Two Cents: To infinity and beyond

14 March 2013

Overwhelming doesn't even come close to describing Austin’s' SXSW festival. With literally hundreds of sessions to see every hour on topics ranging from "The Future of Porn" to "Robots in Space" it’s very difficult to choose what to see. I feel like a kid who's been given pocket money for the first time and sent into Willy Wonker's chocolate factory unsupervised.

After much inner-debate I finally decide on my first session, the ambiguously named "Next Big Thing", secretly hoping I'll walk in and find that they are actually just discussing me. Unfortunately I'll never know what the next big thing is, as I only arrived 60 minutes early and was told, along with about 100 other people, that the session was full and I would have to go somewhere else.

Not one to be discouraged, I hurried alone to another talk across town only to be greeted by an odd sense of deja vu, "Session full" read the sign... I'd missed out again.

SXSW Lesson #1: "Early" has a different definition at SXSW. Embrace waiting, it’s literally the cost of entry and provides a fantastic opportunity to meet people and sample Texan BBQ delights.

My eventual first SXSW experience was worth the wait. A virtual tour through the cosmos thanks to a partnership between NASA and Microsoft. Picture Google Earth, for the entire universe… needless to say I wasn’t the only one in the room with a space boner.

Our guide demonstrated the very user friendly Xbox Kinnect technology, used in combination with oceans worth of NASA data allowing us to literally swim our way from one solar system to the next. Through a mixture of voice commands and hand signals we were transported through both space and time, even getting the chance to create simulations of future eclipses right before our eyes.

What on earth, (excuse the pun) does this have to do with media you may ask? This technology took what could potentially be a confusing and overwhelming subject and transformed it into an immersive, interactive, and thoroughly entertaining experience. The ramifications of this in education alone are astounding and when the same principals of simplification through technology are applied to our own occupations, we are seeing that communications not only become more engaging, but a whole lot more meaningful.

So in the words of the great Buzz Lightyear, “…to infinity and beyond”!

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