Tales from Hell-sinki

So this is my first time at SxSw- and this place is an extreme headblender of sorts. The first phenomenon that stuck me was the meeting of the virtual and the real – those that know eachother in the ether meeting finally face to face. I was expecting to be somewhat disappointed by a bunch of folks who cared more about their virtual fame than their real-world lives, however i was surprised  to find a group of pleasantly well-rounded virtuREAL folks. Highlights include a conversation about deja vu with Amber Case “cyborg anthropologist” and a convo about making a piano concerto with a tuba with Tara Hunt- basically how do you articulate the cultural shift needed at large corporations to embrace the true nature of social media – and benefit from its results. Met the sweet and cuddly Sam Perry (of Oprah inauguration weeping fame) who is awesomely nice and the philosophical –heck, I’d hug the guy any day! and Jeff Pulver who was practicing social media before it was even a term and believes in its principles with an almost religious-like fervor. Got some sound advice from Heather Gold, who argues that we need to simplify our multiple identities by just practicing the laws of humanity at work. 

If anything, I’m realizing how much I still don’t know about all this stuff.