IU @SXSW

I spent my spring break in Austin, Texas, attending the SXSW 2011 Interactive Conference.  My week was packed with networking, knowledge and insight about the future of media, and yet all the while I kept wondering: Why are there only journalism students representing IU here?

I was given this opportunity through a class in the School of Journalism. All semester we had discussed the relationship between social movements and media, so we came into the conference eager for answers to questions on this new area of research.

Unfortunately, in a field that is so new and nuanced all we came up with were more
inquiries, problems and difficulties.

It was a tiny class of 10 students, and we drifted between panels, listening to experts whose names I had only ever seen in textbooks.

It was not only an exhilarating experience, but it was also convenient. Through some serendipitous coincidence, IU’s spring break falls during the same week as the conference. SXSW brings experts in interactive technology, music and film from all over the world to discuss the newest trends, the coolest things and what it all means in the context of our lives.   

And we, as journalism students, used our skills to discern something understandable from it all. This was the future of media staring us right in the face, so while it was overwhelming, it was also inspiring.

I demoed the newly revealed Nintendo 3DS, sat down for tea with writers from The  Guardian and learned about the future of sustainable energy from the creator of Ethernet. And yet, I kept wondering, why aren’t my peers given this same opportunity?  
With the film festival going on at the same time as the interactive, the streets were flooded with videographers, screenwriters and other movie types. So where were my friends from the telecommunications department to learn and grow their craft?

What about those studying arts administration through the School of Public and Environmental Affairs? With the music festival on the heels of interactive, there were executives from all sides of the industry eager to offer insight into the field.

And the students in the School of Informatics and Computing, why weren’t they at a conference that embodies their very mission statement?

I doubt that the University researched SXSW before coming up with the academic schedule. Even though it’s a hub of networking, a collective of the cutting edge and mecca of media, there is no way the University intended for spring break and the conference to intersect. But it does, and the School of Journalism has already taken the initiative to send students to the conference so they can stay on the cutting edge.  
It’s not just a networking opportunity or a place to discuss these new technologies; it is literally a window into the future of media, of what the world is going to look like, all from the leading experts of our time. It’s something more IU students could benefit from.

— danfleis@indiana.edu