I have to say the SXSW on Saturday was a blast. The free beer and meeting so mant interesting, intelligent people was a heady mix.

Yesterday was a little more subdued. I had a pretty sore head for one thing and, also, I thought it was about time to check out some of the panels.

I missed the best one, it seems, which was the horrifc cringe-fest that was Sarah Lacy’s interview with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. While that was going on, I was sitting in on a panel about given users design freedom in applications.

A couple of things came to mind from this experience:

1. I’m not really that bothered about going to panels.

2. Web designers (especially the guy from Google) have a habit of treating their users in the same way that newspapers treat their readers.

There is this implicit assumption that, however innovative your users may want to be with your product, the creators still know best. It’s a strange ownership thing that I want to understand more about. Is it, perhaps, because deep down we do not provide or create platforms to empower other people, we do it to gain power ourselves?

Another thing that’s been bugging me is the overuse of the term “social media”. It’s certainly the buzzword for this festival. I guess it’s better than the word being “anti-social media” but, in many cases, that might be more apt.

Maybe it’s the product of thousands of voices trying to be heard in one space, but I’ve noticed a lot of people shouting about how “social” their product or job is, without actually seeming to have any social skills themselves. It’s like the loud guy who walks into the bar telling everyone how fun and popular he is but, after about five minutes, you realise he’s just a bit dull.

It occurs to me that by designing something to be interactive does not make it social per se. Social is a more subtle thing, built upon personal relationships, emotions and communication.  I’m not sure where this is going, but I get the feeling that understanding this is pretty key to understanding how journalists should be working with their readers…

On the technology front, I’ve been enjoying using Qik on the Nokia N95. I’m still making some errors with it but I will start to post stuff to the blog today.

I’ll really hate the fact I’m going to have to give the N95 back when I get home. It’s a great tool.

]]> http://www.sxswm.com/2008/03/10/shared-in-google-reader-sxsw-interactive-%e2%89%a0-social/feed/ http://www.sxswm.com/2008/03/10/pete-ashtons-blog-in-which-i-try-and-explain-qik/ http://www.sxswm.com/2008/03/10/pete-ashtons-blog-in-which-i-try-and-explain-qik/#comments Mon, 10 Mar 2008 06:55:11 +0000 Pete http://www.sxswm.com/2008/03/10/pete-ashtons-blog-in-which-i-try-and-explain-qik/ One of the big things at SXSWi this year appears to be instant video uploading and posting, a combination of live streaming and archiving. Or something. Jo’s been delving into this big time learning loads from the likes of Phil Campbell so look to her for all the useful stuff over the next few days […]