SXSW Interactive panels

Having never been to SXSW, I am really looking forward to finally being able to experience this event for the first time in the Spring of 2011. While looking over the number of panels, I have found a few that I am really interested in:

Your Mom Has an iPad: Designing for Boomers

I am really interested in this panel due to the information that will be presented for the boomers. My parents are right on the edge of that group and they have been using a Wii since 2008. I think that this panel would help me to explain to them more about social media and the new technologies of today that they will use before the end of their lives. Boomers are really taking to the new iPads, iPhones, and other technology out there. I have to say that part of the reason is because their jobs require them to do so.

When Facebook Falls: Future-Proofing Your Social Media Efforts

This panel is interesting based on the fact that I would love to hear about keeping the dream of Facebook alive. One of the questions that was submitted was whether or not you should still have a MySpace page or not. I would like to hear what the panel says regarding this issue. I still have my MySpace page due mostly to the fact that I have my blog posts over there and I cannot remember my password for my LiveJournal that I used to keep as a high schooler. I also want to know what they feel might be the next big thing in social media should Facebook go the way of the Dodo bird.

Terrorism 2.0: Al Qaeda's Online Tools

I think if there is one panel that I would really love to attend, this one would probably be it. It is one thing for there to be domestic terrorism by kids who watch online videos on how to make plastic explosives; however it is quite another to know that Al Qaeda is watching YouTube and learning things about us that we never thought they would know. They are able to plan their attacks better by seeing possible target locations, the infrastructure around them and the structures themselves. This is so that they are better prepared to inflict as much damage and death upon us as possible. I'd really like to find out if there is anything we could do to stop it from happening.

I'm So Productive, I Never Get Anything Done

This could be a really fun panel to take in. I am guilty of waking up in the morning, checking Facebook, email, Twitter, and other things before I text my girlfriend "good morning" or get out of bed. I've also noticed with the increase of social media items in my life, the less time I seem to have to do many other things like my homework or research papers. I would like to hear about what other people have to say on the subject, whether good or bad and what they would do differently if social media had not invaded their lives.

How Blogs With Balls Are Saving Sports Media

Ok, I lied. THIS might be the panel that I would love to visit the most. Especially because I should be (hopefully) in the middle of my internship at Texas State in their Athletic Department in the Sports Information Department. The fact that people who don't have enough credentials are able to break some of the biggest sports stories of the year is pretty impressive. Twitter and Facebook have easily made this possible. The one question that I would really love to bring up to this panel is: "With the advancement of amateur sports journalists and bloggers, should the big boys open up more jobs for these folks in an effort to cover more sports than ever before? Or should the big boys shut down these wannabes and discredit them as much as possible in an effort to reinstate their foothold in the sports world?" One reason I ask this is because a few years ago, I made my own Internet sports channel where I held a couple of "Bobcat Sports" shows which was unknowingly rivaling Texas State's own KTSW sports show "Bobcat Radio". I even went as far as broadcasting two Texas State baseball games while sitting right beside KTSW's sports crew. My broadcasts got a few listens which was surprising but I really enjoyed doing it until school took over my life and I had to lay down my Internet sports show. I was never told that I couldn't broadcast these games but I kind of felt that if I had promoted my broadcasts, I would be infringing on KTSW, Texas State and quite possibly the NCAA's broadcast rules. Oh well...