CoLab researchers represented at SXSW Interactive 2011

2 Mar 2011

Two panels proposed by Advanced Digital Media collaborators in Portugal have been accepted for South by Southwest Interactive, March 11-15, 2011 in Austin.

“Big Brother Goes Green: Surveillance for Sustainable Forests” was proposed by PhD student Mónica Mendes and UNL professor Nuno Correia. Their panel will explore their research on Real-Time Video Interactive Systems for Sustainability (RTiVISS), systems which offer participants a way to remotely monitor natural environments for forest protection. Collaboratively developed by artists, activists and technologists, these new systems strengthen environmental awareness through “the emotion of real-time”. Their panel will take place on Saturday, March 12, at 5:00 PM.

“Neither Moguls nor Pirates: Grey Area Music Distribution” was proposed by futureplaces director Heitor Alvelos of the University of Porto. The panel will discuss emerging modes of music distribution which cannot easily be lumped with either side of the conflict between music piracy and the music industry. His panel is scheduled for Monday, March 14 at 9:30 AM.

Heitor Alvelos will also chair the Portugal Technology Summit, part of a new event this year, the SXSW Technology Summit taking place immediately after SXSW Interactive. The panel will include participation by Manuel Heitor, Portuguese Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Higher Education and UPorto professor Artur Pimenta Alves. The Summit will have an international focus with sessions designed to provide a detailed snapshot of the state of the interactive and new media industries in each of 16 countries. The Portugal session will take place on Thursday, March 17, from 12:30 to 1:30 PM.

In addition, several UT Austin|Portugal collaborators from the U.S. will participate in panels at SXSW.

"Why the FCC Can’t Please Anyone: Net Neutrality Blues" will explain the frequently misunderstood concept of net neutrality and the recent history of relevant U.S. Federal Communications Commission policy. The panel was organized by Sharon Strover of UT Austin, Director of the CoLab Digital Media program. The session will take place on Monday, March 14 at 11:00 AM.

Former UT Austin|Portugal post-doctoral fellow Derek Lackaff, now Assistant Professor of Communications at Elon University, has organized a panel for SXSW 2011 entitled “Rebooting Iceland: Crowdsourcing Innovation in Uncertain Times”. The panel will reflect his research on Iceland’s experiments with models of governance emerging from social media and the tech entrepreneurial sector. It will include the participation of newly elected Icelandic government officials and will take place on Friday, March 11 at 2:00 PM.

CoLab Director David Gibson of the IC² Institute and UPorto professor Artur Pimenta Alves will participate in a panel at the SXSW Technology Summit entitled "International Examples of Regional Creative Industries Development" on Thursday, March 17, at 3:30 PM.

Mónica Mendes attended SXSW 2010 as part of an exploratory visit of Austin funded by the UT Austin|Portugal Program. Her experience at the conference inspired her to make a panel proposal about her own research. You can read her blog posts from SXSW 2010 at: http://monicamendes.wordpress.com/category/sxsw

To discuss how your interests could be turned into a proposal for a future edition of SXSW, feel free to contact Prentiss Riddle of the UT Austin CoLab office (priddle@ic2.utexas.edu).