamers.
• The big question you should be asking yourself when creating a game is "What is the guest left with after they've played?" - if you can answer that, you've probably jumped from a good game to a great game.

Panel: Where Are The Black Tech Bloggers?

• For the first time since I've been coming to SXSW, I felt like there was a distinct diversity of viewpoints of the black folks in attendance. It was the first time I didn't know or know of everyone who was there before I got there. It was the first time, I didn't feel the need to know everybody there. It was the first time I disagreed vehemently with viewpoints put out there by other Black people speaking at this panel.
• This is progress.
• The challenge of being "the negro tour guide" for a big company may limit the number of candidates of color applying and looking to work for a company like Disney.
• Also, the inclination to be entrepreneurial and self-employed may overwhelm the desire to work for others in the tech space.
• There is definitely reason to be concerned with the lack of black faces in the room determining feature sets and product plans.
• We are definitely not all on the same page with regards to where we are in the race conversation in America right now. There's a compelling belief by young people that we are moving towards post-racialism faster than some of us would like to think.
• Also, what Tiffany said.
  

Panel: Lessons Learned at 37 Signals - just read what Read Write Web posted. My big A-Has here was the "make tiny decisions" and "watch out for red flags" and "make it matter".

Final Thoughts

Once again, I left SXSW re-invigorated and inspired and  with renewed passion for what I do. I loves me the internet y'all and I'm always so happy I get to take my spring break with it, every year.

I've also got some secret plans in the works but I'm going to actually keep them secret this time instead of blabbing about them before I actually do them.

You know who Julia Allison is right? Well, she came to SXSWi and my twitter feed was dominated by sightings, quotes, and criticisms of the web ingenue. I found it such an odd experience, all probably the worst for her (although this is her own creation), to have everyone marking the every movement of someone who is internet famous strictly because she likes to date tech guys and blogs about it. Hell, I even participated. She became an adjective, a kind of state of being during the event.

Based on the tweets, her weekend at the tech freaknik had a nice little rhythm to it. I'm surprised she wasn't sighted saving a baby, showing her britney, and fighting Mike Tyson all at the same time. Anyway, here's what everyone said:

marrina : @taulpaul: Julia Allison will be at the SXSW int. conf. I have no idea why. Would you please slap her on the face for me? << (2008-03-06 23:09:42)

melissagira : OH: "It was I who deflowered Julia Allison." << (2008-03-08 22:59:22)

ekai : Just saw julia Allison line jump straight to the front at 16bit << (2008-03-08 23:02:58)

bustermcleod : I just saw Julia Allison. << (2008-03-09 00:15:52)

davemorin : Bike Taxi Caravan to the Marriott for werewolf with brittany bohnet, leah culver, julia allison, and daniel burka! << (2008-03-09 01:06:24)

ms_sloanev : Marriot party is sick! Thanks @briansolis. Met Julia Allison, word. << (2008-03-09 01:30:48)

biznickman : Standing with Julia Allison at the Omni Shorham << (2008-03-09 04:22:12)

thinkpol : @ailie uh... to tell you the truth, I had to Google Julia Allison to find out who she was. :-/ << (2008-03-09 10:23:11)

taulpaul : Off to the first MXMW panel of the day. Why Kevin Rose dumped Julia Allison. << (2008-03-09 11:40:59)

mkstump12 : Btb julia allison is here. whats the deal? this chick is everywhere. << (2008-03-09 12:40:21)

misterjt : Also, loved the "I'm Internet Famous" discussion. Julia Allison is living it and hating it, people!! << (2008-03-09 13:39:56)

centernetworks : julia allison just walked in << (2008-03-09 14:21:16)

cinevegas : In Ballroom A for the Zuckerberg convo, Julia Allison is up front trying to direct a cell phone cam << (2008-03-09 14:24:10)

rachelleb : julia allison of valleywag infamy front row @ zuckerberg keynote talking into camera. owen from valleywag also nearby.would pay to see fight << (2008-03-09 14:26:39)

