Re: [projectvrm] SXSW is slowly moving in our direction

[Drummond Reed < >]

Brian, agreed, I'm skipping SXSW this year to concentrate on building the real thing. RE Maya, I'm 3/4 of the way through Trillions, their excellent book on pervasive computing -- co-author and Maya CEO Mickey McManus came to the first SF Personal Cloud Meetup in January. Is that the book that Amit is talking about?

On Tue, Mar 12, 2013 at 2:06 PM, Brian Behlendorf < " target="_blank"> > wrote:

On Tue, 12 Mar 2013, Doc Searls wrote:

FWIW, I didn't go to South-by this year because I've said what I want to say any number of times there in the past, and it's too damn noisy anyway.

It has been a bit dispiriting how little progress has been made amongst the attendees and presenters, judging this year compared to 2 years ago when I saw you there, Doc.

I went to a quantified self session, and the idea that the person this data is all about should be in charge of where that data is and able to combine it from different products/vendors was relevatory.

I went to a Big Data meetup where we formed off into tables, and naturally I gravitated to the "data sharing platforms" table, and the conversation went from HBase and Hadoop to how to help the Microsoft ad developer and the Experian executive at the table work together.  :(

Plenty of sessions that sounded right, and many of the same presenters - but on the exhibit hall floor, and amongst the keynoters, a clear sign that VCs want startups to hoard people's data and get as much consent (implicit, explicit, or not) from users to do as thou wilt.

I'm hoping I just got unlucky and missed the right sessions.  But beyond a gaggle of "there aughta be" moments in 1:1 conversations, little other sign.

One hopeful sign - I had a conversation with Amit Kiran, an MBA and "Design Strategist" with Maya (the design tools company):

http://www.maya.com/about/amit-kiran

He said he'd just worked on a book on the relationship between big data and user-centered design; as in, how can we help individuals - more mortals - understand how to relate to the universe of their personal data floating out there, and design our apps in ways that address that.  Or something - I can't find a link to the book yet, I'll email him and ask for it.

Aside from that, SXSW has been as noisy as ever.

Brian