RSS2007 SXSW Review Recap
Starting off with my 4-part SXSW review is a portion of the panels I and AgencyNet's Larissa Meek and Marcelo Pereira attended Saturday-Tuesday at the Interactive Festival.
I'm only going to blog about my favorite panels, so bear with me here... your favorite panels might not be listed. It's not that I didn't care, I'm just not interested in spending even more time than this took writing about them.
In order to keep everyone sane, I've only put the first two panels for preview. You're welcome to visit my site for the remaining three panels from this entry.
How to Bluff Your Way in Web 2.0
As expected, this was a tongue-in-cheek, casual conversation about everything that's gone wrong with the whole concept of Web 2.0... throwing together every good and bad practice together into one big "mashup" and hope your project gets big enough to be bought by Microsoft, Yahoo or Google.
Clearleft's Andy Budd and Jeremy Keith were the moderators and some interesting thoughts came out during the course of the discussion. First off, the entire concept of "'Web 2.0' needs to die... it's holding us back" as Andy put it. "Because it means everything, it means nothing ... the term has become toxic." The sentiment in these phrases rings every bell I can think of, because clients, either confused or who have misinterpreted the 'concept' of what Web 2.0 entails has began to ask for a "Web 2.0" site for their RFP. But -- if you ask your client what they mean, they can't tell you, because they're expecting you to know what flavors of Web 2.0 suits their needs. The entire buzzword is based on a concept that, as Andy said, has "been around since the birth of the internet, it's just using it correctly."
Web 2.0 isn't about microformats that a fraction of the population can use, or RSS feeds with Widgets and Gadgets, AJAX with Ruby on Rails, APIs that only few users can develop with and Digg/Del.icio.us bookmark links... it's about paying attention to the users, the usability and accessibility and the overall dissemination of content regardless of whether you're using a desktop/laptop computer, PDA, mobile phone or gaming console. It's about making the web an information-friendly place without bogging it down in semantics and hidden agendas.
I should probably remind everyone that my blog does not represent the thoughts and opinions of my employer, AgencyNet. These are my thoughts and mine alone. I swear I have a disclaimer elsewhere on this site.
Keynote from Kathy Sierra
This was technically the opening of the festival, I guess. Kathy from CreatingPassionateUsers went to explain how us as developers still don't quite understand who we're targeting when we develop applications, games and even websites. Her example of a typical entry in Microsoft Excel's help window for "I want to add up numbers" didn't get the user anywhere near the answer they were looking for. Even "WTF" lead them into circles, especially when they actually typed out the phrase. A shame it wasn't the answer the user was looking for.
We developers really do need to help the users out, and it's all focused on the context... the right tools for the right job. Leading users in circles, especially in help documentation, isn't the way to go.
Note: Kathy wasn't bashing Microsoft Excel's expansive help documentation, rather, bashing this industry-wide problem. "Somewhere, deep inside Microsoft's Office department, there's a person who knows the exact answer to 'I want to add up numbers'."
From Blog to Book
This panel was moderated by John Hargrave of Zug and Tucker Max (grandma, don't click on that link), you know, that blogger who got sued for defamation by his ex-girlfriend, launched into the limelight and got a book deal. Tucker explained how his blog detailing his drunken adventures turned into a best selling book. Nice job, Tucker! John explained how his comedic/prank site gave him the ability to turn it into a book as well. If only I were so lucky...
On second thought, perhaps I should trust my grandmother enough to know she's not going to click on every link in this post.
Designing for Convergent Devices
This panel had some great discussion, namely from Frog Design's Denise Burton, AT&T's Jeff Beckham and Design for Use's David Richard. The focus was on how to handle multiple devices, screen sizes, 10' UIs and information dissemination without losing focus. During the Q&A, I noted how entering data on cell phones, even those with QWERTY keypads or touchscreens (especially when they get misaligned/lack tactile feedback) and even gaming consoles demanded too much information from the user from the point of initiation.
Jeff and Denise responded with the simple answer: You need to assume that your content is good enough to start a longterm relationship with the consumer, and as a result, you shouldn't be asking for so much information from the get-go. As the user continues to use your resources and digest your content, then you have the opportunity to reach out for more information. I couldn't agree more, and when I go to mobile websites on my cell phone (with a QWERTY keyboard), I'm not interested in answering more than 4-5 fields max just to access a resource. Any more than that and I begin to lose interest, and I'm willing to bet many other users will do the same. Thanks Jeff and Denise!
This was one of my favorite panels, and seeing the Frog approach to mobile interfaces was quite helpful.
Avatar-Based Marketing in Synthetic Worlds
This panel featured discussion about synthetic/virtual worlds such as There, Second Life and Three Rings' Puzzle Pirates, Whirled and Bang! Howdy. One of the panelists was Lauren Wheeler, project manager for Three Rings explained Three Rings' approach to the synthetic world: the creation of games that are different, interesting and unique to today's internet audience. Keeping the edutainment mentality, engage the users in puzzles while giving them the social connection that creates an online community.
During the Q&A, I expressed my concern that since the days of NC Soft's City of Heroes' subtlem streamlined advertising and Microsoft's purchase of Massive to publish these in-game advertisement to MySpace's recent spam/adult advertising problems and Second Life growing in-game advertising by third parties and corporations... I mentioned how malicious marketers or those following bad practices could potentially cause Second Life's hype/success to implode because users feel alienated by the amount of advertising they see. The unofficial "Apple Store" in Second Life was the foreshadowing of SL's concept turning into a commercial/corporate messaging machine.
Panelist Linda Zimmer from MarCom:Interactive noted that marketers shouldn't focus on placing their advertisements in front of users for the sole purpose of messaging. Instead, keep the messaging in the user's context by keeping it social.
There are obviously strong social effects these types of platforms can cause, especially when game-based synthetic worlds like World of Warcraft are concerned. I'm still dealing with friends that prefer that world compared to this one...
During the panel, I realized how strange some of these Synthetic World/Second Life users can be. I really shouldn't get into it, I'd rather not.
That does it for Part 1 of my 4-part review. I'll be posting the next part tomorrow! If you want to see Larissa's take on SXSW, she has also posted her review of the panels.
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