Sarahrahpark : julia allison is here in first row, she just met jeff jarvis << (2008-03-09 14:36:42)

whalesalad : Chilling behind Julia Allison. Tasty. << (2008-03-09 14:37:49)

sco : Sitting next to Julia Allison at the Zuck keynote. << (2008-03-09 14:46:50)

kloudjonas : Julia Allison vs. Valleywag! << (2008-03-09 18:13:30)

ms_sloanev : Julia Allison can't stand that she wasn't on the gossip panel and has wedged her way on. << (2008-03-09 18:14:58)

kloudjonas : Julia Allison: "I'm writing fucked up things, about fucked up people" << (2008-03-09 18:16:16)

noor : am i supposed to know who julia allison is? << (2008-03-09 18:16:59)

shellen : Julia Allison was invited onstage to scratch Owen Thomas' eyes out. Awesome. << (2008-03-09 18:20:45)

hc : julia allison is on stage arguing with owen thomas. for context: http://tinyurl.com/3axrzt << (2008-03-09 18:32:08)

fraying : Julia Allison derails gossip panel. << (2008-03-09 18:37:13)

hc : julia allison defends lacy: "it was mismatched communications" << (2008-03-09 18:41:33)

ddemaree : @voodootikigod Yeah, because an event where Julia Allison is a panelist is totally vital to my well-being. << (2008-03-09 18:53:46)

atesttechstory : Julia Allison: crashes SXSW, explains it all [SXSW] - Professional funnylady and amateur gossip Heather Gold jus... -> http://g8l.us/42x << (2008-03-09 18:55:37)

anildash : confessing my sins to julia allison << (2008-03-09 19:01:16)

banky : Julia Allison coming across as a victim of her own life. << (2008-03-09 19:07:53)

noel : Does julia allison twitter? << (2008-03-09 20:19:12)

alexandermcmath : One day I shall be interviewed by Julia Allison, Sarah Lacy, and Scoble. ALL AT ONCE. And yea verily, Valleywag will spontaneously combust. << (2008-03-09 20:30:23)

kenyatta : missed zuck, loren @ black bloggers, and the julia allison debacle at sxsw today. I'm soooo okay with that. << (2008-03-09 21:31:11)

funkybrownchick : At Gawker party. That looks like Julia Allison. Don't know why but I'm slightly surprised she's at SXSW. << (2008-03-09 23:42:32)

michelleoshen : Just got off the phone with @1938media He and Julia Allison had a run-in at the Gawker party... All caught on video going up soon! << (2008-03-10 00:14:27)

misterjt : @aliciarenee thanks! I dont wanna do a Julia Allison << (2008-03-10 01:22:40)

misterjt : Im so Julia Allison right now << (2008-03-10 02:44:23)

misterjt : @mellemusic "who is julia allison?" wikipedia it. or come get internet famouser with me at the A-List parties </snarking on sxsw> << (2008-03-10 04:01:58)

cinevegas : #sxsw Rumour of the night: Kevin Rose and Julia Allison having a late nite rendevous at the Omni << (2008-03-11 01:05:29)

meowrey : At JFK taxi stand. Julia Allison just cut in front of 700 people & 4 dispatchers! (Sike! She said cabs "smell like B.O." & took a town car.) << (2008-03-11 11:27:54)

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Fascinating, right?

I'll come back to a lot of the things I'm going to touch on here more deeply later (particularly twitter, the digital ethnorati panel, and the new "online identity" conversations) but here's what my very tired brain is thinking about:

Twitter:

• How did I stay connected to people at SXSW before twitter?
• I do have unlimited text on my phone, right?
• Twitter is not for your personal conversation. Let's try a one interaction AB conversation (and use the @username convention) and not AB AB AB AB AB AB where I don't know if you're talking to me or not. Remember we don't all have the same friends. We do still have IM and Direct Message and E-Mail for that.
• It is not rude to stop following someone.

• Samhita and Erica are some of my new favorites. Get Familiar.
  
• Laina and Ms Jen are now officially part of my sxsw inner circle
• I'm awfully excited I finally got to meet Rox and RKB in person
• It's nice being able to talk work stuff with work friends like Amy and Cruftbox at SXSW
• George, Lynne, Tiffany, Lainie, and Tracy are all my ace #1 peoples but you know this

• Buzzfeed
• Juiceboxxx
• Laist
• Blackholicus!
• Thunderstorms!

• I really need to come up with the "Agency Constitution" for my production team
• I really need to form a production philosophy that we'll adhere to. A mantra, if you will (and not negative ones like "No more phases" and "Not a production issue").
• I don't have any design/agency/business role models. I should get some.

• Summary thought: Now that people have developed online identity, they are now seeking a sense of place and that often means at points where online and offline worlds intersect.
• We really need to stop thinking about offline and online as separate.
• public vs. private is still a huge (and unsolved) issue.
• SF nerds name-check plazes all the time but I don't think it has much average user application (or provides a service that people are clamoring for)

• New etiquette rules really need to be established for online and mobile communication
• Reputation, Identity, Presence, Nameplaces - these are my kinds of buzzwords
• How does the desire for someone like me who wants a persistent online identity exist at the same time that many people (particularly young people) like the concept of disposable identity? Are their tools and applications that can make the web better for both types of folks?
  
• What about those who want no online identity but still wants the tools that are increasingly requiring identity creation?

• Short form/online content creators are mostly thinking about how to navigate big media negotiation instead of thinking much about the new challenges they face as their content gets monetized (unions, guilds, talent, production value)
• I don't know enough about the VLOG community

• This requires it's own post.

• Do we get to self define ourselves as the "Ethnorati"?
• When unexpected communities begin using a tool in unexpected ways, is there a kind of "byte flight" where the intended/existing community leaves for other options? (See Orkut, see fotolog, See even Friendster)
• I'm not sure I subscribe to the assumption that online access is for all (at least not in the "a laptop in every living room, a broadband connection in every wall" kind of way it was discussed here)
• Are there companies thinking about technology tools from ethnic/geographic perspective? Who are they? Who is running them?
• Aren't the tools being created from a commerce perspective different from the ones that academia and/or socially progressive organizations need in the communities they service?
• Does perception matter in this case?

• snooze

So for the photo-freaks among us: what responsibility does (or should) the camera-holder have to (a) respect the request not to be photographed in semi-public or semi-private spaces (i.e. at a bar or friend’s house party); and (b) not to post potentially embarrassing photos and videos of their friends and acquaintances (or hell, even strangers) online, especially with a name attached? (Actually, in some cases that can be grounds for legal action, so watch what you publish).

And for those who are camera shy: Do you find yourself self-censoring your behavior in public or avoiding events with your shutterbug friends?

- Ethics, Friendships and Flickr (or "Why I don't Drink Around Some Folks"), Tiffany B Brown, 12.07.06

Moo

One of the reasons I bought Moo Cards is because I'm uncomfortable taking pictures of strangers without their permission. With the moo card, I can ask a person for their permission to photograph them, show them where it may be displayed, and give them the opportunity to decline. I take pictures of friends regularly but respect their desires for photos to not be taken or for them not to be posted. I live a whole lot of my life online but I'm incredibly aware of the public private and the need to not let it all hang out. I would never want anybody who I spend time with to have to worry about how their actions might come back to haunt them digitally.

On a selfish level, I also worry that constant picture taking detracts from the moment (much the same way that my constant email checking detracts, I'm working on that, though. It's just...I'm internet addicted). If we're always recording the moment, we're not experiencing the moment. Moreover, It feels like we're planning how we'll remember the moment instead. There's a time and place for pictures and video.

It's not all the time and every place.